a) Sawad Ibn Qarib wrote an ode concerning the holy Prophet...

a) Sawad Ibn Qarib wrote an ode concerning the holy Prophet, a part of which is as follows: I witness that there is no god but Allah, That thou art entrusted with all Divine secrets, And that thou, the son of the honored, the pure, are the closest intermediary among the prophets. [2] The Prophet listened to the poem but did not prevent (Sawad) from reading it, nor did he accuse him of [1] Sahih al-Bukhari, part 2, the book of Al-Jam`, Bab al-Istisqa', p. 27, printed in Egypt.

[2] Zayni Dahlan's al-Durar al-Saniyyah, p. 29, as quoted by al-Tabari. polytheism and innovation in religion b) In the following quatrain Shafi`i also points to the same fact discussed above:[1] The Prophets descendents are means for me; They are my intermediaries towards Him. I hope that for their sake tomorrow I will be given my book onto my right hand.

Although the number of the traditions handed down concerning the permissibility of tawassul is very great, the issue is thus made clear in the light of the above narrations and the references that have been made to Prophets Sunnah, the behavior of the and of the great Islamic scholars, with no need to go into further details. All these prove that claims of those who consider resorting to the saints as polytheism and an innovation in religion are baseless.

[1] Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani's al-Sawa`iq al-Muhriqahh, p.178, printed in Cairo. Back Index Next Previous…