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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Wahhabism Seeking Help From Awliya Allah During Their Lifetime The request for something from the ‘Awliya Allah’ takes place in various ways which we shall mention as under: We request a living personality to assist us in building a house or ask him to quench our thirst by handing over the vessel of water which lies next to him. We request a living personality to pray for us and seek forgiveness for us from God.

Both these cases are common, in that, we ask the person to do a work that is fully within his natural capability to fulfil it. However, the first request is related to the worldly affair and the second one to religious and heavenly affair. We request a living personality to perform a task without utilising any common and natural means. For example, we ask him to cure the sick without treatment, find our lost one or repay our debt.

In other words, we ask him to fulfil our needs through miracle or wonder without having recourse to the ordinary and natural tools. The person whom we ask is not alive but since we believe that he is alive in another abode and is receiving his sustenance, we request from such a person to pray for us. We request from such a person to cure our sick and find our lost ones and through utilising the spiritual powers bestowed upon him by Allah.

These two cases, similar to the second and third one are a request to a living person except that in those cases, the responsible authority is alive in this physical and material world and in these last two cases the responsible authority is physically dead but in reality is alive. We can never request from such a person to help us in the material affairs through the ordinary channels.

This is because it is presumed that he has left this world and he is cut off from the normal channels of this world. In this way, there are five types amongst which, three of them are related to request from the living ones in the material world and two are related to the living ones in another world. We shall discuss in this chapter, request to a living person in the material world and discuss in the next chapter, request (for help) to the awliya Allah who are living in another world.

Here is the description of each of the three cases of the first type: First Case Requesting for work and help from a living person in the ordinary affairs of life which have natural and ordinary causes, forms the basis of human civilization.