42- Ruling on supplicating to Allah by the virtue of the high rank of the prophets and angels
Q: What is the ruling on an imam (the one who leads congregational Prayer) who leads people in the Jumu`ah (Friday) Prayer and says in the Khutbah (sermon): O Allah! On You we have depended and by the high rank of Your Prophet to You we are supplicating? What is the ruling on this way of supplicating to Allah (Exalted be He)? Elaborate this point for us. May Allah bless you.,
A: According to the majority of the Muslim scholars, this way of supplicating to Allah (Exalted be He) is Bid`ah (innovation in religion). However, the Friday Prayer is valid. It is not legally permissible to supplicate to Allah by virtue of the status of our Prophet (ﷺ), by the high rank of our Prophet, by the high rank of other prophets, by virtue of the status of angels, by the entities of the angels, by virtue of the high rank of so and so, by virtue of the status of one's father, and so on. One can supplicate Allah by His Names and Attributes as well as by one's good deeds. Allah (Glorified be He) says: And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah, so call on Him by them A Muslim can say, "O Allah! I invoke You by Your Most Beautiful Names and Sublime Attributes to bestow Your Mercy upon us, to forgive us and to give us rain," or "O Allah! I invoke You by my faith in You, my obedience to you and my following of Your Prophet." One can supplicate to Allah by one's good deeds. Invoking Allah by virtue of the status of someone, in the name of our Prophet (ﷺ), by the high rank of our Prophet (ﷺ), by virtue of the status of our Prophet, by the high rank of prophets or angels is an innovation in religion according to Ahl-ul-Sunnah wal-Jama`ah (those adhering to the Sunnah and the Muslim main body). Rather, there is no religious evidence on the permissibility of this practice. As it was authentically reported: When the Prophet (ﷺ) heard a man saying, "O Allah! I ask You by the fact that I testify that You are Allah, there is no god but You, the One and the Self- Sufficient Master Who does not beget, nor was He begotten and there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him," he (ﷺ) said, "He has supplicated Allah by His Name by which if He is asked for anything, He gives such thing and if He is invoked, He answers such invocations.} This is because it is a form of supplication by Allah's Names and Attributes. As such, one can supplicate to Allah by one's good deeds as it was reported in the Two Sahih (authentic) Books of Hadith by Ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that three men were obliged to enter a cave in the desert to sleep and find a shelter from rain. When they entered the cave, a large rock rolled down the mountain and closed the mouth of the cave. Allah (Exalted be He) willed this to happen to introduce a practice through which people can deal with their misfortunes. When the rock blocked the mouth of the cave, they tried to push it away, but they could not do so. So, they said to each other, 'Nothing could save you from this rock but to invoke Allah by giving referenda to the righteous deed which you have done (for Allah's sake only).' They supplicated to Allah (Exalted be He) by their good deeds, so the rock shifted completely away from the mouth of the cave and they left; walking out by virtue of the good deeds they had done for Allah's Sake. Such deeds were of great benefit for them when they were in need. This denotes that supplicating Allah (Exalted be He) by good deeds is a great way of approaching Allah, particularly in times of need. Allah (Glorified be He) says: Is not He (better than your gods) Who responds to the distressed one, when he calls on Him, and Who removes the evil He (Exalted be He) says: Invoke Me, [i.e. believe in My Oneness (Islamic Monotheism) and ask Me for anything] I will respond to your (invocation). Allah (Exalted be He) willed the rock to roll down and block the mouth of the cave so that those three men could learn how to supplicate to Allah and know the merit of their good deeds and all other people could know the virtue of their good deeds and learn how to invoke Allah (Exalted be He) in times of need as those three men did. The Prophet (ﷺ) told us this story to act upon it and derive benefit from it. This Hadith is authentic and agreed upon by both Al-Bukhari and Muslim (may Allah be Merciful with them both)). May Allah grant us success.
[Vol. 2, Page No. 128-129]
