when individuals and personalities are taken as means...

when individuals and personalities are taken as means, for example, to say, “O God, I take Your *(Peac Be Up Him and His Household)* as an intermediary to You,” or “I take Abū Bakr as-Siddīq or ‘Umar bin al-Khattāb or ‘Uthmān or ‘Alī as intermediaries to You.” Some scholars treat it as forbidden.

I believe that this difference is only superficial because in intermediation through an individual, the intermediary powers are vested in that individual on the basis of his deeds and intermediation through action is unanimously acceptable. People who deny intermediation have adopted a stubborn posture.

If they had cared to look at the problem perceptibly, it would have cleared up, the doubts would have vanished and the conflict would have resolved which has led them to hurl unsavoury allegations against the Muslims. Intermediation without action is actually attributed to the intermediary and he has acquired this status on the basis of his actions.

A man tends to choose someone as his intermediary because he loves him and reposes unqualified trust in his spiritual superiority as a consequence of this love, or he believes the intermediary is loved by Allah Himself. As He says: (Allah) loves them and they love Him.[3] Or he believes that all these qualities are found in the intermediary. If you reflect on it, you are bound to find this matrix of love.

And this belief is the action of the intermediary because belief is a form of action, which grips his heart. The intermediatee seems to say: “O, my Lord!

Undoubtedly, I love such and such person and I truly believe that he also loves You, he is Your loyal servant and he wages jihad for Your sake, and I believe You love him too, and You are pleased with him, and I offer him as an intermediary on account of my love for him, and I believe You will grant my prayer.” “But there are a number of religious scholars (intermediationists) who limit its scope to the One Whose knowledge spans the secrets of the heavens and the earth and Who can detect the waywardness of the eyes and penetrate the secrets of the hearts.

A person who says, “I take the Prophet (Peac Be Up Him and His Household)* as my intermediary,” and the other who says, “I take the Prophet*(Peac Be Up Him and His Household)* as my intermediary because I love him,” are both on the same footing because he has chosen the first source of intermediation on the basis of his trust in the Prophet*(Peac Be Up Him and His Household)* and his love for him.