Tawaswswul is Mustahsanu Shar’an, Legally Commendable

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following legal opinion on tawaswswul was given by Shaykh Swalih an-Na’man (r.a.), the Secretary of the Section of Ifta’ and Religious Education, at the Ministry of Religious Endowments, Wizarat al-Awqaf, of the Syrian Arab Republic in the city of Hama’ on the 22^nd March, 1980.  It is reproduced, in full, in the 1992 Waqf Ikhlasw reprint of Imam Ahmad ibn Zayni ad-Dahlan’s (q.s.) section of his history of Islam, al-Futuhat al-Islamiyyah, on the Wahhabi sect entitled Fitnat al-Wahhabiyyah. 

In response to a Sayyid ‘Ashiq ar-Rahman who asked about at-tawaswswul ila Allah Ta’ala bi al-anbiya’ wa al-mursalin, seeking a means to Allah (s.w.t.), through the prophets and the Messenger, and about hukmu man tawaswswal, the law’s position with regard to the person who makes tawaswswul, he gave the following answer below. 

Praise Belongs to Allah (s.w.t.)!  Regarding at-tawaswswul, seeking or using means, to Allah (s.w.t.) through His Prophet (s.a.w.); the prophets; asw-swalihin, the righteous; or with the ‘amal, deeds, that are done purely for His Glorious Countenance; there is no legal prohibition against it.  This is because Allah (s.w.t.) Says: 

سُوۡرَةُ المَائدة

… وَٱبۡتَغُوٓاْ إِلَيۡهِ ٱلۡوَسِيلَةَ ... (٣٥) 

... seek the means of approach unto Him ... (Surah al-Ma’idah:35) 

سُوۡرَةُ النِّسَاء

... وَلَوۡ أَنَّهُمۡ إِذ ظَّلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَهُمۡ جَآءُوكَ فَٱسۡتَغۡفَرُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَٱسۡتَغۡفَرَ لَهُمُ ٱلرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ ٱللَّهَ تَوَّابً۬ا رَّحِيمً۬ا (٦٤) 

… If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come unto thee, and asked Allah’s Forgiveness and the Messenger had asked Forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah, indeed, Oft-Returning, Most Merciful. (Surah an-Nisa’:64) 

And because the companions used to seek a means through Allah’s Messenger (s.a.w.), as narrated concerning the blind man who used Allah’s Messenger (s.a.w.) as a means to obtain his request, and his eyes were opened. 

The ummah has reached a consensus on the fact that tawaswswul is permissible as long as one’s belief is sound, and ijma’ al-ummah hujjatun shari’ah, the consensus of the ummah constitutes a legal proof, as the Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “My ummah will not agree on an error.”  As for the claim of some ghulat, extremists, of the Wahhabiyyah, whereby the law’s position with regard to the person who makes tawaswswul being shirk, there is no proof for such a claim either legally or rationally, because the person who makes tawaswswul does not contravene the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) order, “If you ask, ask Allah, and if you seek help, seek Help from Allah.”  Rather, he is asking Him through one Beloved to Him in order that his supplication be Answered, and this is what our Glorious and Majestic Lord Likes from us.  How, then, can we judge that such a one who uses wasilah is committing shirk when he is not a mushrik?  Such an act the law considers abominable, and our religion declares itself innocent of it, since it has been said, “Whoever declares a believer to be a disbeliever has committed disbelief.” 

Sayyidina Usamah ibn Zayd (r.a.) killed a mushrik after the latter had said, “There is no god but Allah.” 

When news of this reached Allah’s Messenger (s.a.w), he condemned Sayyidina Usamah (r.a.) in the strongest terms and he said to him, “How can you kill him after he said ‘laa ilaha illa Allah’?” 

Sayyidina Usamah (r.a.) replied, “But he said it with the sword hanging over his head!” 

The Prophet (s.a.w.) said again, “How can you kill him after he said ‘laa ilaha illa Allah’?” 

He replied, “O Messenger of Allah, he said it in dissimulation?” 

The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “Did you split his heart open?”. and he did not cease to reprove him until Sayyidina Usamah (r.a.) wished that he had not entered Islam, until after he had killed that man so that he might have been forgiven all his past sins through belief.

From this, and other narrations, we conclude that some of the Wahhabis today may be guilty of takfir, hastening to accuse others of disbelief, as they have done in the past with hundreds of thousands in the Hijaz, whom they massacred, even as they were saying, “Laa ilaha illa Allah”, and as the Khwarij have done in the time of Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib (k.w.). 

In short, tawaswswul is not prohibited, rather it is mustahsanu shar’an, legally commendable, and it is not permitted to cast the label of shirk on the believer.  This is what will be found in the established books of Islamic law.  And Allah (s.w.t.) Knows Best.