Intercessory Recourse – Al-Shia The al-Shia Scientific, Cultural, and Doctrinal Website Sun, 28 Dec 2025 13:23:57 +0000 en-US Intercessory Recourse – Al-Shia 32 32 Intercessory Recourse (Tawassul): Wahhabis versus Muslims The intercessory recourse (Tawassul) with the special servants of God to solve one’s material and spiritual problems is one of the most important and highly controversial issues between the Wahhabis and other Muslims. Wahhabis affirm that an intercessory recourse (Tawassul) to Allah with good acts has no problem, but through the saints of Allah is not permitted, as it is considered a kind of polytheism (Shirk). On the contrary, other Muslims affirm the intercessory recourse (Tawassul) with good acts as well as with the special servants of God. In the belief of the Wahhabis, some verses of the Qur’an are assumed to forbid the intercessory recourse (Tawassul) with the saints of Allah, as it is an idolatry act. For instance, verse 3 of Qur’an 39 [Surah al-Zumar]: “…and those who take other as awliya besides Him [claiming,] ‘We only worship them so that they may bring us near to Allah’” which was revealed about three Arab tribes, Amir, Kanana, and Bani Salamah, who worshipped idols and believed that the angels were the daughters of God, and they said: “We worship idols so that they may bring us closer to God”. In another verse, the Qur’an says: “…so do not invoke anyone along with Allah.” (Qur’an 72: 18). Qur’an says in another verse: “…and those whom they invoke besides Him do not answer them in any wise…” (Qur’an 13: 14) Besides, the Wahhabis also believe that the intercessory recourse (Tawassul) with the holy Prophet (PBUHH) is only permitted during his lifetime but prohibited after his death. Unfortunately, due to this wrong belief, Wahhabis have accused lots of Muslims of heresy and polytheism and considered their blood and property to be lawful to them. Meanwhile, it is necessary to examine the concept of intercessory recourse (Tawassul) from its literal sense. The term “Tawassul” is an infinitive from the Arabic root of “w-s-l” meaning to do something in order to become close to someone or something. In a technical sense, the term means to benefit from the good and righteous people close to God in order for supplications to be fulfilled. It is pertinent to mention that the object of resorting is the person or thing that is respectable before God; such as God’s attributes or names, the name of the Holy Prophet (s), his supplication, the name of great saints of God and angels and the request can be a religious and spiritual issue or a material or worldly need. Lisaan Al-Arab which is one of the famous Arabic dictionaries says: “Tawassul to Allah and choosing the means is that human performs an act which makes him/her closer to Allah and Wasila (means) is the thing that human approaches another thing with its help.” Therefore, ‘Wasila’ is in the meaning of both asking for an approach and the thing that causes the approach. The word ‘Wasila’ has been used in two places in the holy Qur’an. First is verse 35 of Qur’an 5 [Surah Ma’idah] where Allah enjoined the believers to be wary of Him and to seek the means of getting closer to Him: “O you who have faith! Be wary of Allah, and seek the means of recourse to Him, and wage jihad in His way, so that you may be felicitous”. The second place where the term ‘wasila’ is used in the Qur’an is verse 57 of Qur’an 17 [Sura Isra’] where Allah says: “They [themselves] are the ones who supplicate, seeking a recourse to their Lord…” The great mistake of Wahhabis is that they assume the intercessory recourse to the special servants of God to be the same as the acts of the polytheists who are using idols as a means of getting their needs fulfilled or a means of gaining proximity to God. The Qur’anic verses used by the Wahhabis are related to worship, whereas no one worships those referred beings in the intercessory recourse with the saint of Allah. This relationship can be graphically explained using a simple example of the light bulb. In order to light a bulb, 3 components are necessary: a functioning bulb, the mains and a connecting wire. All three have to be connected for the bulb to glow; otherwise, although the functioning bulb has all the potential to glow, it will not do so. The bulb cannot be connected directly to the mains without a wire since the electrical current flowing from the mains is much too powerful for the bulb – doing so would result in the bulb being destroyed. The wire of appropriate capacity becomes the ‘Wasilah’, the connection and the means through which the electrical current flows from the mains to the bulb. In a very similar manner, the human soul, which can be substituted for the bulb in the example above, has all the potential to glow and illuminate spiritually but it must be connected to the Main Power, The Creator – Allah. However, the soul cannot be attached to Allah directly because of its inherent nature. The soul is finite, limited, weak, impure, sinful and prone to attacks by Shaytan. Allah is All-Powerful, Omnipotent, and Pure. There has to be an intermediary to attach the finite to The Infinite, the sinful to The Pure, the weak to The Omnipotent. Ibn Alavi has said in his famous book “Mafaheem Yajeb an Tasahhuh” (The Concepts that Must be Corrected), thus: “Lots of people mistook in understanding the truth of Tawassul and because of that we express the correct definition of that as we think and we should remind some points before starting the matter: 1- Tawassul is a kind of prayer and in fact, it is one of the ways of noticing to glorious Allah. Therefore the main destination and purpose is Allah and the person whom you asked for intercession is the means and medium of approaching Allah and if anyone believes other than this is a polytheist. 2- Persons whom people asked them to intercede for them in front of Allah, are those whom people like and believe that glorious Allah likes them too, and if assumably they are not, then people abstain completely from those persons and will oppose them. 3- If a person who recourse believes that the person whom he has asked for intercession is independent and by himself like Allah, then he is a polytheist. 4- Tawassul is not a necessary and obligatory act and is not the exclusive and only way of praying. The important thing is to pray and approach Allah, as he said in the Qur’an: “And when my servants ask you about Me, say: I am close (to them)” (Qur’an 2: 186) Ibn Alavi Maliki goes for opinions of scholars and Faqihs of Ahl -e- Sunnah in this issue after this preview and says: There is no contradiction between Muslims in the lawfulness of Tawassul to Allah with good acts; it means that humans can seek closeness to Allah by performing good acts. This is not in disagreement that if a person performs fasting, performs prayer, recites the Qur’an and gives alms in the way of Allah, then he has sought Tawassul to Allah and has approached him. Even Salafis have accepted this kind of Tawassul, for instance, Ibn Taymiyya has affirmed this kind of Tawassul in his different books, especially in “Al-Qā’idat al-Jalīlat fī al-Tawassul wa al-Wasīlah” (Venerable Rule in Tawassul and Wasīla). The area of contradiction is in seeking recourse through other than good acts, such as an intercessory recourse to the saints of Allah, such that a person says: “O Allah! I recourse you and seek closeness to You through Your.” (Mafaheem Yajeb an Tasahhuh, pages 116-117) It has b