Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Wahhabism Pleading Allah By The Right And Position Of Awliya One of the point of differences between the Wahhabi sect and the other sects of Islam is this that the former manifest two kinds of pleading as haram (forbidden) and occasionally as shirk (polytheism) in 'ibadat. These two kinds of pleading are: (1) Pleading Allah by the right and position of awliya (2) Pleading to someone other than Allah.
Now, we shall discuss both of these topics in this chapter. Pleading Allah by the Position of Awliya The Holy Qur’an praises different groups under such titles as: الصَّابِرِينَ وَالصَّادِقِينَ وَالْقَانِتِينَ وَالْمُنْفِقِينَ وَالْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ بِالْأَسْحَارِ “The patient, and the truthful, and the obedient, and those who spend (benevolently) and those who ask forgiveness in the morning times.
(Aal-Imran 3:17)” Now, if someone in the middle of the night, after the mid-night prayers, turns towards his Lord and pleads God by the right and position of this group and says: اللهم إني أسئلك بحق المستغفرين بالأسحار اغفر لي ذنوبي “O Allah, I ask Thee by the right of those asking forgiveness at twilight to forgive my sins.” How can one call this action as shirk in 'ibada since shirk in 'ibada is this when we worship someone other than Allah and consider him as God or the source of divine affairs.
But, in this benediction, we have not paid attention to other than Allah and we have asked only from Allah and nobody else. Therefore, if such an action is forbidden, it should have some other reason than shirk .
At this stage, we shall remind the Wahhabi writers of one point and it is the fact that the Holy Qur’an has mentioned a criterion for differentiating a polytheist (of course shirk in 'ibada ) from a monotheist and with this explanation, has closed any kind of interpretation of the word of polytheist according to one's personal opinion.
This criterion is as follows: وَإِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ اشْمَأَزَّتْ قُلُوبُ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ ۖ وَإِذَا ذُكِرَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ دُونِهِ إِذَا هُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ “And when Allah alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter shrink, and when those besides Him are mentioned, lo! they are joyful.