50- Ruling on supplicating Allah by the honor of someone
Q: There is someone who sometimes says in his supplication, "O Allah! I invoke You by the Messenger's honorable degree that You cure my illness. Allah! Make all my affairs easy for me by virtue of the status of Muhammad (ﷺ)." I informed him that such supplication is not permissible and that Allah should be invoked only by His Glory, Might and Power. You can say instead, " Allah! Make Your Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) intercede with You for me." Is what I advised the man to say correct? Also, what is the ruling on supplicating Allah by the honor and status of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ)? What should I do if I was mistaken regarding my advice? Guide me to what is right. May Allah bless you..
A: Your words are good and you were right in what you said to that man. It is not lawful to supplicate Allah by the honor of the Messenger (ﷺ), by the high rank or the honorable degree of the Messenger ﷺ ). He has made it lawful for man to supplicate Him by His Names and Attributes, and by one's virtuous deeds. All these latter forms of supplication are lawful. Allah (Exalted be He) says: And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah, so call on Him by them) He (Glorified be He) has made it lawful for us to supplicate Him by His Attributes. When supplicating Allah, one can say: "O Allah! I invoke You by Your Mercy, Your Benevolence and Your Generosity that You forgive me sins," and, "O Allah! I invoke You by Your Omniscience of the Unseen and Your Omnipotence over You creation that You forgive me and shower Your Mercy upon me." Also, one is allowed to supplicate Allah by one's most virtuous deeds, such as makingncere repentance to Allah, faith in Allah, belief in the Oneness of Allah, love for Allah, obedience to and love for the Messenger (ﷺ), performance of Salah (Prayer) for Allah's Sake and other similar good deeds. As for supplicating Allah by virtue of the status of so and so, by the honor of so and so, by the high rank of so and so or by the high standing of so and so, this is not permissible in Islam according to the view of the Jumhur (the dominant majority of Muslim scholars). Such opinion is based on Allah's (Exalted be He) Saying: And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah, so call on Him by them It was authentically reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) used to teach Muslims how to supplicate Allah by His Attributes and Names as well as by one's righteous deeds. Once, three men were trapped in a cave. A rock rolled down and blocked the mouth of the cave, so they could not push it away in order to get out. They said to one another, "Nothing could save you from this misfortune save invoking Allah and interceding with the most righteous deeds you have done for Allah's Sake." So they did, and Allah with His Grace relieved them from this distress and caused the rock to move away from the mouth of the cave. One of them invoked Allah by virtue of his dutifulness to his parents. The second supplicated Allah by virtue of his refraining from having illegal intercourse with a woman who was under his control. The third invoked Allah by rendering a trust back to its rightful owner. As a result, Allah (Exalted be He) alleviated their suffering from this ordeal. These are lawful forms a person can use when supplicating Allah (Exalted be He).
[Vol. 2, Page No. 146]
