Tawassul

Salafiyyah Interpretation of Ayah 3 of Surah al-Zumar

The Chief Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Shaikh 'Abd al-'Aziz bin Baz, in his exchange of letters with Iran's Ayatollah Muhammad Wa'iz-Zadeh Khurasani, has remarked:

The polytheists also testified to the Oneness of ALLAH (SWT) but as the Holy Qur'an states, they tried to justify their worshipping of idols by saying:"...we worship them not but (in order) that they make us near to God..." (39:3). This is similar to the actions of those who maketawassul to those in the graves in order to seek proximity to ALLAH (SWT).[^29]

Critique

'Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Hussein Tabataba`i responding to such a reasoning says that according to the books of religions and the testimony of idol-worshippers, hundreds of millions of whom live in India, China and Japan, idolatry is based on the theory that the creation of the universe and even the deities which are worshipped, have as their source the same Almighty God, but since He is beyond comprehension there is no other choice but to worship some of His closest servants such as angels, genies and saints so that they make intercession (shafa'at ) and people may reach the proximity of God through them. In the opinion of the polytheists, angels are like the builder to whom the owner of the house has entrusted the building and hence intercession (shafa'at ) is according to His discretion.

But, adds 'Allamah Tabataba`i, in the Holy Qur'antawassul to the Prophets is in the manner of an intermediary and is not something independent, and for this reason it has not been considered as shirk or polytheism. Similarly, the polytheists have been reproached in the Holy Qur'an not because of seeking intercession (shafa'at ) but because of worshipping other than God.[^30]