Al-Bayān al-Mubdī li-Jahl Muqallidī al-Najdī

Bismillāhi al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm

In this article, we hope to clarify the issue of Istighāthah and Ṭalab al-Duʿāʾ from the dead, inanimate or "absent" beings and when exactly one would - and wouldn't - be falling into major Shirk by committing it

Many ignorant, emotional and overzealous "Salafī" teenagers online - following their senile Ḥarūrī Shuyūkh - have reached the absurd conclusion that anyone who makes any type of request towards a dead person at his grave, or an angel, or an inanimate object, or even an animal has automatically fallen into major Shirk and is rendered a Mushrik, and that likewise anyone who refrains from declaring him to be a Mushrik is a Kāfir like him, with some of them going so far as declaring Imāms such as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Ibn Abī Shaybah, Ibn Abī Khaythamah and Ibn Abī al-Dunyā to be grave-worshiping Mushriks over this topic

And this moronic position has absolutely no basis from the Qurʾān and Sunnah, completely contradicts what was narrated without condemnation by and from the Salaf and Khalaf, and in fact does not even completely align with the actual positions of both the ʿĀdhirī of Ḥarrān, the donkey of Najd and their successors - who somehow managed to be more moderate than these fools

In order to clarify the actual Sunnī position this article will be split into two main parts

In the first part, we plan to explain what ʿIbādah (worship) is and how it relates to this issue, and what would and wouldn't constitute worship of something when directed or affirmed for it

In the second part, we will go over the Shubuhāt of the Khawārij on this issue, covering the Āyāt they misuse as well as other miscellaneous arguments

PART ONE

Our main point is, to put it simply, that directing a Duʿāʾ - with the meaning of request - to other than Allāh falls under a single tafṣīl, regardless of who or what you are asking

Meaning: whether or not you are directing the request to someone who is alive, dead or inanimate, a human, an angel, a jinn or an animal, next to you or far away, capable or incapable, none of these are symmetry breakers

If that request is directed in a way that should only be directed to Allāh, and you ask them for something that can only be asked from Allāh or ascribe divinity to them, then it remains Shirk in all of those cases
So for example, attributing anyone or anything besides Allāh the ability to hear or see everything, create something from nothing, make the ḥalāl ḥarām and the ḥarām ḥalāl, give and take life or any other task independently of Allāh is major Shirk without a doubt

But if the request is directed to them in a way that would be directed to the creation, and they are asked to perform a mundane task that the creation at large are capable of, it would not be Shirk in any of those cases
So for example, attributing anyone or anything the ability to hear and see as the creation does, and perform tasks such as praying for you or protecting you as the creation does is not and cannot be major Shirk
Rather it can range from being obligatory to believe in if a text states it, an issue of ijtihād where there is no explicit proof confirming or denying it, or reach minor Shirk and Kufr if it entails opposition to certain texts

And this becomes clear once you understand how ʿIbādah (worship) is actually defined, and the implications of the opposing side's argument that "Duʿāʾ" to other than Allāh must always be Shirk because "Duʿāʾ is ʿIbādah"

So, what is ʿIbādah, and when does an act become ʿIbādah?

Al-Marwazī said in Taʿẓīm Qadr al-Ṣalāh (vol. 1, p. 345):

Then Allāh clarified that all acts of obedience are religion, due to His statement: {Even though they were only commanded to worship Allah ˹alone˺ with sincere devotion to Him in all uprightness, establish prayer, and pay zakāh. That is the upright Way.} 

And it is understood in the language and among the scholars that ʿIbādah of Allāh is drawing near to Him through obedience (al-Ṭāʿah) to Him and striving in that. Do you not see what we have narrated from the Prophet, that he said: ‘Indeed Allāh has angels who remain in prostration until the Hour is established. When they raise their heads they say: Our Lord, we did not worship You as You deserve to be worshipped.’

And Allāh said: {And those who are with Him do not disdain from His worship nor do they tire. They glorify night and day without ceasing}

Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā narrated to us, Abū Ṣāliḥ, the scribe of al-Layth, narrated to us, from Ibn Lahīʿah, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Dīnār al-Hudhalī, that ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān wrote to Saʿīd ibn Jubayr asking him about these matters, and he replied to him concerning them:
...
And you asked about ʿIbādah: ʿIbādah is obedience (al-Ṭāʿah). That is because whoever obeys Allāh in what He has commanded him and in what He has forbidden him has completed the worship of Allāh, and whoever obeys Shayṭān in his religion and his deeds has worshipped Shayṭān. Do you not see that Allāh said to those who were negligent: {Did I not covenant with you, O children of Ādam, that you not worship Shayṭān}? Their worship of Shayṭān was only that they obeyed him in their religion.

Among them were those whom he commanded, so they took idols, or the sun, or the moon, or a human, or an angel, prostrating to it besides Allāh. Shayṭān did not appear to any of them so that they would worship him or prostrate to him, rather, they obeyed him and thus took them as gods besides Allāh.

Then when they are all gathered on the Day of Resurrection in the Fire, Shayṭān will say to them: {Indeed, I disbelieved in your associating me before}, and {Indeed, you and what you worship besides Allāh are fuel for Jahannam; you will enter it}...

قال المروزي في «تعظيم قدر الصلاة» (ج1ص345):

«ثم أبان الله عز وجل أن الطاعات كلها دين لقوله {وما أمروا إلا ليعبدوا الله مخلصين له الدين حنفاء ويقيموا الصلاة ويؤتوا الزكاة وذلك دين القيمة} ومعقول في اللغة وعند العلماء أن عبادة الله هي التقرب إليه بطاعته، والاجتهاد في ذلك، ألا ترى إلى ما روينا عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال: إن لله ملائكة سجودا إلى أن تقوم الساعة، فإذا رفعوا رءوسهم قالوا: ربنا ما عبدناك حق عبادتك، وقال الله: {ومن عنده لا يستكبرون عن عبادته ولا يستحسرون يسبحون الليل والنهار لا يفترون}

حدثنا محمد بن يحيى، ثنا أبو صالح، كاتب الليث، عن ابن لهيعة، عن عطاء بن دينار الهذلي، أن عبد الملك بن مروان، كتب إلى سعيد بن جبير يسأله عن هذه المسائل، فأجابه فيها:

سألت عن الإيمان، قال: فالإيمان هو التصديق، أن يصدق العبد بالله وملائكته وما أنزل من كتاب، وما أرسل من رسول، وباليوم الآخر، وتسأل عن التصديق: والتصديق أن يعمل العبد بما صدق به من القرآن، وما ضعف عن شيء منه وفرط فيه عرف أنه ذنب، واستغفر الله، وتاب منه ولم يصر عليه، فذلك هو التصديق، وتسأل عن الدين: والدين العبادة، فإنك لن تجد رجلا من أهل دين يترك عبادة أهل دينه، ثم لا يدخل في دين آخر إلا صار لا دين له، وتسأل عن العبادة: ‌والعبادة ‌هي ‌الطاعة، وذلك أنه من أطاع الله فيما أمره به وفيما نهاه عنه فقد أتم عبادة الله، ومن أطاع الشيطان في دينه وعمله فقد عبد الشيطان، ألم تر أن الله قال للذين فرطوا: {ألم أعهد إليكم يا بني آدم أن لا تعبدوا الشيطان} [يس: 60] وإنما كانت عبادتهم الشيطان أنهم أطاعوه في دينهم، فمنهم من أمرهم فاتخذوا أوثانا أو شمسا أو قمرا أو بشرا أو ملكا يسجدون له من دون الله، ولم يظهر الشيطان لأحد منهم، فيتعبد له، أو يسجد له، ولكنهم أطاعوه فاتخذوها آلهة من دون الله، فلما جمعوا جميعا يوم القيامة في النار قال لهم الشيطان: {إني كفرت بما أشركتمون من قبل} [إبراهيم: 22] ، {إنكم وما تعبدون من دون الله حصب جهنم أنتم لها واردون} [الأنبياء: 98] فعبد عيسى والملائكة من دون الله فلم يجعلهم الله في النار، فليس للشمس والقمر ذنب، وذلك يصير إلى طاعة الشيطان، فيجعلهم معهم، فذلك قوله حين تقربوا منهم: {تالله إن كنا لفي ضلال مبين إذ نسويكم برب العالمين} [الشعراء: 98] وقالت الملائكة حين سألهم الله: {أهؤلاء إياكم كانوا يعبدون قالوا سبحانك أنت ولينا من دونهم بل كانوا يعبدون الجن أكثرهم بهم مؤمنون} [سبأ: 40] قال: أفلا ترى إلى عبادتهم الجن إنما هي أنهم أطاعوه في عبادة غير الله، فيصير العبادة إلى أنها طاعة

حدثني الحسين بن عيسى البسطامي، ثنا ابن حرب، ثنا ابن لهيعة، ثنا عطاء بن دينار الهذلي، أن عبد الملك بن مروان، كتب إلى سعيد بن جبير يسأله عن هذه المسائل، فأجابه فيها، سألت عن الإيمان، فذكر بمثله»

 

So, ʿIbādah is obedience, as we obviously worship Allāh by obeying Him

 

And this is where all the Khawārij - old and new - fall
They all selectively apply their own definitions of ʿIbādah in order to takfīr their opponents without sticking to it, which leads them all to both internal and external contradictions

From the original Khawārij who takfīred all sinners for their obedience to Shayṭān - (correctly) pointing out that obedience is ʿIbādah, and then quoting Āyāt such as 

{And if you obey them, indeed you would be polytheists.}

{‌وإن ‌أطعتموهم ‌إنكم ‌لمشركون}

While then not sticking to this principle and excusing the one who obeys any of the Prophets or his parents, despite him also "directing an act of worship towards other than Allāh"

To the Qitālīs who takfīr the one who seeks judgement from the Ṭāghūt, or shaves his head for the military - (correctly) pointing out that taḥākum and shaving the head (during Ḥajj and ʿUmrah for example) are ʿIbādah, and then quoting what was narrated by al-Bukhārī in his Ṣaḥīḥ (vol. 9, p. 117): 

...From Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Prophet used to supplicate at night: ‘O Allāh, to You belongs all praise, You are the Lord of the heavens and the earth... O Allāh, to You I have submitted, in You I have believed, upon You I have relied, to You I have turned in repentance, through You I have disputed, and to You I have sought judgment. So forgive me for what I have sent forth and what I have delayed, what I have concealed and what I have made public...

قال البخاري في «صحيحه» (ج9ص117):

«حدثنا قبيصة، حدثنا سفيان، عن ابن جريج، عن سليمان، عن طاوس، عن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما قال: كان النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم يدعو من الليل: اللهم لك الحمد، أنت رب السماوات والأرض، لك الحمد، أنت قيم السماوات والأرض ومن فيهن، لك الحمد، أنت نور السماوات والأرض، قولك الحق، ووعدك الحق، ولقاؤك حق، والجنة حق، والنار حق، والساعة حق، اللهم لك أسلمت، وبك آمنت، وعليك توكلت، وإليك أنبت، وبك خاصمت، ‌وإليك ‌حاكمت، فاغفر لي ما قدمت وما أخرت، وأسررت وأعلنت، أنت إلهي، لا إله لي غيرك»

And the Āyāt

{Judgement is only for Allāh. He has commanded that you worship no one except Him.} 

‌{‌إن ‌الحكم ‌إلا ‌لله أمر ألا تعبدوا إلا إياه}

{They do not have any protector besides Him, and He doesn't share His judgement with anyone.}

{‌ما لهم من دونه من ولي ‌ولا ‌يشرك ‌في ‌حكمه ‌أحدا}

While then not sticking to this principle as they excuse both the sinner the original Khawārij takfīred using the same argument, as well as the one who seeks judgement even from a Muslim judge or shaves his head for his parents, as they also "directed an act of worship towards other than Allāh"

And finally to the "Salafīs" we are discussing today, who takfīr the one who asks the Prophet ﷺ to make Duʿāʾ or perform other tasks for him - (correctly) pointing out that Duʿāʾ is ʿIbādah

While once again, not sticking to this principle and excusing the sinner, the one who seeks judgement from the Ṭāghūt or shaves his head for him, and the one who asks a living person in front of him to make Duʿāʾ or perform any other task for him, despite all of them - once again - "directing an act of worship towards other than Allāh"

And none of these morons are able to refute each other on this, the Qitālī cannot explain to the original Khārijī why obeying (=directing an act of worship towards) other than Allāh isn't Shirk while seeking judgement from or shaving your head for them is, and the "Salafī" cannot explain to neither the Qitālī nor the original Khārijī why obeying other than Allāh, seeking judgement from other than Allāh, and shaving your head for other than Allāh aren't all Shirk while "Duʿāʾ" (sometimes) is

 

Thankfully, the Sunnī position on this issue is quite simple, and can be easily proven with some examples from the Qurʾān and Sunnah

Al-Ṭabarī said in his Tafsīr (vol. 1, p. 385):

And we have already demonstrated earlier in this book of ours that the meaning of ʿIbādah is: humility to Allāh through obedience, and abasement to Him through submission.

قال الطبري في «تفسيره» (ج1ص385):

«وقد دللنا فيما مضى من كتابنا هذا على أن معنى ‌العبادة؛ ‌الخضوع ‌لله ‌بالطاعة، والتذلل له بالاستكانة»

Al-Samʿānī said in his Tafsīr (vol. 1, p. 37):

His statement: {You alone we worship} means: we worship You, and ʿIbādah is obedience along with humility and submission

قال السمعاني في «تفسيره» (ج1ص37):

«قوله: {إياك نعبد} بمعنى نحن نعبدك، ‌والعبادة: ‌هي ‌الطاعة مع التذلل والخضوع، يقال: طريق معبد: أي مذلل، ومعناه: نعبدك خاضعين.»

Al-Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā said in Masāʾil al-Īmān (p. 352): 

And he (the Khārijī) argued that all acts of disobedience are obedience to Iblīs, because he calls to all of them, and obedience to him is worship of him, and that cannot be except Kufr.

The response is: it is not the case that if it is obedience to him, it is therefore worship of him, because ʿIbādah is humility, veneration, and exaltation, and this is not present in the one who obeyed Iblīs. The correctness of this is clarified by the fact that not every act of obedience to Allāh is worship of Him - such as reflection in coming to know Allāh before it becomes obligatory- and because this would necessitate that a child’s obedience to his father be worship of him, since he has obeyed him, and no one says this.

قال القاضي أبو يعلى في «مسائل الإيمان» (352):

«واحتج (الخارجي) بأن جميع المعاصي طاعة لإبليس، لأنه يدعو إلى جميعها وطاعته عبادة له ولا يكون ذلك إلا كفرا. والجواب: أنه ليس إذا كان طاعة له كان عبادة لأن العبادة هي الخضوع والتعظيم والإجلال، وهذا غير موجود ممن أطاع إبليس يبين صحة هذا أنه ليس كل طاعة لله هي عبادة له كالنظر في معرفة الله قبل لزومها، ولأن هذا يوجب أن تكون طاعة الولد لوالده عبادة له لأنه قد أطاعه، وأحد لا يقول هذا.»

 

So, ʿIbādah requires obedience combined with humility, submission and exaltation

And this is why you don't worship someone by merely obeying him, or seeking judgement from him, or shaving your head for him, or making a request to him, as long as you don't do it under these same conditions in the same manner you would direct this same act towards Allāh

And these Khawārij themselves agree with that principle, as even they wouldn't dare to claim an atheist who obeys Allāh in a matter, or seeks judgement from him, or makes Duʿāʾ to Him jokingly or out of Taqiyyah is "worshiping" Him by this

And this is - without a doubt - the only consistent way to approach this topic

Otherwise, as I have mentioned before, you would be forced to deal with a never-ending amount of internal and external inconsistencies, having to pathetically explain why one act of worship - such as Duʿāʾ - magically comes with a unique tafṣīl different from other acts of worship - such as taḥākum or shaving the head

 

But by far the best example of this is with Sujūd (prostration), which is without a doubt an act of worship, and yet directing it to other than Allāh can range from being obligatory, to ḥalāl or ḥarām, to major Shirk - depending on your intention as al-Ṭabarī, al-Samʿānī and Abū Yaʿlā mentioned previously

The famous example of obligatory Sujūd is the story of Iblīs

{[So mention] when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I am going to create a human being from clay. So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration." So the angels prostrated - all of them entirely, Except Iblīs; he was arrogant and became among the disbelievers.}

{‌إذ قال ربك للملائكة إني خالق بشرا من طين - فإذا سويته ونفخت فيه من ‌روحي ‌فقعوا ‌له ‌ساجدين - فسجد الملائكة كلهم أجمعون - إلا إبليس استكبر وكان من الكافرين}

Al-Ṭabarī said in Tafsīr (vol. 14, p. 65):

{Then fall down to him in prostration} a prostration of greeting and honor, not a prostration of ʿIbādah.

قال الطبري في «تفسيره» (ج14ص65):

«{فقعوا له ساجدين} سجود تحية وتكرمة، لا ‌سجود ‌عبادة.»

And he said in his Tafsīr (vol. 1, p. 512):

And the prostration of the angels to Ādam was an honoring of Ādam and obedience to Allāh, not worship of Ādam, as:

Bishr bin Muʿādh narrated to us, he said: Yazīd bin Zurayʿ narrated to us, he said: Saʿīd narrated to us, from Qatādah regarding His saying: {And when We said to the angels: Prostrate to Ādam} So the obedience was to Allāh, and the prostration was to Ādam. Allāh honored Ādam by having His angels prostrate to him.

وقال الطبري في «تفسيره» (ج1ص512):

«وكان سجود الملائكة لآدم تكرمة لآدم وطاعة لله، لا عبادة لآدم، كما:

حدثنا به بشر بن معاذ: قال: حدثنا يزيد بن زريع، قال: حدثنا سعيد، عن قتادة، قوله: وإذ قلنا للملائكة اسجدوا لآدم، فكانت الطاعة لله، ‌والسجدة ‌لآدم، أكرم الله آدم أن أسجد له ملائكته»

And al-Samʿānī said in his Tafsīr (vol. 3, p. 67):

And His statement: {And they bowed to him in prostration} means: they fell prostrating to him. The scholars differed regarding this prostration. The majority said that they prostrated to him, and that the prostration was a prostration of love, not a prostration of ʿIbādah. It is like the prostration of the angels to Ādam. The people of knowledge said: this was permissible in previous nations, then Allāh abrogated it in this Sharīʿah and replaced it with the greeting of salām.

Some of them said: they prostrated to Allāh, not to Yūsuf, rather they fell in prostration toward him because he was before them, so their prostration occurred in his direction, just as one prostrates toward the miḥrāb or a wall. The correct view is the first, this is what the people of knowledge have said. The proof for it is that in his vision he said: {Indeed I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon, I saw them prostrating to me}. The sun and the moon were his parents, and the eleven stars were his brothers.

If someone says: how was prostration to other than Allāh permitted? And if prostration to other than Allāh was permitted, then why is ʿIbādah of other than Allāh not permitted?

The answer is that ʿIbādah is the utmost limit of veneration, and the utmost limit of veneration is not permissible except for Allāh. As for prostration, it is a form of humility and submission by placing the cheek upon the ground, and it is less than ʿIbādah, therefore its permissibility for humans was not impossible, like bowing.

Some of them said: {And they fell before him in prostration} the prostration here means bowing, and it was expressed as prostration, but actual prostration did not occur. The strongest of the statements is the first. And Allāh knows best.

وقال السمعاني في «تفسيره» (ج3ص67):

«وقوله: {وخروا له سجدا} معناه: وقعوا له ساجدين، واختلفوا في هذه السجدة فالأكثرون أنهم سجدوا له، وكانت السجدة سجدة المحبة لا سجدة العبادة، وهو مثل سجود الملائكة لآدم عليه السلام قال أهل العلم: وكان ذلك جائز في الأمم السالفة، ثم إن الله تعالى نسخ ذلك في هذه الشريعة وأبدل بالسلام، وقال بعضهم: أنهم سجدوا لله لا ليوسف، وإنما خروا له سجدا؛ لأنه كان قدامهم فحصل سجودهم إليه كما يسجد إلى المحراب والجدار، والصحيح هو الأول، هكذا قاله أهل العلم، والدليل عليه أنه كان في رؤياه: {إني رأت أحد عشر كوكبا والشمس والقمر رأيتهم لي ساجدين}، فالشمس والقمر أبواه، وأحد عشر كوكبا هم إخوته. فإن قال قائل: كيف جاز السجود لغير الله؟ وإذا جاز السجود لغير الله فلم لا تجوز العبادة لغير الله؟ والجواب: أن ‌العبادة ‌نهاية ‌التعظيم، ونهاية التعظيم لا تجوز إلا لله؛ وأما السجود: نوع تذلل وخضوع بوضع الخد على الأرض وهو دون العبادة، فلم يمتنع جوازه للبشر كالانحناء. وقال بعضهم: {وخروا له سجدا} السجود هاهنا هو الانحناء وعبر عنه بالسجود، وأما حقيقة السجود فلم تكن. وأولى الأقاويل هو الأول والله أعلم.»

And a lesser known story with the same meaning was narrated by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd, known as Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in Makāʾid al-Shayṭān (p. 66) with an authentic chain to the Tābiʿī Abū al-ʿĀliyah:

Isḥāq ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to me, Jarīr narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Ziyād ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, who said:

When the Ark of Nūḥ came to rest, there was Iblīs upon the prow of the Ark. Nūḥ said to him: Woe to you! The people of the earth drowned because of you, you destroyed them?

Iblīs said: What shall I do?

He said to him: Repent.

He said: Then ask your Lord is there for me any repentance?

So Nūḥ supplicated to his Lord, and Allāh revealed to him that his repentance would be that he prostrate to the grave of Ādam.

Nūḥ said to him: A repentance has been granted to you.

He said: And what is it?

He said: That you prostrate to the grave of Ādam.

He said: I refused him while he was alive, and (you think) I would prostrate to him dead?!

قال عبد الله بن محمد بن عبيد المعروف بابن أبي الدنيا في «مكائد الشيطان» (ص66):

«حدثني إسحاق بن إسماعيل، حدثنا جرير، عن الأعمش، عن زياد بن الحصين، عن أبي العالية قال: لما رست السفينة سفينة نوح إذا هو بإبليس على كوثل السفينة، فقال له نوح: ويلك قد غرق أهل الأرض من أجلك وقد أهلكتهم؟ قال إبليس، فما أصنع؟ قال له: تتوب. قال: فسل ربك عز وجل، هل لي من توبة؟ فدعا نوح ربه فأوحى الله إليه أن توبته ‌أن ‌يسجد ‌لقبر ‌آدم. فقال له نوح: قد جعلت لك توبة. قال: وما هي؟ قال: أن تسجد لقبر آدم. قال: تركته حيا وأسجد له ميتا!»

وهذا إسناد صحيح إلى أبي العالية

إسحاق بن إسماعيل هو الطالقاني جاء في «سؤالات ابن الجنيد ليحيى بن معين» (ص345): «‌سئل يحيى بن معين وأنا أسمع عن إسحاق بن إسماعيل، فقال: كان ‌عندي ‌لا ‌بأس ‌به، ‌صدوق، ولكنه يبلى من الناس، وقد كلمني أن أكلم أمه تأذن له في الخروج إلى جرير، فكلمتها، فأجابتني، فخرج مع اثني عشر رجلاً مشاة، ولم يكن له تلك الأيام شيء. قلت ليحيى: فما بلي به من الناس؟ قال: يكذبونه وهو صدوق، قلت: كان يتهم تلك الأيام بالكذب، أو الآن بعدما حدث؟ قال: لا، الآن بعدما حدث، ثم قال يحيى: ما كان به بأس»

وقال الخطيب في «تاريخ بغداد» (7/ 351): «أخبرنا أحمد بن محمد العتيقي، قال: أخبرنا محمد بن عدي البصري في كتابه، قال: حدثنا أبو عبيد محمد بن علي الآجري قال: سألت أبا داود سليمان بن الأشعث، عن إسحاق بن إسماعيل فقال: ثقة. كتب إلى عبد الرحمن بن عثمان الدمشقي، وحدثني عبد العزيز بن أبي طاهر عنه قال: أخبرنا هشام بن محمد بن جعفر الكندي، قال: أخبرنا عثمان بن خرزاذ قال: إسحاق بن إسماعيل الطالقاني ثقة ثقة. أخبرني الحسن بن محمد الخلال، عن أبي الحسن الدارقطني قال: إسحاق بن إسماعيل الطالقاني ثقة.»

جرير هو جرير بن عبد الحميد ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (2/ 506) وقال: «سألت أبي عن أبي الأحوص وجرير في حديث حصين فقال: كان جرير أكيس الرجلين جرير أحب إلى. قلت جرير يحتج بحديثه؟ فقال: ‌نعم، ‌جرير ‌ثقة»

الأعمش مشهور ثقة

جاء في «صحيح مسلم» (1/ 109): حدثنا أبو بكر بن أبي شيبة، وأبو سعيد الأشج جميعا، عن وكيع . قال الأشج: حدثنا وكيع ، ‌حدثنا ‌الأعمش ، ‌عن ‌زياد ‌بن ‌الحصين ‌أبي ‌جهمة ، ‌عن ‌أبي ‌العالية ، عن ابن عباس قال: «{ما كذب الفؤاد ما رأى}، {ولقد رآه نزلة أخرى} قال: رآه بفؤاده مرتين.»

وفي «الروايتين والوجهين - المسائل العقدية منه» (ص65): «قال الاثرم: ‌قلت ‌لأبي ‌عبد ‌الله ‌إلى ‌أي ‌شيء ‌تذهب قال، قال الأعمش عن زياد بن الحصين عن أبي العالية عن ابن عباس قال: "رأى محمد ربه بقلبه".»

زياد بن الحصين هو أبو جهمة ذكره العجلي في «الثقات» (1/ 372) وقال: «زياد بن حسين ‌أبو ‌جهمة ‌بصرى ‌ثقة»
وجاء في «سؤالات أبي داود للإمام أحمد» (ص326): «سمعت أحمد قال ‌زياد ‌بن ‌حصين ‌ثقة»

أبو العالية هو رفيع بن مهران

«الثقات للعجلي ت البستوي» (2/ 412):
«أبو العالية الرياحي اسمه رفيع بصرى تابعي ثقة من كبار التابعين»
وجاء في «تهذيب الكمال في أسماء الرجال» (9/ 218):
«وقال أبو بكر بن أبي داود: ليس أحد بعد الصحابة ‌أعلم ‌بالقران ‌من ‌أبي ‌العالية وبعده سعيد بن جبير، وبعده السدي، وبعده سفيان الثوري.»

And an example of the permissible Sujūd is the story of Yūsuf ʿAlayh al-Salām

{And when they entered upon Yūsuf, he took his parents to himself [i.e., embraced them] and said, "Enter Egypt, Allāh willing, safe [and secure]." And he raised his parents upon the throne, and they bowed to him in prostration. And he said, "O my father, this is the explanation of my vision of before. My Lord has made it reality..."}

{‌فلما دخلوا على يوسف آوى إليه أبويه وقال ادخلوا مصر إن شاء الله آمنين - ورفع أبويه على العرش وخروا ‌له ‌سجدا وقال يا أبت هذا تأويل رءياي من قبل قد جعلها ربي حقا}

And an example of the impermissible Sujūd - that is still not considered Shirk - is the famous story of Muʿādh ibn Jabal, which was narrated by Ibn Mājah in his Sunan (p. 399):

Azhar ibn Marwān narrated to us, he said: Ḥammād ibn Zayd narrated to us from Ayyūb, from al-Qāsim al-Shaybānī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā, who said: When Muʿādh returned from al-Shām, he prostrated to the Prophet. He said: “What is this, O Muʿādh?!”

He said: I went to al-Shām and found them prostrating to their bishops and patriarchs, and I desired within myself that we should do that for you.

So the Messenger of Allāh said: “Do not do so. For if I were to command anyone to prostrate to other than Allāh, I would have commanded the woman to prostrate to her husband. By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Muḥammad, a woman does not fulfill the right of her Lord until she fulfills the right of her husband, and if he were to ask her for herself while she is upon a saddle, she should not refuse him.”

قال ابن ماجه في «السنن» (ص399):

«حدثنا أزهر بن مروان قال: حدثنا حماد بن زيد، عن أيوب، عن القاسم الشيباني، عن عبد الله بن أبي أوفى قال: لما قدم معاذ من الشام سجد للنبي صلى الله عليه وسلم، قال: "ما هذا يا معاذ؟!" قال: أتيت الشام فوافقتهم يسجدون لأساقفتهم وبطارقتهم، فوددت في نفسي أن نفعل ذلك بك، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: "فلا تفعلوا، فإني لو كنت آمرا أحدا ‌أن ‌يسجد ‌لغير ‌الله لأمرت المرأة أن تسجد لزوجها، والذي نفس محمد بيده لا تؤدي المرأة حق ربها حتى تؤدي حق زوجها، ولو سألها نفسها وهي على قتب لم تمنعه"»

Some of the Khawārij attempt to weaken this ḥadīth because of al-Qāsim al-Shaybānī, and even if that was correct, it would still be authentic - at the very least - to the Imām Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī, who I guess just attributed "Shirk" to the Prophet ﷺ and the Ṣaḥābī Muʿādh ibn Jabal for no reason

And in either case, the last part was also narrated by Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in al-Nafaqah ʿalā al-ʿIyāl (vol. 2, p. 720) with an authentic chain:

Saʿīd bin Sulaymān narrated to us, from Khalaf bin Khalīfah, from Ḥafṣ, from Anas bin Mālik, who said: The Messenger of Allāh said: If it were appropriate for a human to prostrate to a human, I would have ordered the woman to prostrate to her husband...

And it was also narrated by al-Tirmidhī in his Sunan (vol. 2, p. 453) with a supporting chain

And it was also mentioned by Ibn Abī Shaybah in al-Muṣannaf (vol. 2, p. 261) with an authentic chain to the Tābiʿī Abū Ẓabyān

And it was also mentioned by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (vol. 7, p. 129) with an authentic chain to the Tābiʿī ʿAlī bin Rabāḥ

قال ابن أبي الدنيا في «النفقة على العيال» (ج2ص720):

«حدثنا سعيد بن سليمان، عن خلف بن خليفة، عن حفص، عن أنس بن مالك، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: لو صلح لبشر أن يسجد لبشر لأمرت المرأة أن ‌تسجد ‌لزوجها والذي نفسي بيده لو كان من قرنه إلى مفرق رأسه قرحة تفجر بالقيح والصديد ثم استقبلته فلحسته ما أدت حقه»

سعيد بن سليمان ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (4/ 26) وقال: «سمعت أبي يقول: سعيد بن سليمان الواسطي ثقة مأمون ‌ولعله ‌أوثق ‌من ‌عفان ‌إن ‌شاء ‌الله» وقال إبراهيم الحربي في «إكرام الضيف» (ص40): «حدثنا ‌سعيد ‌بن ‌سليمان، ‌نا ‌خلف ‌بن ‌خليفة، عن حفص بن عبد الله...»

خلف بن خليفة ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (3/ 369) وقال: «أنا ابن أبي خيثمة فيما كتب إلي قال سمعت يحيى بن معين يقول خلف بن خليفة الواسطي ليس به بأس، سمعت أبي يقول: ‌خلف ‌بن ‌خليفة ‌صدوق.»

وذكره الخطيب في «المتفق والمفترق» (2/ 849) وقال: «وكان ثقة وقد ذكرنا له حديثا في ترجمة حميد الأعرج»

حفص هو ابن أخي أنس بن مالك ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «بيان خطا البخاري في تاريخه» (1/ 22) وقال: «سمعت ابى يقول: الذى روى عنه خلف بن خليفة وابو معشر وعكرمة بن عمار هو حفص ابن عمر بن عبد الله بن ابى طلحة، ابن اخى انس لامه»

وقال البرقاني في «سؤالاته للدارقطني» (ص27): «قلت له: ‌حفص ‌عن ‌أنس ‌هو ‌ابن ‌أخي ‌أنس، قال نعم، هو حفص ابن عمر بن عبد الله بن أبي طلحة، قلت ثقة قال نعم.» 

وقال الترمذي في «السنن» (ج2ص453): 

«حدثنا محمود بن غيلان، قال: حدثنا النضر بن شميل، قال: أخبرنا محمد بن عمرو، عن أبي سلمة، عن أبي هريرة، عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: لو كنت آمرا أحدا أن يسجد لأحد لأمرت المرأة أن ‌تسجد ‌لزوجها. وفي الباب عن معاذ بن جبل، وسراقة بن مالك بن جعشم، وعائشة، وابن عباس، وعبد الله بن أبي أوفى، وطلق بن علي، وأم سلمة، وأنس، وابن عمر. حديث أبي هريرة حديث حسن غريب من هذا الوجه من حديث محمد بن عمرو عن أبي سلمة عن أبي هريرة»

وهذا الإسناد رجاله كلهم ثقات غير محمد بن عمرو فيه كلام ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (8/ 31) وقال: «‌سألت ‌أبي ‌عن ‌محمد ‌ابن ‌عمرو ‌بن ‌علقمة فقال: صالح الحديث يكتب حديثه وهو شيخ» 

وقال الخزرجي في الخلاصة: أحد أئمة الحديث. وثقه النسائي. قال الجوزجاني: ليس بالقوي. وقال ابن عدي: أرجو أنه لا بأس به

وقال ابن أبي شيبة في «المصنف» (ج2ص261):

«حدثنا وكيع، قال: حدثنا الأعمش، عن أبي ظبيان، عن معاذ، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: لو كنت آمرا أحدا أن ‌يسجد ‌لأحد لأمرت النساء أن يسجدن لأزواجهن»

وهذا الإسناد صحيح إلى التابعي أبي ظبيان

وقال الطبراني في «المعجم الكبير» (ج7ص129):

«حدثنا محمد بن الفضل السقطي، وجعفر بن أحمد بن سنان الواسطي، قالا: ثنا ‌إبراهيم ‌بن ‌المستمر العروقي، ثنا ‌وهب ‌بن ‌جرير، ثنا موسى بن علي، عن أبيه، عن سراقة بن مالك، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: لو كنت آمرا أحدا أن يسجد لأحد لأمرت المرأة أن تسجد لزوجها» 

وهذا الإسناد صحيح إلى التابعي علي بن رباح

And of course, the Sujūd of ʿIbādah which is Shirk, as al-Ṭabarī mentioned in his Tafsīr (vol. 12, p. 81):

Bishr bin Muʿādh narrated to us, he said: Yazīd narrated to us, he said: Saʿīd narrated to us, from Qatādah regarding His saying: {Do not eat of what is not slaughtered in Allāh’s Name. For that would certainly be ˹an act of˺ disobedience} the Āyah.

Meaning the enemy of Allāh, Iblīs, inspired his allies from the people of misguidance and said to them: ‘Dispute with the companions of Muḥammad concerning Maytah, and say: “What you slaughter and kill you eat, but what Allāh kills you do not eat, while you claim that you follow the command of Allāh!”’

So Allāh revealed to His Prophet: {And if you obey them, indeed you would be polytheists.}

And by Allāh, we do not know that it was ever Shirk except in one of three: that he calls upon another deity along with Allāh, or prostrates to other than Allāh, or names the sacrifices for other than Allāh.

قال الطبري في «تفسيره» (ج12ص81):

«حدثنا بشر بن معاذ قال، حدثنا يزيد قال، حدثنا سعيد، عن قتادة قوله: (ولا تأكلوا مما لم يذكر اسم الله عليه وإنه لفسق) الآية، يعني عدو الله إبليس، أوحى إلى أوليائه من أهل الضلالة فقال لهم: خاصموا أصحاب محمد في الميتة فقولوا: أما ما ذبحتم وقتلتم فتأكلون، وأما ما قتل الله فلا تأكلون، وأنتم تزعمون أنكم تتبعون أمر الله! فأنزل الله على نبيه: (وإن أطعتموهم إنكم لمشركون)، وإنا والله ما نعلمه كان شرك قط إلا بإحدى ثلاث: أن يدعو مع الله إلها آخر، ‌أو ‌يسجد ‌لغير ‌الله، أو يسمي الذبائح لغير الله.»

But since some of these Zanādiqah attempt to claim that Sujūd to other than Allāh is always major Shirk and that Allāh commanded this "Shirk" and then abrogated it, or that all these reports are weak, or that the Sujūd mentioned in them is different for whatever reason, then - again - this is an irrelevant cope, as they themselves still apply this same tafṣīl to every other act of worship - shaving the head, taḥākum, and all acts of obedience

So if someone prostrates to other than Allāh, or invokes other than Allāh, or seeks judgement from other than Allāh, or shaves his head for other than Allāh, or obeys anyone besides Allāh in general - whether he was dead or alive or present or absent or a human or an angel or a jinn or a cat or a rock - then this all depends, if he does so with full humility and submission as he would for Allāh, or directs/attributes to them any trait exclusive to Allāh - then this is Shirk

And if he directs any of these acts to any created being - alive, dead, present, absent, human or otherwise - without treating them as he would Allāh, then it cannot be Shirk

 

But these Khawārij insist that unlike Sujūd, taḥākum, shaving the head and all these other acts of worship, Duʿāʾ - for no actual reason - sometimes falls under a completely different category, where it is inherently an act of worship - regardless of intention - in every scenario where the one being requested is not

1. Capable of responding and/or fulfilling the request
2. Alive
3. Present/hearing

(Although of course these idiots aren't a monolith and differ with each other on these magic conditions)

Even on its own, this claim has no basis and makes absolutely no sense

Ignoring how there is no established reason for this to be the case, not from the Qurʾān and Sunnah nor any other source - and I will cover their "proofs" in the second part of this article - this claim - again - either necessitates that an atheist making Duʿāʾ to Allāh jokingly or out of Taqiyyah is "worshiping" Him by doing so, or that making Duʿāʾ  to Allāh isn't worship in the firstplace, as He is always Capable, Alive, and Hearing

And - again - it doesn't explain why "making Duʿāʾ" to a living person in front of you isn't Shirk either, as you're still "directing an act of worship to other than Allāh"

 

And although this alone should be enough to clarify this whole topic to any sincere, emotionally stable person with an IQ above 90, that is unfortunately not the type of people we typically deal with

 

So to further demolish this made-up creed, I will present clear-cut proof from the Sunnah, the Ṣaḥābah and the rest of the Salaf - as well as some of the Khalaf - that ascribing any or all of these magical condition abilities - the ability to benefit and harm, being "alive" and hearing - to the dead, angels, or inanimate objects is not at all major Shirk, and it can - just like Sujūd - range from being minor Shirk and Kufr to even being obligatory to believe in in some cases - as I mentioned previously

 

But first, before presenting these narrations, it is important to establish a principle that every subsect of these Khawārij loves to ignore, that being that - obviously - no sane Sunnī scholar would narrate a story that promotes major Shirk or ascribes it to any of the Prophets, angels or their companions without condemning it

So even if a certain narration I present is weak - and beyond the first two they largely aren't - these Khawārij would still need to explain why these scholars narrated it without condemnation

And I don't think anyone besides a complete idiot or a muʿānid could deny this, but just to prove it further, many of the same people who narrated these "Shirk" Athars testified to this principle themselves

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad said in al-Sunnah (vol. 1, p. 302):

My father (Aḥmad) narrated to me, Wakīʿ narrated to us, with the ḥadīth of Isrāʾīl, from Abū Isḥāq, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah, from ʿUmar, who said: ‘When the Lord sits upon the Kursī…’

A man - my father named him - trembled in the presence of Wakīʿ, so Wakīʿ became angry and said: We found al-Aʿmash and Sufyān narrating these aḥādīth and they did not reject them.

قال عبد الله بن أحمد في «السنة» (ج1ص302):

«حدثني أبي، نا وكيع، بحديث إسرائيل عن أبي إسحاق، عن عبد ‌الله بن خليفة، عن عمر رضي الله عنه قال: إذا جلس الرب عز وجل على الكرسي فاقشعر رجل سماه أبي عند وكيع فغضب وكيع وقال: أدركنا الأعمش وسفيان يحدثون بهذه الأحاديث لا ‌ينكرونها»

Abū Bakr al-Ājurrī said in al-Sharīʿah (vol. 2, p. 1050):

Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Makhlad al-ʿAṭṭār narrated to us, saying: Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī narrated to us, saying: I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and he was asked about a man who narrated a ḥadīth, from a man, from Abū al-ʿAṭūf that Allāh will not be seen in the Hereafter. He said: ‘May Allāh curse the one who narrated this ḥadīth.’ Then he said: ‘May Allāh disgrace this one.’

قال للآجري في «الشريعة» (ج2ص1050):

«حدثنا أبو عبد الله محمد بن مخلد العطار قال: حدثنا أبو داود السجستاني قال: سمعت أحمد بن حنبل وقيل له في رجل حدث بحديث، عن رجل، عن أبي العطوف يعني أن الله عز وجل لا يرى في الآخرة، فقال: ‌لعن ‌الله ‌من ‌حدث بهذا الحديث ثم قال: أخزى الله هذا»

And Ibn Qudāmah mentioned in al-Muntakhab min ʿIlal al-Khallāl (vol. 1, p. 277):

From al-Marwadhī, saying: It was said to Abū ʿAbdillāh: Do you know of (a report) from Yazīd ibn Hārūn, from Abū al-ʿAṭūf, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir: ‘If it settles in its place, then you will see Me, and if it does not settle, then you will not see Me in this world nor in the Hereafter’?

Abū ʿAbdillāh became intensely angry, to the point that it showed on his face. He had been sitting while people were around him, then he took his sandal and put it on.

He said: ‘May Allāh disgrace him! It should not be written down.’ And he rejected that Yazīd ibn Hārūn narrated it or reported it.

وقال ابن قدامة في «المنتخب من علل الخلال» (ج1ص277):

«...أخبرنا المروذي، قال: قيل لأبي عبد الله: أتعرف عن يزيد بن هارون، عن أبي العطوف، عن أبي الزبير، عن جابر: إن استقر مكانه فسوف تراني وإن لم يستقر فلا تراني في الدنيا ولا في الآخرة؟ فغضب أبو عبد الله غضبا شديدا، حتى تبين في وجهه، وكان قاعدا والناس حوله، فأخذ نعله وانتعل. وقال: أخزى الله هذا! ‌لا ‌ينبغي ‌أن ‌يكتب ‌هذا، ودفع أن يكون يزيد بن هارون رواه، أو حدث به.»

Abū Bakr ibn al-Khallāl said in al-Sunnah (vol. 3, p. 501):

Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī informed us, he said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh saying:

Indeed, some people write these vile aḥādīth about the Companions of the Messenger of Allāh

And it has been related from you that you said: I do not object that a man of ḥadīth writes these aḥādīth knowing them.

So he became angry and rejected that with severe rejection and said: False! Refuge is with Allāh! I do not fail to object to this. If this were regarding the common people, I would object to it - so how about regarding the Companions of Muḥammad? I do not write these aḥādīth.

I said to Abū ʿAbd Allāh: Whoever you know writes these vile aḥādīth and gathers them, should he be boycotted?

He said: Yes. The one who possesses these vile aḥādīth deserves stoning.

And Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣāliḥ came to me, so I said to him: Do you narrate these aḥādīth?

He began saying: So-and-so narrated them, and so-and-so narrated them, and I was gentle with him while he argued.

Then I saw him afterward and turned away from him and did not speak to him.

قال الخلال في «السنة» (ج3ص501):

«أخبرنا أبو بكر المروذي، قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله، يقول: إن قوما يكتبون هذه ‌الأحاديث ‌الرديئة ‌في ‌أصحاب ‌رسول ‌الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، وقد حكوا عنك أنك قلت: أنا لا أنكر أن يكون صاحب حديث يكتب هذه الأحاديث يعرفها، فغضب وأنكره إنكارا شديدا، وقال: باطل، معاذ الله، أنا لا أنكر هذا، لو كان هذا في أفناء الناس لأنكرته، كيف في أصحاب محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم، وقال: أنا لم أكتب هذه الأحاديث، قلت لأبي عبد الله: فمن عرفته يكتب هذه الأحاديث الرديئة ويجمعها أيهجر؟ قال: نعم، يستأهل صاحب هذه الأحاديث الرديئة الرجم، وقال أبو عبد الله: جاءني عبد الرحمن بن صالح، فقلت له: تحدث بهذه الأحاديث؟ فجعل يقول: قد حدث بها فلان، وحدث بها فلان، وأنا أرفق به، وهو يحتج، فرأيته بعد فأعرضت عنه ولم أكلمه»

And al-Khallāl said in al-Sunnah (vol. 3, p. 512):

Al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad al-Dūrī informed us, he said: I heard Muḥāḍir (ibn al-Muwarriʿ) and saw in his books aḥādīth that had lines drawn over them.

So I said: What are these aḥādīth that have lines drawn over them?

He said: These are calamities, Ibn Abī Shaybah forbade me from narrating them.

وقال الخلال في «السنة» (ج3ص512): 

«أخبرنا العباس بن محمد الدوري، قال: سمعت محاضر، ورأيت، في كتبه أحاديث مضروب عليها، فقلت: ما هذه الأحاديث المضروب عليها؟ فقال: هذه العقارب، ‌نهاني ‌ابن ‌أبي ‌شيبة أن أحدث بها»

So they wouldn't narrate "tajsīm" or anything that demeans the Ṣaḥābah or promotes the Jahmī creed, while according to the Khawārij they had no issue narrating what is worse than all of that - Shirk -, saying it works and can benefit its doer, and attributing it to the Prophets, Ṣaḥābah and angels?!

And amazingly, ʿAbdullāh, his father Aḥmad, al-Aʿmash and Ibn Abī Shaybah - as well as their students like Ibn Abī al-Dunyā - are the same ones who narrated much of this "Shirk" without a single comment

 

Now, for the narrations themselves

Ibn Abī Shaybah said in al-Muṣannaf (vol. 18, p. 31), and Ibn Abī Khaythamah in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr - al-Safar al-Thālith (vol. 2, p. 80), and al-Khalīlī in al-Irshād (vol. 1, p. 314), and Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr in al-Istīʿāb fī Maʿrifat al-Aṣḥāb (vol. 5, p. 86):

From Abū Muʿāwiyah, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Mālik al-Dār, who said - and he was ʿUmar's treasurer over provisions: The people were afflicted by drought during the time of ʿUmar, so a man came to the grave of the Prophet and said: ‘O Messenger of Allāh, ask for rain (make istisqāʾ) for your Ummah, for indeed they have perished.’

Then the man was approached in a dream and it was said to him: ‘Go to ʿUmar, convey salām to him, inform him that you will be given rain, and tell him: upon you is discernment, upon you is discernment.’

So he went to ʿUmar and informed him. ʿUmar wept, then said: ‘O my Lord, I spare no effort except in what I am incapable of.’

قال ابن أبي شيبة في «المصنف» (ج18ص31) وابن أبي خيثمة في «التاريخ الكبير - السفر الثالث» (ج2ص80) والخليلي في «الإرشاد» (ج1ص314) وابن عبد البر في «الاستيعاب في معرفة الأصحاب» (ج5ص86):

«عن أبو معاوية عن الأعمش عن أبي صالح عن مالك الدار قال: وكان خازن عمر على الطعام قال: أصاب الناس قحط في زمن عمر فجاء رجل إلى قبر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال: يا رسول اللَّه، ‌استسق ‌لأمتك فإنهم قد هلكوا، فأتى الرجل في المنام فقيل له: إئت عمر فأقرئه السلام، وأخبره أنكم مسقيون، وقل له: عليك الكيس! عليك الكيس فأتى عمر فأخبره فبكى عمر، ثم قال: يا رب لا آلو إلا ما عجزت عنه.»

Now they point out that Mālik al-Dār has no Tawthīq and that the man himself in the story is unknown

But this is authentic - at the very least - to al-Aʿmash and his Tābiʿī Shaykh Abū Ṣāliḥ, who both narrated it without objection

And it is genuinely hilarious how the Khawārij think al-Aʿmash and Ibn Abī Shaybah - who as I've just shown explicitly opposed narrating problematic reports without condemnation - as well as everyone else mentioned would decide to narrate a story where the message is literally - according to the Khawārij - that worshiping the Prophet ﷺ works

 

And there is another narration with the same message, that being the famous story of al-ʿUtbī which - once again - you will not find a single person warning against due to its "Shirk"

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said in Bahjat al-Majālis wa Uns al-Majālis (p. 233, Shāmila numbering):

A Bedouin stood at the grave of the Prophet and said: ‘May my father and my mother be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allāh. You commanded us and we accepted from you, and we preserved from you what you preserved from your Lord: {And if they, when they wronged themselves, had come to you and sought forgiveness from Allāh, and the Messenger had sought forgiveness for them, they would have found Allāh Accepting of repentance, Merciful}.

We have wronged ourselves, so seek forgiveness from Allāh for our sins, we have come to you, so seek forgiveness for us.’

Then he wept.

قال ابن عبد البر في «بهجة المجالس وأنس المجالس» (ص233 بترقيم الشاملة آليا):

«ووقف ‌أعرابي على قبر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال: بأبي أنت وأمي يا رسول الله، أوصيتنا فقبلنا منك، وحفظنا عنك مما وعيت عن ربك: ولو أنهم إذ ظلموا أنفسهم جاءوك ‌فاستغفروا ‌الله واستغفر لهم الرسول لوجدوا الله تواباً رحيما، وقد ظلمنا أنفسنا فاستغفر الله لذنوبنا، وقد أتيناك فاستغفر لنا. ثم بكى.»

ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī said in al-Ghunyah (vol. 1, p. 36):

If Allāh grants him well-being and he arrives in al-Madīnah, it is recommended for him to go to the mosque of the Prophet and say upon entering the mosque...

...Then he goes to the grave and stands aligned with it, placing it between himself and the qiblah. He should put the wall of the qiblah behind his back, the grave in front of him facing his face, and the minbar to his left. He should stand on the side nearest the minbar and say: Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allāh and His blessings…

...O Allāh, You said in Your Book to Your Prophet: {And if they, when they wronged themselves, had come to you and sought forgiveness from Allāh, and the Messenger had sought forgiveness for them, they would have found Allāh Accepting of repentance, Merciful}

And I have come to Your House, repenting from my sins and seeking forgiveness, so I ask You to make forgiveness obligatory for me as You made it obligatory for the one who came to him in his lifetime, confessed his sin to him, and his Prophet supplicated for him, so You forgave him.

O Allāh, I turn to You by means of Your Prophet - upon him be Your peace - the Prophet of mercy. O Messenger of Allāh, I turn by you to my Lord that He may forgive me my sins. O Allāh, I ask You by his right that You forgive me and have mercy upon me. O Allāh, make Muḥammad the first of intercessors, the most successful of those who ask, and the most honored of the first and the last.

قال عبد القادر الجيلاني في «الغنية» (ج1ص36):

«فإذا من الله تعالى عليه بالعافية، وقدم المدينة، فالمستحب له أن يأتي مسجد النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم، وليقل عند دخول المسجد: اللهم صل على محمد وعلى آل محمد، وافتح لي أبواب رحمتك، وكف عني أبواب عذابك، الحمد لله رب العالمين. ثم يأتي القبر، وليكن بحذائه بينه وبين القبلة، ويجعل جدار القبلة خلف ظهره والقبر أمامه تلقاء وجهه والمنبر عن يساره، وليقم مما يلي المنبر وليقل: السلام عليك أيها النبي ورحمة الله وبركاته...

اللهم إنك قلت في كتابك لنبيك: {ولو أنهم إذ ظلموا أنفسهم جاءوك فاستغفروا الله واستغفر لهم الرسول لوجدوا الله توابًا رحيمًا} [النساء: 64]. ‌وإني ‌أتيت ‌بيتك ‌تائبًا ‌من ‌ذنوبي ‌مستغفرًا، فأسألك أن توجب لي المغفرة كما أوجبتها لمن أتاه في حياته، فأقر عنده بذنبه فدعا له نبيه فغفرت له. اللهم إني أتوجه إليك بنبيك عليه سلامك نبي الرحمة، يا رسول الله إني أتوجه بك إلى ربي ليغفر لي ذنوبي، اللهم إني أسألك بحقه أن تغفر لي وترحمني، اللهم أجعل محمدًا أول الشافعين وأنجح السائلين وأكرم الأولين والآخرين.»

Ibn Qudāmah said in al-Mughnī (vol. 5, p. 467) in the chapter on visiting the grave of the Prophet:

Then you approach the grave, place the qiblah behind your back, face its middle, and say: Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allāh and His blessings…

…O Allāh, You said - and Your statement is the truth: {And if they, when they wronged themselves, had come to you and sought forgiveness from Allāh, and the Messenger had sought forgiveness for them, they would have found Allāh Accepting of repentance, Merciful}.

I have come to you seeking forgiveness for my sins, seeking your intercession with my Lord, so I ask You, O Lord, to make forgiveness obligatory for me as You made it obligatory for the one who came to him in his lifetime. O Allāh, make him the first of intercessors, the most successful of those who ask, and the most honored of the later and the earlier, by Your mercy, O Most Merciful of those who show mercy.

قال ابن قدامة في «المغني» (ج5ص467) في باب زيارة قبر النبي:

«ثم تأتى القبر فتولى ظهرك القبلة، وتستقبل وسطه، وتقول: السلام عليك أيها النبى ورحمة الله وبركاته...

...اللهم إنك قلت وقولك الحق: {ولو أنهم إذ ظلموا أنفسهم جاءوك فاستغفروا الله واستغفر لهم الرسول لوجدوا الله توابا رحيما}. وقد ‌أتيتك ‌مستغفرا من ذنوبى، مستشفعا بك إلى ربى، فأسألك يا رب أن توجب لى المغفرة، كما أوجبتها لمن أتاه فى حياته، اللهم اجعله أول الشافعين، وأنجح السائلين، وأكرم الآخرين والأولين، برحمتك يا أرحم الراحمين»

Al-Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdisī said in al-Muntaqā (vol. 2, p. 701):

Our Shaykh Abū al-Muẓaffar al-Samʿānī narrated it to us by my reading to him in (Marw). I said to him: Abū al-Ṭayyib informed you...

...Muḥammad ibn Ḥarb al-Hilālī said: I was in al-Madīnah and entered to the grave of the Prophet, there was a man being placed upon his camel until he made it kneel and tied it, then he entered the mosque, gave a fine salām and made a beautiful supplication. Then he said: ‘May my father and my mother be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allāh. Indeed, Allāh singled you out with His revelation and sent down to you a Book in which He gathered for you the mention of the first and the last. He said in His Book - and His statement is the truth: {And if they, when they wronged themselves, had come to you and sought forgiveness from Allāh, and the Messenger had sought forgiveness for them, they would have found Allāh Accepting of repentance, Merciful}.

I have come to you confessing sins, seeking your intercession with your Lord, and He fulfills what He promised you!’

وقال الضياء المقدسي في «المنتقى» (ج2ص701):

«أخبرنا بها شيخنا أبو المظفر السمعاني - بقراءتي عليه بـ (مرو) - قلت له: أخبركم أبو الطيب طاهر بن عثمان بن محمد بن عبد الحميد بن عبد الرحمن بن يعقوب بن إسحاق بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن أحمد بن أحيد بن حفص بن غياث بن معبد بن عباد بن عبد الرحمن بن عوف العوفي الزهري - قراءة عليه - بـ (بخارى) -: ثنا جدي - هو أبو بكر محمد -: ثنا أبو سهل أحمد بن علي الأبيوردي: ثنا الإمام أبو عبد الله الحسين بن الحسن الحليمي: أبنا أبو الفضل محمد بن يوسف بن ريحان: ثنا الحسن بن يزيد: ثنا الحسن بن سهل الواسطي: ثنا محمد بن روح الرقاشي: ثنا محمد بن حرب الهلالي قال:

كنت بالمدينة، فدخلت إلى قبر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم؛ فإذا رجل يوضع على بعيره، حتى أناخه وعقله، ثم دخل المسجد؛ فسلم سلاما حسنا، ودعا دعاء جميلا، ثم قال: (بأبي وأمي أنت يا رسول الله! إن الله سبحانه وتعالى خصك بوحيه، وأنزل عليك كتابا، جمع لك فيه ذكر الأولين والآخرين، فقال في كتابه - وقوله الحق -: {ولو أنهم إذ ظلموا أنفسهم جاءوك فاستغفروا الله واستغفر لهم الرسول لوجدوا الله توابا رحيما} [النساء: 64]، وقد أتيتك مقرا بالذنوب، مستشفعا بك إلى ربك، وهو منجز ما وعدك!»

And it was also mentioned by:

Ibn Abī ʿUmar in al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr (vol. 3, p. 494)

وذكره أيضا ابن أبي عمر في «الشرح الكبير» (ج3ص494)

Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-Maqdisī in Sharḥ al-Muqniʿ (vol. 2, p. 441)

وذكره بهاء الدين المقدسي في «شرح المقنع» (ج2ص441)

Al-ʿImrānī al-Shāfiʿī in al-Bayān (vol. 4, p. 378)

وذكره العمراني الشافعي في «البيان» (ج4ص378)

Ibn Kathīr in his Tafsīr (vol. 3, p. 152)

وذكره ابن كثير في «تفسيره» (ج3ص152)

Burhān al-Dīn ibn Mufliḥ in al-Mubdiʿ Sharḥ al-Muqniʿ (vol. 4, p. 331)

وبرهان الدين ابن مفلح في «المبدع شرح المقنع» (ج4ص331)

And al-Buhūtī in Kashāf al-Qināʿ (vol. 6, p. 346).

والبهوتي في «كشاف القناع» (ج6ص346)

 

Now regarding the belief itself that the dead could make istighfār for you or pray in general, then nothing about that is Shirk

Imām Muslim said in his Ṣaḥīḥ (vol. 7, p. 102):

...From Anas ibn Mālik, that the Messenger of Allāh said: I passed by Mūsā on the night I was taken on the Night Journey, at the red sand dune, and he was standing praying in his grave.

قال الإمام مسلم في «صحيحه» (ج7ص102):

«حدثنا هداب بن خالد وشيبان بن فروخ قالا: حدثنا حماد بن سلمة، عن ثابت البناني وسليمان التيمي، عن أنس بن مالك أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: أتيت - وفي رواية هداب: مررت - على موسى ليلة أسري بي عند الكثيب الأحمر، وهو قائم ‌يصلي ‌في ‌قبره»

And Ibn Abī Shaybah mentioned in al-Muṣannaf (vol. 20, p. 100) with an authentic chain:

ʿAffān narrated to us, he said: Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, he said: Thābit (al-Bunānī) used to say:
‘O Allāh, if You were to grant anyone prayer in his grave, then grant me prayer in my grave.’

قال ابن أبي شيبة في «المصنف» (ج20ص100):

«حدثنا عفان قال: حدثنا حماد بن سلمة قال: كان ثابت (البناني) يقول: اللهم إن كنت أعطيت أحدا ‌الصلاة ‌في ‌قبره فأعطني ‌الصلاة ‌في ‌قبري.»

وذكره ابن الجعد في «مسنده» (ص209) من طريق الوليد بن شجاع عن ضمرة عن ابن شوذب به ومن طريق علي بن مسلم عن سيار عن جعفر به

عفان هو ابن مسلم ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (7/ 30) وقال: «‌سألت ‌أبي ‌عن ‌عفان ‌فقال ‌ثقة ‌متقن ‌متين»

حماد بن سلمة مشهور معروف جاء في «العلل ومعرفة الرجال لأحمد رواية ابنه عبد الله» (2/ 131): «سمعت أبي يقول حماد بن سلمة ‌أثبت ‌الناس ‌في ‌ثابت البناني»

وقال الإمام مسلم في «التمييز» (ص217): «والدليل على ما بينا من هذا اجتماع أهل الحديث ومن علمائهم على أن ‌أثبت ‌الناس ‌في ‌ثابت البناني حماد بن سلمة وكذلك قال يحيى القطان ويحيى بن معين وأحمد بن حنبل وغيرهم من أهل المعرفة»

And al-Mizzī mentioned the same story in Tahdhīb al-Kamāl fī Asmāʾ al-Rijāl (vol. 4, p. 348) and said:

…And it is said that this supplication was answered for him, and that he was seen after his death praying in his grave.

وذكره المزي في «تهذيب الكمال في أسماء الرجال» (ج4ص348) وقال:

«...ويقال: إن هذه الدعوة استجيبت له، وأنه رؤي ‌بعد ‌موته ‌يصلي ‌في ‌قبره»

Ismāʿīl al-Qāḍī said in Faḍl al-Ṣalāh ʿalā al-Nabī (p. 38) with an authentic chain to the Tābiʿī Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī:

Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb narrated to us, he said: Ḥammād ibn Zayd narrated to us, he said: Ghālib al-Qaṭṭān narrated to us, from Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī, that the Messenger of Allāh said: ‘My life is good for you: you speak and matters occur for you, and when I die, my death will be good for you. Your deeds will be presented to me: if I see good, I will praise Allāh, and if I see other than that, I will seek forgiveness from Allāh for you.’

And Ibn Saʿd mentioned it in al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā (vol. 2, p. 174) with another authentic chain to Ḥammād

قال إسماعيل القاضي في «فضل الصلاة على النبي» (ص38):

«حدثنا سليمان بن حرب قال: ثنا حماد بن زيد قال: ثنا غالب القطان، عن بكر بن عبد الله المزني، قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: ‌‌حياتي خير لكم تحدثون ويحدث لكم، فإذا أنا مت كانت وفاتي خيرا لكم، ‌تعرض ‌علي ‌أعمالكم فإن رأيت خيرا حمدت الله، وإن رأيت غير ذلك استغفرت الله لكم» 

وذكره ابن سعد في «الطبقات الكبرى» (ج2ص174) من طريق يونس بن محمد المؤدب عن حماد به

وهذا مرسل صحيح

سليمان بن حرب هو ابن بجيل صاحب حماد قال الدارقطني في «السنن» (1/ 182): «وقد وقفه سليمان بن حرب عن حماد وهو ‌ثقة ‌ثبت»

و(1/ 183): «وخالفهم سليمان بن حرب وهو ‌ثقة ‌حافظ»

ويونس بن محمد المؤدب في السند الآخر ذكره ابن سعد في «الطبقات الكبرى» (9/ 339) وقال: «‌يونس ‌بن ‌محمد ‌المؤدب ويكنى أبا محمد، وكان ثقة صدوقا»

وقال الدارمي في «تاريخ ابن معين» (ص227): «وسألته ‌عن ‌يونس ‌بن ‌محمد ‌فقال ‌ثقة»

وحماد ابن زيد هو الإمام المشهور

وغالب القطان هو غالب بن خطاف ثقة ‌من ‌رجال ‌البخاري ‌ومسلم جاء في «العلل ومعرفة الرجال لأحمد رواية ابنه عبد الله» (2/ 206): «قال أبي ‌غالب ‌القطان ‌ثقة ‌ثقة»

وبكر بن عبد الله هو بكر بن عبد الله بن عمرو بن هلال أبو عبد الله المزني ذكره العجلي في «الثقات» (ص84) وقال: «‌بكر ‌بن ‌عبد ‌الله المزني: بصري، ثقة، تابعي»

وقال ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (2/ 388): «سئل أبو زرعة عن بكر بن عبد الله المزني فقال: ‌بصري ‌ثقة ‌مأمون»

And Imām Aḥmad mentioned a similar - although weak - report in al-Musnad (vol. 20, p. 114):

ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us, Sufyān informed us, from those who heard Anas ibn Mālik say: The Prophet said:
‘Your deeds are presented to your relatives and your clans among the dead. If it is good, they rejoice in it, and if it is otherwise, they say: O Allāh, do not cause them to die until You guide them as You guided us.’

وقال الإمام أحمد في «المسند» (ج20ص114):

«حدثنا عبد الرزاق، أخبرنا سفيان، عمن سمع أنس بن مالك يقول: قال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: إن ‌أعمالكم ‌تعرض ‌على ‌أقاربكم وعشائركم من الأموات، فإن كان خيرا، استبشروا به، وإن كان غير ذلك، قالوا: اللهم لا تمتهم حتى تهديهم كما هديتنا»

 

And regarding the belief that the dead could hear

Al-Bukhārī said in his Ṣaḥīḥ (vol. 2, p. 98):

...From Ibn ʿUmar saying: The Prophet looked upon the people of the well and said: ‘Have you found what your Lord promised you to be true?’ It was said to him: Are you calling out to the dead? He said: ‘You do not hear more than they do, but they do not respond’

قال البخاري في «صحيحه» (ج2ص98):

«حدثنا علي بن عبد الله: حدثنا يعقوب بن إبراهيم: حدثني أبي، عن صالح: حدثني نافع: أن ابن عمر رضي الله عنهما أخبره قال: اطلع النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم على أهل القليب فقال: وجدتم ما وعد ربكم حقا؟ فقيل له: تدعو أمواتا؟ فقال: ‌ما ‌أنتم ‌بأسمع منهم، ولكن لا يجيبون»

Muslim said in his Ṣaḥīḥ (vol. 8, p. 162):

...From Anas ibn Mālik who said: The Messenger of Allāh said: ‘When the deceased is placed in his grave, he hears the sound of their sandals when they depart.’

قال مسلم في «صحيحه» (ج8ص162):

«وحدثنا محمد بن منهال الضرير، حدثنا يزيد بن زريع، حدثنا سعيد بن أبي عروبة، عن قتادة، عن أنس بن مالك قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: إن الميت إذا وضع في قبره، إنه ‌ليسمع ‌خفق ‌نعالهم إذا انصرفوا»

Imām Aḥmad said in his Musnad (vol. 4, p. 179) and (vol. 4, p. 216) with an authentic chain:

...From ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, who said: The Messenger of Allāh said: ‘Indeed Allāh has angels roaming the earth who convey to me the salām from my Ummah.’

And it was also mentioned by al-Dārimī in his Musnad (vol. 3, p. 1826) with another authentic chain

قال الإمام أحمد في «مسنده» (ج4ص179):

«حدثنا وكيع وعبد الرحمن قالا حدثنا سفيان عن عبد الله ابن السائب عن زاذان عن عبد الله قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، قال وكيع: إن لله في الأرض ‌ملائكة ‌سياحين، يبلغوني من أمتي السلام.»

وفي (ج4ص216): «حدثنا معاذ بن معاذ قال حدثنا سفيان بن سعيد عن عبد الله بن السائب عن زاذان عن عبد الله بن مسعود قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: إن لله عز وجل ‌ملائكة ‌سياحين في الأرض، يبلغوني من أمتي السلام.» (قال المحقق: إسناده صحيح)

قال الدارمي في «مسنده» (ج3ص1826):

حدثنا محمد بن يوسف، حدثنا سفيان، عن عبد الله بن السائب، عن زاذان، عن عبد الله بن مسعود، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: إن لله ملائكة سياحين في الأرض ‌يبلغوني ‌عن ‌أمتي ‌السلام» (قال المحقق: إسناده صحيح)

Al-Ṭabarī said in Tahdhīb al-Āthār - Musnad ʿUmar (vol. 2, p. 491):

The Salaf from the scholars of the Ummah differed regarding the meanings of these reports. A large group affirmed them as authentic and affirmed the statement according to their apparent meaning and generality. They said: The deceased, after his death, hears the speech of the living. For that reason the Prophet said to the people of the well, after they had been cast into it, what he said. They said: And in his statement to his Companions when they said: Are you speaking to people who have died and become bodies without souls? He said: ‘You do not hear what I say more than they do’ - there is a clear clarification of the correctness of what we have said, that the dead hear the speech of the living. They supported this with reports narrated from the Messenger of Allāh similar to the report we narrated from ʿUmar…

[Until he said in (vol. 2, p. 510)]: Mention of those among the Salaf who affirmed the authenticity of these reports and said: The dead hear the speech of the living, and they speak and know...

[Until he said in (vol. 2, p. 513)]: Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā narrated to us: Ibn Wahb informed us: ʿAṭṭāf ibn Khālid narrated to me, he said: My maternal aunt, called Tahallul bint al-ʿAṭṭāf - and she was devoted to worship and frequently rode out to the martyrs - narrated to me. She said: I rode out to them one day and prayed at the grave of Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib as long as Allāh willed for me to pray. When I finished and stood up, I gestured with my hand and said: Peace be upon you. She said: My ears heard the greeting coming back to me from beneath the earth. I recognized it just as I recognize that Allāh created me and just as I recognize night from day. There was no caller nor responder moving in the valley except my servant boy, asleep, holding the head of my mount. Every hair on my body stood on end. I called to the boy: My son, bring my mount. He brought my mount close and I mounted.

قال الطبري في «تهذيب الآثار - مسند عمر» (ج2ص491):

«اختلف السلف من علماء الأمة في معاني هذه الأخبار، فقال جماعة يكثر عددها بتصحيحها، وتصحيح القول بظاهرها وعمومها، وقالوا: الميت بعد موته يسمع كلام الأحياء، ولذلك قال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم لأهل القليب بعدما ألقوا فيه ما قال، قالوا: وفي قوله لأصحابه، إذ قالوا: أتكلم أقواما قد ماتوا وصاروا أجسادا لا أرواح فيها؟ فقال: «ما أنتم بأسمع لما أقول منهم» أوضح البيان عن صحة ما قلناه، من أن الموتى يسمعون كلام الأحياء، واعتلوا في ذلك بأخبار رويت عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم بنحو الخبر الذي روينا عن عمر...»

حتى قال في (ج2ص510): «ذكر من قال بتصحيح هذه الأخبار من السلف، وقالوا: إن الموتى يسمعون كلام الأحياء، ويتكلمون ويعلمون...» 

حتى قال في (ج2ص513) «حدثنا يونس بن عبد الأعلى، أنبأنا ابن وهب، حدثني عطاف بن خالد، قال: حدثتني خالة لي يقال لها تهلل بنت العطاف، وكانت من العوابد، وكانت كثيرا ما تركب إلى الشهداء، قالت: ركبت إليهم يوما فصليت عند قبر حمزة بن عبد المطلب ما شاء الله أن أصلي، حتى إذا فرغت فقمت، فقلت هكذا بيدي، السلام عليكم، قالت: فسمعت أذناي السلام يخرج إلي من تحت الأرض، أعرفه كما أعرف أن الله خلقني، وكما أعرف الليل من النهار، وما في الوادي داع، ولا مجيب يتحرك إلا غلامي نائما أخذ برأس دابتي، فاقشعرت كل شعرة مني، فدعوت الغلام: يا بني هلم دابتي، فأدنى دابتي فركبت»

هذا إسناد ‌صحيح ‌إلى عطاف وهو من أتباع التابعين

يونس بن عبد الأعلى ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (9/ 243) وقال: «سمعت ابى ‌يوثق ‌يونس بن عبد الاعلى ويرفع من شأنه»

ابن وهب هو عبد الله بن وهب المشهور ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (5/ 190) وقال: «سمعت أبا زرعة يقول: نظرت في نحو ثمانين ألف حديث من حديث ابن وهب بمصر ‌فلا ‌أعلم ‌أني ‌رأيت ‌حديثا ‌له ‌لا ‌أصل ‌له، وهو ثقة.»

And Ibn Qutaybah said in Taʾwīl Mukhtalif al-Ḥadīth (p. 228):

These matters are well-known, as though they are seen with the eye. If it is permissible that those martyrs are alive with their Lord, provided for, and that they rejoice and receive glad tidings, then why would it not be permissible that their enemies who fought and killed them are alive in the Fire being punished?

If it is permissible that they are alive, then why would it not be permissible that they hear, as the Messenger of Allāh informed us, and his statement is the truth?

...

As for His statement, Exalted is He: {Indeed, you do not cause the dead to hear} and {You cannot cause those in the graves to hear} - this has nothing to do with this matter, because by “the dead” here He meant the ignorant, and they are also the people of the graves.

He means: You are not able to make understand one whom Allāh has made ignorant, nor are you able to cause to hear one whom Allāh has made deaf to guidance.

At the beginning of these verses there is proof for what we say, for He said: {The blind and the seeing are not equal} - meaning by the blind: the disbeliever, and by the seeing: the believer.

{Nor are darknesses and light equal} - meaning by darknesses: disbelief, and by light: faith.

{Nor shade and scorching heat} - meaning by shade: Paradise, and by scorching heat: the Fire.

{Nor are the living and the dead equal} - meaning by the living: the rational, and by the dead: the ignorant.

Then He said: {Indeed, Allāh causes whom He wills to hear, and you cannot cause those in the graves to hear} - meaning: you do not cause the ignorant, who are like the dead in the graves, to hear. There is much like this in the Qurʾān.

He did not mean by “the dead,” whom He struck as a parable for the ignorant, the martyrs of Badr, such that those people could use them as proof against us, those are alive with Him, as Allāh said.

وقال ابن قتيبة في «تأويل مختلف الحديث» (ص228):

«وهذه أشياء مشهورة، كأنها عيان فإذا جاز أن يكون هؤلاء الشهداء، أحياء عند ربهم يرزقون، وجاز أن يكونوا فرحين ومستبشرين، فلم لا يجوز أن يكون أعداؤهم الذين حاربوهم وقتلوهم، أحياء في النار يعذبون؟ وإذا جاز أن يكونوا أحياء، فلم لا يجوز أن يكونوا يسمعون؟ وقد أخبرنا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، وقوله الحق؟ وأما الخبر، فقول النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم في جعفر بن أبي طالب "إنه يطير مع الملائكة في الجنة" وتسميته له ذا الجناحين، وكثرة الأخبار عنه في منكر ونكير، وفي عذاب القبر، وفي دعائه: "أعوذ بك من فتنة المحيا والممات، وأعوذ بك من عذاب القبر، ومن فتنة المسيح الدجال" وهذه الأخبار صحاح، لا يجوز على مثلها التواطؤ، وإن لم يصح مثلها، لم يصح شيء من أمور ديننا، ولا شيء أصح من أخبار نبينا صلى الله عليه وسلم. وأما قوله تعالى: {إنك لا تسمع الموتى} {وما أنت بمسمع من في القبور} فليس من هذا في شيء، لأنه أراد بالموتى ههنا الجهال، وهم أيضا أهل القبور. يريد: إنك لا تقدر على إفهام من جعله الله تعالى جاهلا، ولا تقدر على إسماع من جعله الله تعالى أصم عن الهدى. وفي صدر هذه الآيات، دليل على ما نقول، لأنه قال: {وما يستوي الأعمى والبصير} يريد بالأعمى: الكافر، وبالبصير: المؤمن. {ولا الظلمات ولا النور} يعني بالظلمات: الكفر، وبالنور: الإيمان. {ولا الظل ولا الحرور} يعني بالظل: الجنة، وبالحرور: النار. {وما يستوي الأحياء ولا الأموات} يعني بالأحياء: العقلاء، وبالأموات: الجهلاء. ثم قال: {إن الله يسمع من يشاء وما أنت بمسمع من في القبور} يعني: أنك لا تسمع الجهلاء، الذين كأنهم موتى في القبور. ومثل هذا كثير في القرآن. ولم يرد بالموتى الذين ضربهم مثلا للجهلاء شهدا بدر، فيحتج بهم علينا أولئك عنده أحياء، كما قال الله عز وجل.»

 

Now if the Khawārij say "sure some of the dead may be able to pray, and sure some of them may be able to hear certain things such as the salām or footsteps, but this doesn't prove that every dead person can hear anything you say and always respond to it O Qubūrī!"

Then I say: We never argued that making a request to them is necessarily beneficial or valid, we simply argue that you are not worshiping them by doing so, as this doesn't fall under any definition of ʿIbādah 

And once you concede that attributing to even just a single dead person the ability to hear even a single thing and perform even a single task is not major Shirk then this whole idiotic creed falls apart

Because if the belief that something like your salām can be presented to the dead and that they will respond to it is not Shirk, and the belief that the dead can be presented with your actions and make Duʿāʾ for you is not Shirk, then it is literally impossible to claim that believing that they can - in the same manner - be presented with your requests and respond to them is Shirk

And this is really the main point of this article, no one - not even Ibn Taymiyyah and the Najdiyyah - declared the one who attributes any of these mundane abilities to the dead or angels or inanimate objects or anything else to be a Mushrik, regardless of how baseless that view is, which is why they were all forced into an even more nonsensical position - as we will show in a bit

 

And there are many more examples proving this besides what we have already mentioned

One particularly problematic report for the Khawārij is what al-Tirmidhī narrated in his Sunan (vol. 2, p. 464):

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafah narrated to us, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us, from Buḥayr ibn Saʿd, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān, from Kathīr ibn Murrah, from Muʿādh ibn Jabal, from the Prophet who said: ‘No woman harms her husband in this world except that his wife from among the ḥūr al-ʿayn says: “Do not harm him - may Allāh curse you. He is only with you temporarily, soon he will part from you to come to us.”’

This is a ḥasan gharīb ḥadīth.

And Aḥmad mentioned it in his Musnad (vol. 36, p. 417), from Ibrāhīm ibn Mahdī, from Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh, and the Muḥaqqiq said: Its chain is ḥasan

قال الترمذي في «السنن» (ج2ص464):
«حدثنا الحسن بن عرفة، قال: حدثنا إسماعيل بن عياش، عن بحير بن سعد، عن خالد بن معدان، عن كثير بن مرة الحضرمي، عن معاذ بن جبل؛ عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: لا تؤذي امرأة زوجها في الدنيا إلا قالت زوجته من الحور العين: ‌لا ‌تؤذيه ‌قاتلك ‌الله، فإنما هو عندك دخيل يوشك أن يفارقك إلينا.
هذا حديث حسن غريب، لا نعرفه إلا من هذا الوجه.»

وذكره أحمد في «المسند» (ج36ص417) من طريق إبراهيم بن مهدي عن ابن عياش به. قال المحقق: إسناده حسن

Now, this ḥadīth shows a couple of things

Firstly: that the ḥūrīs are able to observe our actions from afar, and decide to make Duʿāʾ for or against us as a result - like the Prophet ﷺ and our relatives in the other narrations

And second: in the ḥadīth, the ḥūrīs demand from the wives to not harm their husbands, and this is an even bigger disaster for the Khawārij, because the aforementioned wives can neither hear nor respond to the ḥūrīs, which makes it - by the Khawārij's standards - an act of major Shirk on their end, as their beloved magical conditions are absent

These same morons think that asking a cat to dance for you is major Shirk but for some reason calling upon a person in another world who can neither hear you nor respond and asking them to not harm someone else is fine

And the only way they can really deal with this is to make up some asinine Ashʿarī-level Taʾwīl

 

As for inanimate objects, attributing any of these abilities to them falls under the same tafṣīl, and can range from - once again - obligatory, to permissible and impermissible, and minor Shirk and Kufr

Such as the case with the rock of Mūsā ʿAlayh al-Salām and the black stone

Imām Aḥmad said in al-Musnad (vol. 8, p. 270) with an authentic chain:

From ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaqīq who said: I stayed in al-Madīnah with Abū Hurayrah for a year... He said to me:...

...One day the Messenger of Allāh distributed dates among us, and each man received seven dates, among them one shriveled date. I was pleased that I had it in place of a good one. I said: Why? He said: It strengthened my chewing.

He then said to me: From where have you come? I said: From al-Shām. He said: Have you seen the stone of Mūsā? I said: What is the stone of Mūsā? He said: The Children of Isrāʾīl said something about Mūsā beneath his clothes regarding his private parts. So he placed his clothes upon a rock while he was bathing. The rock ran off with his clothes, and he followed it saying: O stone, throw down my clothes! Until it brought him to the Children of Isrāʾīl, and they saw him upright and well-formed. He struck the stone three times. By the One in whose Hand is the soul of Abū Hurayrah, had you looked you would have seen the marks of Mūsā's strikes upon it.

قال الإمام أحمد في «المسند» (ج8ص270):

«حدثنا عبد الصمد حدثني أبي ثنا الجريري عن عبد الله ابن شقيق قال أقمت بالمدينة مع أبي هريرة سنة، فقال لي ذات يوم ونحن عند حجرة عائشة: لقد رأيتنا وما لنا ثياب إلا البراد المتفتقة، وأنا ليأتي على أحدنا الأيام ما يجد طعامًا يقيم به صلبه، حتى إن كان أحدنا ليأخذ الحجر منشده على أخمص بطنه ثم يشده بثوبه ليقيم به صلبه، فقسم رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ذات يوم بيننا تمرًا فأصاب كل إنسان منا سبع تمرات فيهن حشفة في سرني أن لي مكانها ثمرة جيدة قال قلت لم؟ قال تشد لي من مضغى، قال فقال لي من أين أقبلت؟ قلت من الشام، قال فقال لي هل رأيت حجر موسى؟ قلت وما حجر موسى؟ قال إن بني إسرائيل قالوا لموسى قولاً تحت ثيابه في مذاكيره، قال فوضع ثيابه على صخرة وهو يغتسل، قال فسعت ثيابه قال فتبعها في أثرها وهو يقول يا حجر ألق ثيابي حتى أتت به على بني إسرائيل فرأوا مستويًا حسن الخلق، فلجبه ثلاث لجبات، فوالذي نفس أبي هريرة بيده لوكنت نظرت لرأيت لجبات موسى فيه.»

صحيح على شرط مسلم

Apparently - according to the Khawārij - this specific rock was alive and capable of both hearing Mūsā and responding to his request (the made-up magic conditions for such a request to not be major Shirk), and Mūsā ʿAlayh al-Salām was apparently just instantly able to tell that's the case

And apparently attributing this ability to any other rock makes you a Mushrik on the level of the Mushrikīn of Quraysh, for some reason

Al-Tirmidhī said in his Sunan (vol. 2, p. 454):

...From Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allāh said concerning the (black) Stone: ‘By Allāh, Allāh will surely raise it on the Day of Resurrection having two eyes with which it will see and a tongue with which it will speak, testifying for whoever touched it in truth.’

This is a ḥasan ḥadīth.

قال الترمذي في «السنن» (ج2ص454):

«حدثنا قتيبة، قال: حدثنا جرير، عن ابن خثيم، عن سعيد بن جبير عن ابن عباس، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في الحجر: والله ‌ليبعثنه ‌الله ‌يوم ‌القيامة له عينان يبصر بهما، ولسان ينطق، يشهد على من استلمه بحق

هذا حديث حسن.»

Mind you, many "Qurʾānists", Christian polemicists and other clowns use this report and similar ones to accuse Sunnīs of "worshiping the black stone", using the exact argument as these Khawārij, and quoting the Āyah

{And they worship other than Allāh that which neither harms them nor benefits them, and they say, "These are our intercessors with Allāh."}

{‌ويعبدون من دون الله ما لا يضرهم ولا ينفعهم ‌ويقولون ‌هؤلاء ‌شفعاؤنا عند الله}

And ʿAbdullāh mentioned a similar (although weak) narration in al-Zuhd (p. 240):

ʿUbaydullāh ibn ʿUmar al-Qawārīrī narrated to me: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī narrated to us, Shuʿbah ibn Ziyād al-Umawī narrated to us, he said: I saw ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz holding a fold from the folds of ʿAbdullāh ibn Ḥasan, squeezing it, and he said: ‘Indeed, I hope for intercession by it on the Day of Resurrection.’

قال عبد الله في «الزهد» (ص240):

«حدثني عبيد الله بن عمر القواريري، حدثنا أبو أحمد الزبيري، حدثنا شعبة بن زيادة الأموي قال: رأيت عمر بن عبد العزيز آخذا بعكنة من عكن عبد الله بن حسن فغمزها وقال: إني ‌لأرجو ‌الشفاعة ‌بها يوم القيامة»

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā said in al-ʿUqūbāt (p. 81) with an authentic chain to the Imām Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah:

Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd narrated to me, he said: I heard Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah say: ‘When Ādam was sent down, he said: O earth, feed me. It said: Indeed, by Allāh, not until you perform a deed in which your forehead perspires.’

قال ابن أبي الدنيا في «العقوبات» (ص81):

«حدثني إبراهيم بن سعيد، قال: سمعت سفيان بن عيينة، قال: لما أهبط آدم عليه السلام قال: ‌يا ‌أرض ‌أطعميني، قالت: أما والله دون أن تعمل عملا يعرق فيه جبينك فلا»

إبراهيم بن سعيد هو إبراهيم بن سعيد الجوهري أبو إسحاق البغدادي

قال النسائي في «المشيخة» (ص82): «‌إبراهيم ‌بن ‌سعيد الجوهري البغدادي ‌ثقة»

وقال الخطيب في «تاريخ بغداد» (6/ 618): «إبراهيم بن سعيد، أبو إسحاق الجوهري. سمع سفيان بن عيينة... روى عنه أبو حاتم الرازي، وأبو بكر بن أبي الدنيا... وكان مكثرا ثقة ثبتا، صنف المسند، وانتقل عن بغداد، فسكن عين زربة مرابطا بها إلى أن مات.»

And there are a few weak reports that further testify to this

Such as what Ibn Abī Ḥātim said in his Tafsīr (vol. 9, p. 3047):

Abū Zurʿah narrated to us, ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād narrated to us, Asbāṭ narrated to us, from al-Suddī: 

Then Ibrāhīm came to his people and began calling them and warning them. So they confined him in a house and gathered firewood for him, until a woman would fall ill and say: If Allāh cures me, I will surely gather firewood for Ibrāhīm. They gathered and increased the firewood until even a bird passing over it would burn from the intensity of its blaze and heat.

They took him and raised him to the top of a structure. Ibrāhīm raised his head to the sky, and the heaven, the earth, the mountains, and the angels said: Our Lord, Ibrāhīm is being burned for Your sake. He said: I know best about him, if he calls upon you, then aid him.

When Ibrāhīm raised his head to the sky he said: O Allāh, You are the One, the Unique in the heaven, and I am the one in the earth, there is no one worshipping You other than me. Sufficient for me is Allāh, and He is the best Disposer of affairs. Then they cast him into the fire.

And Aḥmad narrated a similar report in al-Zuhd (p. 68), although both his and Ibn Abī Ḥātim's versions are weak, we already established that they would not narrate "Shirk" without condemning it

قال ابن أبي حاتم في «تفسيره» (ج9ص3047):

«حدثنا أبو زرعة، ثنا عمرو بن حماد، ثنا أسباط، عن السدي ثم إن إبراهيم أتى قومه فجعل يدعوا قومه وينذرهم، فحبسوه في بيت وجمعوا له الحطب حتى إن المرأة لتمرض فتقول: لئن عافاني الله لأجمعن لإبراهيم حطبا. فلما جمعوا وأكثروا الحطب حتى إن كان الطير ليمر بها فيحترق من شدة وهجها وحرها، فعمدوا إليه فرفعوه إلى رأس البنيان فرفع إبراهيم رأسه إلى السماء، فقالت السماء والأرض والجبال والملائكة: ربنا إبراهيم يحترق فيك قال: أنا أعلم به فإن دعاكم فأغيثوه وقال إبراهيم حين رفع رأسه إلى السماء، اللهم أنت الواحد الأحد في السماء وأنا الواحد في الأرض ليس أحد يعبدك غيري: حسبي الله ونعم الوكيل فقذفوه في النار.»

وذكره أحمد في «الزهد» (ص68)

And Ibn Qudāmah said in al-Tawwābīn (p. 57), under the chapter “The repentance of a sinner among the sinners”:

Al-Shaykh Abū al-Faraj informed us in what he wrote to me: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī al-Qāsim narrated to us, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿUmayr narrated to us, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qāḍī narrated to us, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Marwānī narrated to us, Muḥammad ibn al-Mundhir narrated to me, al-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān narrated to us, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb narrated to us, Ibn Zayd narrated to me, from Rabīʿah ibn ʿUthmān al-Taymī, who said:

A man was engaged in acts of disobedience to Allāh, then Allāh willed good and repentance for him. He said to his wife: I am seeking an intercessor with Allāh.

So he went out to the desert and began shouting: O sky, intercede for me, O mountains, intercede for me, O earth, intercede for me, O angels, intercede for me.

Exhaustion overcame him and he fell unconscious. Allāh sent to him an angel who sat him up and wiped his head and said to him: Rejoice, for Allāh has accepted your repentance.

He said: May Allāh have mercy on you - who was my intercessor with Allāh?

He said: Your fear interceded for you with Allāh.

And Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī mentioned it in al-Mashīkhah al-Baghdādiyyah (vol. 2, p. 230)

قال ابن قدامة في «التوابين» (ص57):

«‌‌[توبة عاص من العصاة]

أخبرنا الشيخ أبو الفرج فيما كتب إلي به أنا عبد الملك بن أبي القاسم أنا محمد بن علي بن عمير أنا محمد بن محمد بن عبد الله القاضي ثنا محمد بن أحمد المرواني قال: حدثني محمد بن المنذر أنا الربيع بن سليمان أنا عبد الله بن وهب قال: حدثني ابن زيد عن ربيعة بن عثمان التيمي قال: كان رجل على معاصي الله تعالى ثم إن الله أراد به خيرا وتوبة فقال لزوجته: إني لملتمس شفيعا إلى الله تعالى. فخرج إلى الصحراء فجعل يصيح: يا ‌سماء ‌اشفعي لي يا جبال اشفعي لي يا أرض اشفعي لي يا ملائكة اشفعي لي. فأدركه الجهد فخر مغشيا عليه فبعث الله إليه ملكا فأجلسه ومسح رأسه وقال له: أبشر فقد قبل الله توبتك. قال: رحمك الله! من كان شفيعي إلى الله عز وجل؟ قال: خشيتك شفعت لك إلى الله تعالى.»

وذكره أبو طاهر السلفي في «المشيخة البغدادية» (ج2ص230)

 

Now, some of the Khawārij argue that this is all - or mostly - acceptable because it is done off the assumption that Allāh granted all these objects the necessary abilities

But this fails on two levels

Firstly: If merely asking rocks or the earth or any inanimate object to perform tasks for you, or believing it could hear you and respond to your requests, or believing it could benefit you in some way - like the black stone - was Shirk, then this would be impossible

Since - from the Khawārij's perspective - this would be equivalent to a ḥadīth saying that we can "worship" an idol and that it would then respond to us, or that such idol could testify for us or protect us

And second: Even when there is no textual proof that Allāh granted a certain object the ability to benefit or harm you, or granted it will, or hearing, or any other ability that some of the creation have - then attributing it to that object is still not major Shirk

 

And the absolute best example of this is the case of al-Tamāʾim (amulets) - which funnily enough many of these Khawārij actually do believe are Shirk akbar to hang or attribute any ability to

Ibn Abī Shaybah said in al-Muṣannaf (vol. 13, p. 116), in the chapter “Hanging amulets and incantations”:

Wakīʿ narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Ibrāhīm, from Abū ʿUbaydah, who said: ʿAbd Allāh (ibn Masʿūd) entered upon his wife while she was ill, and there was a string hanging around her neck. He said: What is this? She said: Something over which ruqyah was recited for me for fever. So he cut it and said: The family of Ibrāhīm have no need of Shirk.

It was also mentioned by Ibn Baṭṭah in al-Ibānah al-Kubrā (vol. 2, p. 742), in the chapter "Mention of the sins that lead their doer to [a form of] kufr which does not take him out of the religion"

قال ابن أبي شيبة في «المصنف» (ج13ص116) في باب «تعليق التمائم والرقى»:

«حدثنا وكيع عن الأعمش عن إبراهيم عن أبي عبيدة قال: دخل عبد الله على امرأته وهي مريضة، فإذا في عنقها خيط معلق فقال: ما هذا؟ فقالت: شيء رقي لي فيه من الحمى، فقطعه فقال: إن آل إبراهيم أغنياء عن الشرك.»

وذكره ابن بطة في «الإبانة الكبرى» (ج2ص742) في باب «ذكر الذنوب التي تصير بصاحبها إلى كفر غير خارج عن الملة»

وهذا إسناد صحيح إلى التابعي أبي عبيدة بن عبد الله بن مسعود

And Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām said in al-Īmān (p. 38), in the chapter “Exiting from Īmān through sins”:

Among the type in which Shirk is mentioned is the statement of the Prophet: ‘What I fear most for my Ummah is minor Shirk.’ It was said: O Messenger of Allāh, what is the minor Shirk? He said: ‘Al-Riyāʾ.’

And from it is his statement: ‘Omen-taking is Shirk, and none of us is free of it, but Allāh removes it through reliance.’

And the statement of ʿAbd Allāh concerning amulets and love-charms: ‘They are from Shirk.’

And the statement of Ibn ʿAbbās: ‘The people commit Shirk with their dog!’ They say: Our dog guards us, were it not for our dog, we would have been robbed.’

قال أبو عبيد القاسم بن سلام في «الإيمان» (ص38) في ‌‌باب «الخروج من الإيمان بالمعاصي»:

«ومن النوع الذي فيه ذكر الشرك: قول النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: أخوف ما أخاف على أمتي الشرك الأصغر، قيل: يا رسول الله وما الشرك الأصغر؟ قال: الرياء، ومنه قوله: الطيرة شرك، وما منا إلا ولكن الله يذهبه بالتوكل وقول عبد الله: في التمائم والتولة: إنها من الشرك وقول ابن عباس: إن القوم يشركون بكلبهم! يقولون: كلبنا يحرسنا، ولولا كلبنا لسرقنا»

And similarly, Saḥnūn said in al-Mudawwanah (vol. 2, p. 71):

I said: What if a man says to her: You are divorced if this thing wills - referring to something that does not will anything, such as a stone or a wall?

He (Ibn al-Qāsim) said: I hold that nothing is upon him, because he assigned the will to one for whom no will is known, and whose will people are not able to know, so he made the will dependent upon it, so there is no divorce upon him.

قال سحنون في «المدونة» (ج2ص71):

«قلت: أرأيت إن قال لها: أنت طالق إن شاء هذا الشيء لشيء لا يشاء شيئا، مثل الحجر والحائط قال أرى أنه لا شيء عليه؛ لأنه جعل المشيئة إلى من لا يعلم له مشيئة ولا يستطيع الناس علم مشيئته فجعل المشيئة إليه فلا طلاق عليه»

Notice how Ibn al-Qāsim said there is "nothing upon" - meaning no divorce for - the one who assigned will to a stone or a wall

Why didn't he mention that this person is a stone-worshiping Mushrik who should renew his Islām? Why didn't Ibn Masʿūd - or anyone else - takfīr his wife for ascribing a string the ability to help with fevers?

 

And as I mentioned previously, this is why even the Najdiyyah - who were in reality the only ones who held that Ṭalab al-Duʿāʾ is major Shirk - were forced to concede that the one who does it is excused for all eternity as long as he doesn't personally take their made up Lawāzim

Sulaymān bin Saḥmān al-Najdī said in Kashf al-Awhām (p. 79):

As for his statement that it would necessitate takfīring a group of the scholars of the Salaf from Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah and those who followed them, as well as those from the common Muslims who refrained from takfīring them, and in that is a severe threat and emphatic prohibition

The answer is that it is said: That is not necessitated, and even if it were necessitated, lāzim al-Madhhab (necessary implication of a doctrine) is not itself a Madhhab, as is established and well known from the speech of the scholars.

Shaykh ʿAbdullāh, the son of the Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb Raḥimahullāh said in his treatise which he wrote after entering Makkah, in response to one who said: ‘It follows from your claim that whoever says: “O Messenger of Allāh, I ask you for intercession” is a Mushrik whose blood is lawful, that the majority of the Ummah - especially the later ones - must be upon Kufr, since their relied upon scholars explicitly stated that this is recommended, and they attacked those who opposed that.’

He - Raḥimahullāh - said: That is not necessitated, because lāzim al-Madhhab is not a Madhhab, as is established. Likewise, it does not follow that we are Mujassimah if we affirm ʿUluww, as the ḥadīth has mentioned that. And we say regarding those who have died: {That is a nation which has passed away}. And we do not takfīr except the one to whom our call to the truth has reached, the path has been clarified for him, the proof has been established against him, and he persists arrogantly and stubbornly - like the majority of those whom we fight today: they persist upon that Shirk, refuse to perform the obligations, and openly commit the major prohibitions. As for the minority, we only fight them because they support those whose condition is like that, are pleased with them, increase their numbers, and rally alongside them. Thus they then take their ruling regarding the permissibility of fighting them.

And we excuse those who have passed by saying that they were mistaken and excused, due to their lack of infallibility from error, and the ʾIjmāʿ upon that is definitive.

Until he said: If you say: This applies to one who was heedless and, when alerted, awakened - but what about one who refined the evidences, examined the statements of the leading Imāms, and continued persisting upon that until he died?

I say: There is no impediment to excusing the one mentioned and not saying that he is a Kāfir - firstly, because of what has preceded, that he is mistaken, even if he persisted upon his error - due to the absence, in his time, of one who would contend in this issue with tongue, sword, and spear. Thus the proof was not established against him, nor was the path clarified for him. Rather, what predominated in the time of the aforementioned authors was collective agreement upon abandoning the speech of the Imāms of the Sunnah regarding this. Whoever came across it turned away from it before it could settle in his heart. And their kibār would constantly forbid their ṣighār from even generally examining this matter. And the authority of the rulers was overpowering against anyone in whose heart something of that settled - except those whom Allāh willed among them.

…

And likewise, we do not declare Kufr upon the one whose religiosity is sound, whose righteousness is well known, whose knowledge, waraʿ, and zuhd are recognized, whose conduct is good, and who reached the level of sincerely advising the Ummah by expending himself in teaching beneficial knowledge and authoring therein - even if he erred in this issue or other than it - such as Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī. For indeed we know his speech in al-Durr al-Munaẓẓam, and we do not deny the breadth of his knowledge. For this reason we give attention to his books such as Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn and al-Zawājir and others, and we accept his transmission when he transmits, because he is among the scholars of the Muslims.

قال سليمان بن سحمان النجدي في «كشف الأوهام والإلتباس عن تشبيه بعض الأغبياء من الناس» (ص79):

«وأما قوله إذ يلزم منه تكفير طائفة من علماء السلف من أهل السنة والجماعة ومن تبعهم ممن سكت عن تكفيرهم من عوام المسلمين وفيه الوعيد الشديد والنهي الأكيد فالجواب أن يقال لا يلزم ذلك ولو لزم فلازم المذهب ليس بمذهب كما هو مقرر معلوم من كلام العلماء

قال الشيخ عبد الله ابن الشيخ محمد بن عبد الوهاب رحمه الله في رسالته التي كتبها بعد دخول مكة المشرفة في جواب من قال يلزم من تقريركم وقطعكم في أن من قال يا رسول الله أسألك الشفاعة أنه مشرك مهدر الدم أن يقال بكفر غالب الأمة لاسيما المتأخرين لتصريح علمائهم المعتبرين أن ذلك مندوب وشنوا الغارة على من خالف في ذلك

فقال رحمه الله لا يلزم ذلك لأن لازم المذهب ليس بمذهب كما هو مقرر ومثل ذلك لا يلزم أن نكون مجسمة وإن قلنا بجهة العلو كما ورد الحديث بذلك ونحن نقول فيمن مات {تلك أمة قد خلت} ولا نكفر إلا من بلغته دعوتنا للحق ووضحت له المحجة وقامت عليه الحجة وأصر مستكبرا معاندا كغالب من نقاتلهم اليوم يصرون على ذلك الإشراك ويمتنعون من فعل الواجبات ويتظاهرون بأفعال الكبائر المحرمات وغير الغالب إنما نقاتله لمناصرته لمن هذه حاله ورضاه به ولتكثير سواد من ذكر والتأليب معه فله حينئذ حكمه في حل قتاله

ونعتذر عمن مضى بأنهم مخطئون معذورون لعدم عصمتهم من الخطأ والإجماع في ذلك قطعي

إلى أن قال فإن قلت هذا فيمن ذهل فلما نبه انتبه فما القول فيمن حرر الأدلة واطلع على كلام الأئمة القدوة واستمر مصرا على ذلك حتى مات قلت ولا مانع أن نعتذر لمن ذكر ولا نقول أنه كافر أولا لما تقدم أنه مخطئ وإن استمر على خطئه لعدم من يناضل عن هذه المسألة في وقته بلسانه وسيفه وسنانه فلم تقم عليه الحجة ولا وضحت له المحجة بل الغالب على زمن المؤلفين المذكورين التواطؤ على هجر كلام أئمة السنة في ذلك فمن اطلع عليه أعرض عنه قبل أن يتمكن في قلبه ولم يزل أكابرهم تنهى أصاغرهم عن مطلق النظر في ذلك وصولة الملوك قاهرة لمن وقر في قلبه شيء من ذلك إلا من شاء الله منهم...

ونحن كذلك لا نقول بكفر من صحت ديانته وشهر صلاحه وعلم ورعه وزهده وحسنت سيرته وبلغ من نصحه الأمة ببذل نفسه لتدريس العلوم النافعة والتأليف فيها وإن كان مخطئا في هذه المسألة أو غيرها كابن حجر الهيتمي فإنا نعلم كلامه في الدار المنظم ولا ننكر سعة علمه ولهذا نعتني بكتبه ك شرح الأربعين والزواجر وغيرهما ونأخذ بنقله إذا نقل لأنه من جملة علماء المسلمين انتهى»

 

And I just want to point out how hilarious this whole thing is

This issue of Ṭalab al-Duʿāʾ was known since the time of the Salaf - most famously with the story of Mālik al-Dār - and for over a thousand years no one called it Shirk or made takfīr over it - not even Ibn Taymiyyah or his students who considered it a Bidʿah at most, and then finally when a group dumb enough to actually consider it Shirk popped up, they still decided to infinitely excuse the one who does it or calls towards it, even if they "refined the evidences, examined the statements of the leading Imāms, and continued persisting upon that until they died", because - as I said - not even they could argue that merely asking the dead to make Duʿāʾ for you while believing Allāh granted them the ability to both perform it and hear your request is Shirk

So apparently the entire Muslim Ummah since the time of the Salaf was upon Shirk and misguidance until a bunch of teenagers and their Telegram Shuyūkh - who cannot even define ʿIbādah - discovered the real Tawḥīd™

 

But where their creed really falls apart is the issue of angels

None of their completely made up conditions even apply to angels, as - at least some - angels are

1. Capable of fulfilling various tasks
2. Alive
3. Present/hearing

Muslim narrated in his Ṣaḥīḥ (vol. 2, p. 194):

...From Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī that he said: Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr was one night reciting in his enclosure when his horse began to move about. He recited, and it moved again. He recited, and it moved again. Usayd said: I feared that it might trample Yaḥyā, so I stood up to it, and there was something like a canopy above my head containing what seemed like lamps, ascending into the sky until I could no longer see it.

He said: I went the next morning to the Messenger of Allāh and said: O Messenger of Allāh, last night in the depth of the night I was reciting in my enclosure when my horse began to move.

The Messenger of Allāh said: ‘Recite, O Ibn Ḥuḍayr.’
He said: So I recited, and it moved again.
The Messenger of Allāh said: ‘Recite, O Ibn Ḥuḍayr.’
He said: So I recited, and it moved again.
The Messenger of Allāh said: ‘Recite, O Ibn Ḥuḍayr.’

He said: So I stopped, and Yaḥyā was near it and I feared it might trample him. I saw something like a canopy containing what seemed like lamps ascending into the sky until I could no longer see it.

The Messenger of Allāh said: ‘Those were the angels listening to you. Had you continued reciting, the people would have seen them in the morning, not concealed from them.’

قال مسلم في «صحيحه» (ج2ص194):
«وحدثني حسن بن علي الحلواني، وحجاج بن الشاعر - وتقاربا في اللفظ - قالا: حدثنا يعقوب بن إبراهيم، حدثنا أبي، حدثنا يزيد بن الهاد أن عبد الله بن خباب حدثه أن أبا سعيد الخدري حدثه ‌أن ‌أسيد ‌بن ‌حضير ‌بينما ‌هو ‌ليلة ‌يقرأ ‌في ‌مربده ‌إذ ‌جالت ‌فرسه. فقرأ ثم جالت أخرى، فقرأ ثم جالت أيضا. قال أسيد: فخشيت أن تطأ يحيى فقمت إليها، فإذا مثل الظلة فوق رأسي فيها أمثال السرج عرجت في الجو حتى ما أراها. قال: فغدوت على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقلت: يا رسول الله، بينما أنا البارحة من جوف الليل أقرأ في مربدي، إذ جالت فرسي. فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: اقرأ ابن حضير قال: فقرأت ثم جالت أيضا، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: اقرأ ابن حضير. قال: فقرأت ثم جالت أيضا، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: اقرأ ابن حضير. قال: فانصرفت وكان يحيى قريبا منها خشيت أن تطأه، فرأيت مثل الظلة فيها أمثال السرج عرجت في الجو حتى ما أراها. فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: تلك الملائكة كانت تستمع لك، ولو قرأت لأصبحت يراها الناس ما تستتر منهم»

And Ibn Abī Ḥātim narrated something similar in his Tafsīr (vol. 8, p. 2651) with an authentic chain to Qatādah:

Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā narrated to us, al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd informed us, Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ narrated to us, Saʿīd narrated to us from Qatādah regarding His statement: {When you enter houses, greet yourselves}. If you enter a house in which there is no one, then say: ‘Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allāh,’ for he used to be commanded with that.

And it was narrated to us that the angels respond to him.

قال  ابن أبي حاتم في «تفسيره» (ج8ص2651):

«حدثنا محمد بن يحيى، أنبأ العباس بن الوليد، ثنا يزيد بن زريع، ثنا سعيد عن قتادة قوله: فإذا دخلتم بيوتا فسلموا على أنفسكم إذا دخلت بيتا لا أحد فيه فقل: السلام علينا وعلى عباد الله الصالحين فإنه كان يؤمر بذلك. وحدثنا أن ‌الملائكة ‌ترد ‌عليه.»

محمد بن يحيى هو ابن الضريس ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (7/ 198) وقال: «محمد بن أيوب بن يحيى بن الضريس روى عن ابى الوليد الطيالسي ومسلم بن ابراهيم والقعنبى ومحمد بن كثير وسليمان بن حرب ومحمد بن سعيد بن سابق كتبنا عنه وكان ثقة صدوقا»

العباس بن الوليد هو النرسي ذكره ابن الجنيد في «سؤالات ليحيى بن معين» (ص358) وقال: «‌وسمعته يقول: النرسيان ‌ثقتان»

وجاء في «إكمال تهذيب الكمال - ط العلمية» (4/ 299): «وفي كتاب "الجرح والتعديل" عن الدارقطني: ثقة. وقال ‌السمعاني: ‌كان ‌متقنا ‌صدوقا.»

يزيد بن زريع ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (9/ 264) وقال: «نا أبو بكر الأسدي قال سمعت أحمد بن حنبل يقول: يزيد بن زريع إليه المنتهى في التثبت بالبصرة. نا محمد بن حمويه بن الحسن قال سمعت أبا طالب قال قال احمد بن حنبل: يزيد بن زريع ما اتقنه واحفظه، يالك من صحة حديث، صدوق متقن... قرئ على العباس بن محمد الدوري عن يحيى بن معين انه سئل عن يزيد بن زريع وعبد العزيز بن عبد الصمد العمى ايهما يقدم؟ قال: يزيد اوثق. ذكره أبي عن إسحاق بن منصور عن يحيى بن معين أنه قال: يزيد بن زريع ثقة. حدثني أبي نا معاوية بن صالح [بن عبيد الله] قال قلت ليحيى بن معين: من أثبت شيوخ البصريين؟ قال: يزيد بن زريع مع جماعة سماهم. سألت ابى عن يزيد ابن زريع فقال: امام ثقة»

سعيد هو ابن أبي عروبة ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (4/ 66) وقال: «سمعت أبي يقول: سعيد بن ابى عروبة قبل أن يختلط ثقة، وكان ‌أعلم ‌الناس ‌بحديث ‌قتادة. سئل أبو زرعة عن سعيد بن أبي عروبة فقال: ثقة مأمون. قلت لأبي زرعة: سعيد بن أبي عروبة أحفظ أو أبان العطار؟ فقال سعيد أحفظ، وأثبت أصحاب قتادة هشام وسعيد.»

And not only can angels hear, they are able to perform certain tasks for us, such as intercession - and this will be extremely relevant for the second part of this article

Ibn Abī Shaybah said in al-Muṣannaf (vol. 19, p. 375):

Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl narrated to us from ʿĀṣim from Abū ʿUthmān from Salmān (al-Fārisī) who said: ‘If a servant remembers Allāh in ease and praises Him in prosperity, then hardship afflicts him and he supplicates to Allāh, the angels say: “A familiar voice from a weak man,” and they intercede for him. But if the servant does not remember Allāh in ease nor praise Him in prosperity, then hardship afflicts him and he supplicates to Allāh, the angels say: “An unfamiliar voice,” and they do not intercede for him.’

قال ابن أبي شيبة في «المصنف» (ج19ص375):

«حدثنا محمد بن فضيل عن عاصم عن أبي عثمان عن سلمان قال: إذا كان العبد يذكر الله في السراء ويحمده في الرخاء فأصابه ضر فدعا الله قالت الملائكة: صوت معروف من امرئ ضعيف فيشفعون ‌له، وإن كان العبد لا يذكر الله في السراء، ولا يحمده في الرخاء، فأصابه ضر فدعا الله قالت الملائكة: صوت منكر فلم يشفعوا له.»

محمد بن فضيل ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (8/ 57) وقال: «أنا حرب بن إسماعيل فيما كتب إلى قال قلت لأبي عبد الله احمد بن حنبل محمد بن فضيل؟ قال كان يتشيع وكان حسن الحديث. أنا يعقوب بن إسحاق فيما كتب إلى نا عثمان بن سعيد الدارمي قال سألت يحيى بن معين عن محمد بن فضيل فقال: ثقة.»

عاصم هو ابن سليمان ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (6/ 344) وقال: «ذكره أبي عن إسحاق بن منصور عن يحيى بن معين قال عاصم ابن سليمان الاحول ثقة. سألت ابى عن عاصم بن سليمان الأحول فقال صالح الحديث، سئل أبو زرعة عن عاصم بن سليمان الأحول فقال بصرى ثقة.»

أبو عثمان هو ‌‌عبد الرحمن بن مل ذكره أبو نعيم في «معرفة الصحابة» (4/ 1869) وقال: «‌‌عبد الرحمن بن مل أبو عثمان النهدي أسلم في عهد النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ولم يره... كان كثير العبادة، حسن القراءة، ‌لزم ‌سلمان ‌الفارسي ‌فصحبه اثني عشر سنة»

وذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (5/ 283) وقال: «سئل أبو زرعة عن أبي عثمان النهدي فقال بصري ثقة. سمعت أبي يقول: كان ‌أبو ‌عثمان ‌النهدي ‌ثقة وكان عريف قومه.»

Additionally, every human has an appointed angel watching over him, as al-Ṭabarī mentioned in his Tafsīr (vol. 13, p. 460) with an authentic chain to Mujāhid:

Siwār ibn ʿAbdullāh narrated to us, he said: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān narrated to us, he said: I heard Layth narrating from Mujāhid that he said: ‘There is no servant except that he has an angel appointed over him to guard him in his sleep and wakefulness from the jinn, humans, and creeping creatures. Nothing from them comes to him intending him except that it says: “Behind you!” - except something for which Allāh gives permission, and then it strikes him.’

قال الطبري في «تفسيره» (ج13ص460):

«حدثنا سوار بن عبد الله، قال: ثنا المعتمر بن سليمان، قال: سمعت ليثا يحدث عن مجاهد، أنه قال: ‌ما ‌من ‌عبد ‌إلا ‌له ‌ملك موكل بحفظه في نومه ويقظته، من الجن والإنس والهوام، فما منها شيء يأتيه يريده إلا قال: وراءك. إلا شيئا يأذن الله فيه، فيصيبه.»

سوار بن عبد الله هو سوار بن عبد الله العنبري ذكره النسائي في «المشيخة» (ص89) وقال: «سوار ‌بن ‌عبد ‌الله بن سوار التميمي العنبري البصري ‌ثقة»

معتمر هو ابن سليمان التيمي قال ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (8/ 402): «ذكره أبي عن إسحاق بن منصور عن يحيى بن معين أنه قال: معتمر بن سليمان ثقة. سمعت أبى يقول: معتمر بن سليمان التيمى ثقة صدوق.»

And even those specific angels are capable of hearing us and performing tasks for us - making Duʿāʾ for example

As Muslim mentioned in his Ṣaḥīḥ (vol. 8, p. 86):

...From Ṣafwān. He said: I came to al-Shām and went to Abū al-Dardāʾ at his home but did not find him. I found Umm al-Dardāʾ, and she said: Are you intending Ḥajj this year? I said: Yes. She said: Then supplicate to Allāh for goodness for us, for indeed the Prophet used to say:

‘The supplication of a Muslim for his brother in his absence is answered. At his head is an appointed angel, whenever he supplicates for his brother with goodness, the angel appointed over him says: “Āmīn, and for you the like.”’

He said: I went out to the marketplace and met Abū al-Dardāʾ, and he said to me the same, narrating it from the Prophet.

قال الإمام مسلم في «صحيحه» (ج8ص86):

«حدثنا إسحاق بن إبراهيم، أخبرنا عيسى بن يونس، حدثنا عبد الملك بن أبي سليمان، عن أبي الزبير، عن صفوان وهو ابن عبد الله بن صفوان وكانت تحته الدرداء قال: قدمت الشام فأتيت أبا الدرداء في منزله فلم أجده، ووجدت أم الدرداء فقالت: أتريد الحج العام؟ فقلت: نعم قالت: فادع الله لنا بخير فإن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم كان يقول: ‌دعوة ‌المرء ‌المسلم ‌لأخيه ‌بظهر ‌الغيب ‌مستجابة، عند رأسه ملك موكل كلما دعا لأخيه بخير قال الملك الموكل به: آمين ولك بمثل. قال: فخرجت إلى السوق فلقيت أبا الدرداء فقال لي مثل ذلك يرويه عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم.»

And likewise, there are angels stationed in specific places who are also able to perform certain tasks, such as the angels at the mosque

As Ibn Abī Shaybah mentioned in his Muṣannaf (vol. 19, p. 359) with an authentic chain to Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib:

Yazīd ibn Hārūn narrated to us, he said: ʿUyaynah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān informed us from Ayyūb ibn Mūsā from Abū Ḥāzim from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib who said: ‘Indeed, the mosques have pegs from the servants of Allāh, their companions are the angels. When they are absent, they ask about them. If they are ill, they visit them, and if they are in need, they assist them.’

And ʿAbd al-Razzāq mentioned a similar report in his Muṣannaf (vol. 10, p. 323) with an authentic chain to ʿAṭāʾ

قال ابن أبي شيبة في «المصنف» (ج19ص359):

«حدثنا يزيد بن هارون قال: أخبرنا عيينة بن عبد الرحمن عن أيوب ابن موسى عن أبي حازم عن سعيد بن المسيب قال: إن للمساجد من عباد الله أوتادا جلساؤهم الملائكة فإذا فقدوهم سألوا عنهم، فإن كانوا مرضى عادوهم، وإن كانوا في ‌حاجة ‌أعانوهم.»

يزيد بن هارون هو الإمام المشهور

عيينة بن عبد الرحمن ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (7/ 31) وقال: «نا عباس بن محمد الدوري قال سمعت يحيى بن معين يقول ‌عيينة ‌بن ‌عبد ‌الرحمن ‌ثقة، سألت ابى عن عيينة بن عبد الرحمن فقال صدوق.»

أيوب بن موسى هو القرشي الفقيه ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (2/ 257) وقال: «أنا عبد الله بن أحمد بن حنبل فيما كتب إلي قال قال أبي: أيوب بن موسى ثقة ليس به بأس. ذكره أبي عن إسحاق بن منصور عن يحيى ابن معين أنه قال: أيوب بن موسى ثقة. سمعت أبي يقول: أيوب بن موسى صالح، قال أبو زرعة: أيوب بن موسى ثقة.»

أبو حازم هو سلمة بن دينار الإمام المعروف

وقال عبد الرزاق في «المصنف» (ج10ص323):

«عن معمر، عن عطاء الخراساني رفع الحديث، قال: إن للمساجد أوتادا جلساؤهم الملائكة يتفقدونهم، فإن كانوا في حاجة أعانوهم، وإن مرضوا عادوهم، وإن خلفوا افتقدوهم، وإن حضروا، قالوا: اذكروا ذكركم الله.»

هذا صحيح مرسل رجاله أئمة

And not only that, there are also narrations specifically about making requests to the angels

Ibn Abī Shaybah said in al-Muṣannaf (vol. 16, p. 319) in the chapter "What a man supplicates (literally: makes Duʿāʾ) with when something he lost goes missing."

Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar narrated to us from Usāmah from Abān ibn Ṣāliḥ from Mujāhid from Ibn ʿAbbās who said: ‘Indeed Allāh has angels in addition to His other creation who record what falls from the leaves of trees. If one of you suffers difficulty during travel, let him call out: “Assist me, O servants of Allāh, may Allāh have mercy on you.”’

«مصنف ابن أبي شيبة» (ج16ص319) في باب «ما يدعو به الرجل إذا ضلت منه الضالة»: 

«حدثنا أبو خالد الأحمر عن أسامة عن أبان بن صالح عن مجاهد عن ابن عباس قال: إن لله ملائكة فضلا سوى خلقه يكتبون ما سقط من ورق الشجر، فإذا أصابت أحدكم عرجة في سفر ‌فليناد: ‌أعينوا ‌عباد ‌الله، رحمكم الله»

Although this narration is weak, we have already established that Ibn Abī Shaybah would never narrate a story that promotes "Shirk" or attribute it to the Prophets or the Ṣaḥābah

Additionally, it seems some scholars acted upon this narration depsite its weakness, most famously Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal

As his son ʿAbdullāh reported in his Masāʾil (p. 245):

I heard my father say: ‘I performed Ḥajj five times: two of them riding and three walking - or two walking and three riding. During one Ḥajj I lost the road while I was walking, and I began saying: “O servants of Allāh, guide us to the road.” I continued saying that until I found the road,’ or as my father said.

جاء في «مسائل الإمام أحمد رواية ابنه عبد الله» (ص245):

«سمعت ابي يقول حججت خمس حجج منها ثنتين راكبا وثلاثة ماشيا او ثنتين ماشيا وثلاثة راكبا فضللت الطريق في حجة وكنت ماشيا فجعلت اقول ‌يا ‌عباد ‌الله ‌دلونا على الطريق فلم ازل اقول ذلك حتى وقعت الطريق او كما قال ابي»

And as ʿAbdullāh's student al-Ṭabarānī mentioned in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (vol. 17, p. 117):

Al-Ḥusayn ibn Isḥāq al-Tustarī narrated to us, Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā al-Ṣūfī narrated to us, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sahl narrated to us, my father narrated to me from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿĪsā from Zayd ibn ʿAlī from ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān from the Prophet who said: ‘If one of you loses something or one of you desires help while he is in a land where there is no companion, let him say: “O servants of Allāh, help me! O servants of Allāh, help me!” For indeed Allāh has servants whom we do not see.’

(Al-Ṭabarānī said): And this has been tried.

قال الطبراني في «المعجم الكبير» (ج17ص117):

«حدثنا الحسين بن إسحاق التستري، ثنا أحمد بن يحيى الصوفي، ثنا عبد الرحمن بن سهل، حدثني أبي، عن عبد الله بن عيسى، عن زيد بن علي، عن عتبة بن غزوان، عن نبي الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: إذا أضل أحدكم شيئا أو أراد أحدكم عونا وهو بأرض ليس بها أنيس، فليقل: يا عباد الله أغيثوني، يا عباد الله أغيثوني، فإن لله عبادا لا نراهم

(قال الطبراني) ‌وقد ‌جرب ‌ذلك»

And a lesser known story relating to this is what al-Harawī mentioned in Dhamm al-Kalām (vol. 4, p. 14) with an authentic chain to Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād:

Ibn al-Mubārak lost his way during one of his travels on a road. It had reached him that whoever is in desperate need in a desolate land and calls out: “O servants of Allah, help me!” he will be helped.

He said: “So I began to search for the volume to examine its chain.”

He did not deem it permissible to supplicate with a supplication whose chain of transmission he wasn't pleased with.

Abū Yaʿqūb al-Ḥāfiẓ informed us, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdillāh al-Laʾāl informed us, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Yūnus informed us, ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd narrated to us on the authority of Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād on the authority of Ibn al-Mubārak, with its meaning or similar wording.

قال الهروي في «ذم الكلام وأهله» (ج4ص14): 
«وضل ابن المبارك في بعض أسفاره في طريق وكان قد بلغه أن من اضطر في مفازة فنادى عباد الله أعينوني أعين قال فجعلت أطلب الجزء أنظر إسناده فلم يستجز أن يدعو بدعاء لا يرضى إسناده

أخبرنا أبو يعقوب الحافظ أخبرنا محمد بن عبد الله اللآل أخبرنا أحمد ابن محمد بن يونس حدثنا عثمان بن سعيد عن نعيم بن حماد عن ابن المبارك بمعناه أو نحوه»

أبو يعقوب القراب حافظ ثقة مشهور من شيوخ الهروي

محمد بن عبد الله اللآل هو أبو بكر بن أبي الفضل المزكي وثقه أبو ذر الهروي كما قال في «المعجم» في تسمية رجاله بتحقيق محمد بن عبد الله السريع (صفحة 403 الترجمة 269 الحديث 528): «أخبرنا محمد بن عبد الله محمد بن الحسين بن مقاتل أبو بكر المزكي بهراة -شيخ ثقة- نا محمد بن معاذ الماليني...»

وأحمد بن محمد بن يونس هو أبو إسحاق البزاز صاحب تاريخ هراة ذكره الذهبي في «تاريخ الإسلام» (7/ 569) وقال: «أحمد بن محمد بن يونس، أبو إسحاق الهروي البزاز الحافظ. صنف تاريخا لهراة. وكان ثقة مأمونا. يروي عن: عثمان بن سعيد الدارمي، ومن بعده»

عثمان بن سعيد هو الدارمي كما سبق

And this just shows that Ibn al-Mubārak did not consider the topic to be an issue of Tawḥīd and Shirk, as he merely looked into the chain of narration, something he obviously wouldn't do if the content of the ḥadīth entailed "worshiping angels"

 

So, as I already said, none of their made up magic Shirk conditions even apply to angels, as they are clearly capable of fulfilling tasks such as making Duʿāʾ and interceding - among many other things, and on top of that many scholars clearly did not consider the idea that we could even ask them directly to perform certain tasks to be Shirk

So even by their own standards it should be completely fine to ask angels to intercede for you or perform any other task that you can ask from a human, right?

 

And this is where the Khawārij really split up, mainly into two groups

The first group holds that it is fine to call upon angels in some cases, when there is "proof" - such as the weak ḥadīth Aḥmad used - that they will be able to both physically perform the task and hear and respond to your request, and that at any other scenario asking an angel - even one who is alive, present and can hear you like your appointed angel or the angels at the mosque - for anything is major Shirk, and that likewise asking a "far away" angel even for something he would be physically able to perform is also major Shirk

The second - far more consistent - group holds that asking angels for anything at any case is always major Shirk as long as you can't see them and aren't absolutely certain that they are able to help you, and actually takfīr Aḥmad, Ibn Abī Shaybah and al-Ṭabarānī over this issue (although they try to avoid takfīring Ibn al-Mubārak who clearly didn't consider it Shirk either)

 

And both of these groups arbitrarily differentiate between angels and humans here despite both meeting their magic conditions

They could argue that angels are - mostly - invisible while humans are - mostly - visible

But that would be completely irrelevant - so much so that even they never bother including "visibility" among their set of conditions -and necessitate takfīring Aḥmad and the rest - if they haven't already - as the angels in that ḥadīth aren't visible either, and it would also lead to some ridiculous positions such as takfīring a blind person who seeks the aid of a living person next to him, or a person who calls upon someone who is present behind a wall, or a door or any other object while he is unable to see him, or even someone who calls someone through an electronic device while unable to see him or be certain he will respond

Or they could argue that angels don't necessarily meet all their made up conditions, as we are not completely sure they will be able to respond to our request and perform the task

This - again - would equally apply to humans, as there are many mundane tasks you could ask a living person in front of you to perform without being certain that they will be able to, and as we already established, even believing an amulet could benefit or harm you isn't major Shirk, let alone an angel

But even when it comes to angels specifically, we have clear proof that asking them for things they aren't capable of isn't Shirk

Such as what Ibn Abī Shaybah narrated in al-Muṣannaf (vol. 6, p. 341) with an authentic chain:

Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī narrated to us from Zāʾidah from Maysarah al-Ashjaʿī from ʿIkrimah from Ibn ʿAbbās who said: I asked Kaʿb about Idrīs being raised {to a high station}.

He said: As for the raising of Idrīs to a high station: he was a righteous servant. From righteous deeds there would be raised for him what was not raised for the people of the earth among the people of his time.

He said: The angel through whom his deeds would ascend was amazed by this, so he asked permission from his Lord to go to him. He said: ‘My Lord, grant me permission to go to Your servant so I may visit him.’ So He permitted him.

He descended and said: ‘O Idrīs, rejoice, for there is raised for you of righteous deeds what is not raised for the people of the earth.’

He said: ‘How do you know that?’

He said: ‘I am an angel.’

He said: ‘And even if you are an angel?’

He said: ‘For I am at the gate through which your deeds ascend.’

He said: ‘Will you not intercede for me with the Angel of Death so that my term may be delayed so that I may increase in gratitude and worship?’

The angel said to him: ‘Allāh does not delay a soul when its appointed time has come.’

He said: ‘I know that, but it would be more pleasing to my soul.’

So the angel carried him upon his wing and ascended with him to the heaven. Then he said: ‘O Angel of Death, this is a righteous servant, a Prophet. There is raised for him of righteous deeds what is not raised for the people of the earth, and that amazed me. So I sought permission from my Lord to go to him. When I gave him the glad tidings of that, he asked me to intercede for him with you so that his term might be delayed so he may increase in gratitude and worship to Allāh.’

He said: ‘Who is this?’

He said: ‘Idrīs.’

So he looked in a book with him until he came to his name and said: ‘By Allāh, nothing remains of the term of Idrīs.’

So he erased it, and he died in his place.

قال ابن أبي شيبة في «المصنف» (ج6ص341):

«حدثنا حسين بن علي، عن زائدة، عن ميسرة الأشجعي، عن عكرمة، عن ابن عباس، قال: سألت كعبا عن رفع إدريس مكانا عليا فقال: أما رفع إدريس مكانا عليا فكان عبدا تقيا، يرفع له من العمل الصالح ما لا يرفع لأهل الأرض في أهل زمانه، قال: فعجب الملك الذي كان يصعد عليه عمله، فاستأذن ربه إليه، قال: رب ائذن لي إلى عبدك هذا فأزوره فأذن له فنزل فقال: يا إدريس أبشر فإنه يرفع لك من العمل الصالح ما لا يرفع لأهل الأرض، قال: وما علمك؟ قال: إني ملك، قال: وإن كنت ملكا، قال: فإني على الباب الذي يصعد عليه عملك، قال: أفلا تشفع لي إلى ملك الموت فيؤخر من أجلي لأزداد شكرا وعبادة، قال له الملك: لا يؤخر الله نفسا إذا جاء أجلها، قال: قد علمت ولكنه أطيب لنفسي، فحمله الملك على جناحه فصعد به إلى السماء فقال: يا ملك الموت، ‌هذا ‌عبد ‌تقي ‌نبي، يرفع له من العمل الصالح ما لا يرفع لأهل الأرض، وإنه أعجبني ذلك، فاستأذنت إليه ربي، فلما بشرته بذلك سألني لأشفع له إليك لتؤخر من أجله فيزداد شكرا وعبادة لله، قال: ومن هذا؟ قال: إدريس: فنظر في كتاب معه حتى مر باسمه فقال: والله ما بقي من أجل إدريس شيء، فمحاه فمات مكانه»

هذا إسناد صحيح رجاله كلهم رجال الشيخين

الحسين بن علي ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (3/ 55) وقال: «الحسين بن علي أبو عبد الله الجعفي الكوفي مولاهم روى عن الأعمش... وزائدة... روى عنه ابن عيينة... وابن ابى شيبة... نا محمد بن عبد الرحمن الهروي قال ما رأيت اتقن من حسين الجعفي ورأيت في مجلسه أحمد بن حنبل ويحيى بن معين وخلفا المخرمي بالكوفة وجعل في الأسبوع مجلسين. أنا يعقوب بن إسحاق الهروي فيما كتب إلى قال أنا عثمان بن سعيد الدارمي قال قلت ليحيى بن معين حسين الجعفي فقال: ثقة.»

وذكره ابن شاهين في «تاريخ أسماء الثقات» (ص62) وقال: «‌حسين ‌بن ‌علي ‌ثقة ‌صدوق قاله عثمان بن أبي شيبة»

زائدة هو زائدة بن قدامة ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (3/ 613) وقال: «سمعت أبي يقول: زائدة بن قدامة ثقة صاحب سنة وهو أحب إلي من أبى عوانة وأحفظ من شريك ومن أبى بكر بن عياش وكان عرض حديثه على سفيان الثوري. سمعت أبا زرعة يقول: ‌زائدة ‌صدوق ‌من ‌اهل ‌العلم.»

ميسرة هو ميسرة بن عمار ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (8/ 253) وقال: «مسيرة بن عمار ويقال ابن تمام، الاشجعى كوفي روى عن أبي حازم... وعكرمة روى عنه الثوري وزائدة... سئل أبو زرعة عن ‌ميسرة ‌بن ‌عمار فقال: كوفى ثقة»

وقال ابن الجنيد في «سؤالاته» (ص381): «سمعت يحيى يقول: ‌ميسرة ‌الأشجعي الذي روى عن أسباط بن نصر وزائدة، هو كوفي ثقة»

And Abū al-Shaykh al-Aṣbahānī mentioned a similar report in al-ʿAẓamah (vol. 3, p. 916), with an authentic chain to the great Tābiʿī Wahb ibn Munabbih:

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Surayj narrated to us, Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ al-Naysābūrī narrated to us, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm narrated to us, ʿAbd al-Ṣamad narrated to me that he heard Wahb say:

A man used to call upon the angel of the sun. He continued doing that for a long time until the angel of the sun came to him and said: ‘What do you want by your call for the angel of the sun that you are making?’

The man said: ‘I have a need from him.’

He said: ‘What is your need from him? I am he.’

The man said: ‘I was informed that you are the most honored of the angels and the most able among them with the Angel of Death, so intercede for me with him.’

He said: ‘Yes, I will speak to him for you. Whatever he is able to do for any of the children of Ādam he will do for you.’

Then the angel of the sun carried him between his wings and placed him at the place where the sun rises. Then he went to the Angel of Death and said: ‘I have a need from you.’

He said: ‘I will do everything I am able to.’

He said: ‘A friend of mine from the children of Ādam asked me to intercede with you so that you delay his appointed time.’

He said: ‘That is not up to me and I cannot do it. But if you wish, I can inform him of his appointed time and he may prepare himself.’

He said: ‘Yes, inform him of that.’

So he looked in his register and found his name. Then he said: ‘You have spoken to me about a man whom I do not think will die except suddenly.’

He said: ‘How so?’

He said: ‘I do not find that he will die except at the place where the sun rises.’

He said: ‘I came to you and left him there.’

He said: ‘Go, you will not find him except that he has already died.’

So he returned to him and found him dead.

قال أبو الشيخ الأصبهاني في «العظمة» (ج3ص916):

«حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن شريح، حدثنا محمد بن رافع النيسابوري، حدثنا إسماعيل بن عبد الكريم، قال: حدثني عبد الصمد، أنه سمع وهبا رحمه الله تعالى يقول: إن رجلا ‌كان ‌يدعو ‌لملك الشمس عليه السلام، فدأب ذلك زمانا حتى أتاه ملك الشمس، فقال: ما تريد بدعائك لملك الشمس الذي تدعو له؟ قال: حاجة لي إليه. قال: ما حاجتك إليه فإني أنا هو؟ فقال الرجل: أخبرت أنك أكرم الملائكة، وأمكن الملائكة عند ملك الموت عليه السلام، فاشفع لي إليه. قال: نعم أنا مكلمه لك، فما يستطيع أن يفعل لأحد من بني آدم فهو فاعله لك. ثم حمله ملك الشمس بين جناحيه فوضعه عند مطلع الشمس، ثم أتى ملك الموت عليه السلام فقال: حاجة لي إليك. قال: أفعل كل شيء أستطيعه. قال: صديق لي من بني آدم تشفع بي إليك لتؤخر من أجله. قال: ليس ذلك إلي وما أستطيعه، ولكن إن أحببت أن أعلمه أجله متى هو ويتقوم في نفسه فعلت. قال: نعم أخبره بهذا فنظر في ديوانه فأخبره باسمه. فقال: قد كلمتني في إنسان ما أراه يموت أخذا. قال: وكيف؟ قال: لا أجده يموت إلا عند مطلع الشمس. قال: فإني أتيتك وتركته هنالك. قال: انطلق فلا تجده إلا وقد مات. فرجع إليه فوجده ميتا»

أحمد بن محمد بن شريح هو أبو العباس أحمد بن محمد بن سريج وكلمة «‌شريح» ‌تصحيف قال فيه المؤلف في «طبقات المحدثين بأصبهان والواردين عليها» (3/ 617): «شيخ ثقة، صدوق، ‌كتب ‌عن ‌محمد ‌بن ‌رافع النيسابوري، وأحمد بن نصر، ومحمد بن يحيى النيسابوري، وإسحاق الكوسج، والناس»

وقال أبو نعيم الأصبهاني في «تاريخ أصبهان = أخبار أصبهان» (1/ 163): «أحمد بن محمد بن سريج أبو العباس الفافا ثقة، ‌كتب ‌بنيسابور ‌عن ‌شيوخه، توفي سنة إحدى وثلاثمائة، كتب عن محمد بن رافع، وأحمد بن منصور، وإسحاق الكوسج، ومحمد بن يحيى النيسابوري، والحسن بن عيسى بن ماسرجس»

محمد بن رافع هو ابن أبي زيد من رجال البخاري ومسلم ذكره النسائي في «المشيخة» (ص49) وقال: «محمد ‌بن ‌رافع النيسابوري ثقة مأمون»

إسماعيل بن عبد الكريم هو ابن معقل ذكره المزي في «تهذيب الكمال في أسماء الرجال» (3/ 140) وقال: «قال أحمد بن سعد بن أبي مريم، عن يحيى بن معين: ثقة، رجل صدق والصحيفة التي يرويها عن وهب عن جابر ليست بشيء إنما هو كتاب وقع إليهم، ‌ولم ‌يسمع ‌وهب ‌من ‌جابر شيئا. وقال النسائي: ليس به بأس.»

عبد الصمد هو عبد الصمد بن معقل ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (6/ 50) وقال: «عبد الصمد بن معقل بن منبه روى عن وهب بن منبه روى عنه اسمعيل بن عبد الكريم سمعت أبي يقول ذلك قال أبو محمد روى عنه عبد الرزاق نا عبد الرحمن قال وروى عنه ابنه ذكره ابى عن اسحاق ابن منصور عن يحيى بن معين قال ‌عبد ‌الصمد ‌بن ‌معقل ‌ثقة.»

وهب هو الإمام التابعي أبو عبد الله وهب بن منبه

 

In both of these narrations, the man - Idrīs ʿAlayh al-Salām in Kaʿb's version - asks the Angel of Death for something he is explicitly not capable of doing, which is delaying his death, as he even clearly states in Wahb's version: "That is not up to me and I cannot do it"

And just as a bonus, in Wahb's version of the story the man also calls upon the angel of the sun until he came towards him, meaning he was also calling upon the absent

And these reports are - again - a complete disaster for these "Salafīs"

Why is it Shirk to ask the angels at the mosque or appointed angels to perform a task for you - even if they couldn't do it - while asking the Angel of Death to delay your death - something he himself stated he cannot do - is fine?

 

In reality, the only reason these Khawārij consider asking angels for anything to be Shirk - even despite all of their own made up conditions being fulfilled - is that they are all atheists whose creed is completely based on feelings

Like atheists, whether consciously or subconsciously they are unable to accept the possibility that angels really exist and can interact with this world, and they find the idea so riduclous that they can't help but consider everyone who holds to it - or even just the one who refuses to takfīr the one who holds to it - to be a blasphemer and a Kāfir in their naturalist religion

And like the children that they are, they only consider calling upon angels - or anything else besides a living human in front of you - to be Shirk because "it feels like Shirk" and not because it actually violates any condition of Tawḥīd they can think of - and I will go over this further in the second part of the article

 

But the most pathetic group of "Salafīs" I've come across has to be these "moderates", who refuse to takfīr Aḥmad and everyone who followed him in sharing or acting upon that weak ḥadīth, while at the same time takfīring anyone who asks angels to do nearly anything else

Just like their Qitālī counterparts who scream day and night about "Tawḥīd al-Ḥākimiyyah" and insist that anyone who seeks judgement from or rules with another Sharīʿah is a Mushrik, but suddenly make an exception for Mālik who allowed Muslim converts to be ruled over with Christian laws in an inheritance dispute in certain cases, as he apparently saw some ḥadīth that indicates it

And in both cases the response is the same

If a certain act is Shirk then there would never be a ḥadīth permitting it, it could never align with the Sharīʿah, or be beneficial in any way

As I've mentioned before, from their own perspective this is akin to a ḥadīth saying that if someone gets lost in the woods he should start worshiping an idol until he finds the path, no sane Muslim would narrate let alone act upon such thing

And they even contradict themselves here, why is it ok to act upon this specific weak ḥadīth, but Shirk to act upon the story of Mālik al-Dār or al-ʿUtbī?

And how weak can a ḥadīth be? Is there a specific cutoff point where the ḥadīth is "too weak" and the one who acts upon it becomes a Mushrik again?

And what about something besides a ḥadīth, what if someone reaches the conclusion that he should call upon the angels in the woods for help out of Qiyās, or by taqlīd of a certain Shaykh, genuinely believing they will respond?

Of course - again, just like their Qitālī counterparts - there is no actual consistent framework here, these clowns just refuse to make takfīr over this specific issue because a big name they are attached to is involved, if this specific quote from Aḥmad didn't exist they would have for sure takfīred any random individual if he decided to do the same exact thing

 

But alright, what if they were to concede that asking an angel for something - even something he is not capable of - isn't Shirk on the condition that you know for sure that he is present next to you, while still holding that asking anything from a "far away" angel is Shirk?

And this is one of the funniest innovations of these Khawārij, the famous "Shirk distance"

Apparently there is some exact distance where asking someone - human, angel or anything else - for anything from magically becomes Shirk, and - of course - none of them even know how long this exact "Shirk distance" is

Is it just the point a human would no longer be normally be able to hear another human? How would that be defined? And why would believing an angel - or a human for that matter - could be granted the ability to hear from much further (without holding that they are All-Hearing of course) be Shirk? Even among normal creatures, certain whales are able to communicate with each other from over a thousand kilometers - further than the length of entire countries

And I believe the previously mentioned ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ where he informs us that he can hear our salāms from all over the world - through angels - should suffice in refuting any notion that such a belief - even if incorrect - could ever be Shirk, but there is more to add

First, regarding the sheer power and ability of some angels - especially the Angel of Death - which many of these "Salafīs" love to understate in order to convince their idiot followers that believing they could hear you from far away is so outlandish that it must be Shirk

Muqātil ibn Sulaymān said in his Tafsīr (vol. 3, p. 450):

{Say: The Angel of Death, who has been entrusted with you, will take you in death.} They claim that his name is ʿAzrāʾīl, and that he has four wings: a wing in the east, a wing in the west, a wing at the farthest edge of the world from where the western wind (al-Dabūr) comes, and a wing at the farthest edge of the world from where the eastern wind (al-Ṣabā) comes. He has one foot in the east and the other in the west, and creation is between his two feet, while his head is in the highest heaven, and his body is like that which is between the heaven and the earth, and his face is at the covering of the veils.

قال مقاتل بن سليمان في «تفسيره» (ج3ص450): 

«{قل يتوفاكم ملك الموت الذي وكل بكم} يزعمون أن اسمه عزرائيل وله أربعة أجنحة ‌جناح ‌بالمشرق، وجناح بالمغرب، وجناح له في أقصى العالم من حيث تجيء الريح الدبور، وجناح له في أقصى العالم من حيث تجيء الريح الصبا، ورجل له بالمشرق، ورجله الأخرى بالمغرب، والخلق بين رجليه ورأسه في السماء العليا وجسده كما بين السماء والأرض ووجهه عند ستر الحجب»

Yaḥyā ibn Sallām said in his Tafsīr (vol. 2, p. 687):

The Tafsīr of al-Suddī, he said: {The Angel of Death who has been entrusted with you} the earth was made for the Angel of Death like a basin, he takes their souls just as a bird picks up grains.

قال يحيى بن سلام في «تفسيره» (ج2ص687):

«تفسير السدي قال: {ملك الموت الذي وكل بكم} جعلت لملك الموت الأرض ‌مثل ‌الطست يقبض أرواحهم كما يلتقط الطير الحب»

Abū al-Shaykh said in al-ʿAẓamah (vol. 3, p. 933):

Al-Walīd ibn Abān narrated to us, Muḥammad ibn Idrīs narrated to us, ʿAmmār ibn Khālid narrated to us, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Wāsiṭī narrated to us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūnus, who said: I heard al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtaybah say: The world between the hands of the Angel of Death is like a basin between the hands of a man.

قال أبو الشيخ في «العظمة» (ج3ص933):

«حدثنا الوليد بن أبان، حدثنا محمد بن إدريس، حدثنا عمار بن خالد، حدثنا ‌محمد ‌بن ‌الحسن ‌الواسطي، عن ‌عبد ‌الله ‌بن ‌يونس، قال: سمعت الحكم بن عتيبة رحمه الله تعالى، يقول: الدنيا بين يدي ملك الموت بمنزلة الطست بين يدي الرجل»

الوليد بن أبان هو ابن بونة ذكره أبو الشيخ في «طبقات المحدثين بأصبهان» (4/ 217) وقال: «أبو العباس ‌الوليد ‌بن ‌أبان ‌بن ‌بونة كان أحد من ارتحل رحلات كثيرة، وسمع الكثير، وصنف التفسير والمسند والشيوخ، وكان حافظا، دينا، أحد العلماء بالحديث»

وذكره الذهبي في «سير أعلام النبلاء» (11/ 178) وقال: «الوليد بن أبان ابن بونة، الحافظ المجود العلامة، أبو العباس الأصبهاني، صاحب "المسند الكبير" و"التفسير"... وقد ‌روى ‌عنه ‌أبو ‌الشيخ ‌كثيرا ‌في ‌تآليفه، وكان بصيرا بهذا الشأن، لا يقع لنا حديثه إلا بنزول.»

محمد بن إدريس هو الإمام المشهور أبو حاتم

عمار بن خالد ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (6/ 395) وقال: «عمار بن خالد الواسطي التمار أبو الفضل... ‌كتبت ‌عنه ‌مع ‌ابى ‌بواسط ‌وكان ‌ثقة صدوقا، نا عبد الرحمن قال سئل أبي عنه فقال صدوق.» 

محمد بن الحسن هو المزني ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (7/ 226) وقال: «محمد بن الحسن الواسطي المزني اصله من الشام ولى القضاء بواسط... روى عنه... وعمار بن خالد... سمعت بعض ذلك من أبي وبعضه من قبلي. أنا عبد الله بن أحمد فيما كتب إلي قال ‌سألت ‌ابى ‌عن ‌محمد ‌ابن ‌الحسن ‌الواسطي المزني قال ليس به بأس. أنا أبو بكر بن أبي خيثمة فيما كتب إلي قال سمعت يحيى بن معين يقول محمد بن الحسن الواسطي ثقة، سألت ‌ابى ‌عن ‌محمد ‌بن ‌الحسن ‌الواسطي فقال لا بأس به.»

عبد الله بن يونس هو الثقفي ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (5/ 205) وقال: «‌عبد ‌الله ‌بن ‌يونس الثقفي روى عن سيار أبي الحكم روى عنه يزيد بن هارون سمعت أبي يقول ذلك. وروى عن الحكم ابن عتيبة وأبي هاشم الرماني وروى عنه ‌محمد ‌بن ‌الحسن ‌الواسطي سمعت أبى يقول ذلك»

وجاء في «العلل ومعرفة الرجال لأحمد رواية ابنه عبد الله» (1/ 246): «سمعت أبي يقول ‌عبد ‌الله ‌بن ‌يونس ‌شيخ ‌ثقة روى عنه يزيد بن هارون عن عبد الله بن يونس عن سيار أبي الحكم»

Abū al-Shaykh said in al-ʿAẓamah (vol. 3, p. 909):

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad narrated to us, ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us, Dāwūd ibn ʿAmr al-Ḍabbī narrated to us, Muʿtamar narrated to us, from his father, from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, who said: The Angel of Death is sitting, and the world is between his knees, and the tablet in which are the lifespans of the children of Ādam is in his hand, and before him are angels standing. He reviews the tablet without blinking, and when the appointed time of a servant comes, he says: ‘Seize this one, seize this one.’

قال أبو الشيخ في «العظمة» (ج3ص909):

«حدثنا أحمد بن محمد، حدثنا عبد الله، حدثنا داود بن عمرو الضبي، حدثنا معتمر، عن أبيه، عن شهر بن حوشب رحمه الله تعالى قال: ملك الموت صلى الله عليه وسلم جالس ‌والدنيا ‌بين ‌ركبتيه، واللوح الذي فيه آجال بني آدم في يده، وبين يديه ملائكة قيام، وهو يعرض اللوح لا يطرف، فإذا أتى على أجل عبد قال: اقبضوا هذا، اقبضوا هذا»

وذكره أبو نعيم في «حلية الأولياء» (ج6ص61):

«حدثنا أبي وأبو محمد بن حيان قالا ثنا أحمد بن محمد بن عمر ثنا عبد الله ابن محمد بن عبيد ثنا داود بن عمر الضبي ثنا معتمر بن سليمان عن أبيه عن شهر ابن حوشب. قال: ملك الموت جالس ‌والدنيا ‌بين ‌ركبتيه...»

أحمد بن محمد بن عمر هو ‌أحمد ‌بن ‌محمد ‌بن ‌عمر ‌بن ‌أبان العبدي الأصبهاني اللنباني صاحب ابن أبي الدنيا قال السمعاني في «الأنساب» (11/ 32): «أبو بكر ‌أحمد ‌بن ‌محمد ‌بن ‌عمر بن أبان العبدي اللنباني: ‌محدث ‌مشهور ‌ثقة معروف مكثر. رحل إلى العراق وسمع كتب أبي بكر عبد الله محمد بن أبي الدنيا القرشي عنه»

عبد الله ابن محمد بن عبيد هو ابن أبي الدنيا نفسه داود بن عمرو الضبي ذكره المزي في «تهذيب الكمال في أسماء الرجال» (8/ 429) وقال: «وقال عبد الخالق بن منصور سألت يحيى بن معين عن داود بن عمرو المديني، فقال: ليس به بأس. وقال أبو القاسم البغوي: حدثنا ‌داود ‌بن ‌عمرو ‌بن ‌زهير، ‌الثقة ‌المأمون.»

وذكره الذهبي في «الكاشف في معرفة من له رواية في الكتب الستة» (1/ 381) وقال: «‌داود ‌بن ‌عمرو ‌الضبي أبو سليمان البغدادي صاحب حديث عن نافع بن عمر وعبد الجبار بن الورد وأبي معشر وعنه مسلم وابن ناجية والبغوي ثقة»

المعتمر بن سليمان هو التيمي قال ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (8/ 402): «ذكره أبي عن إسحاق بن منصور عن يحيى بن معين أنه قال: معتمر بن سليمان ثقة. سمعت أبى يقول: معتمر بن سليمان التيمى ثقة صدوق.»

أبوه هو سليمان بن طرخان ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (4/ 125) وقال: «أنا عبد الله بن أحمد [بن حنبل] فيما كتب إلي قال سمعت أبي يقول: سليمان التيمي ثقة، وهو في أبي عثمان أحب إلي من عاصم الأحول. حدثنا عبد الرحمن قال ذكره أبي عن إسحاق [ابن منصور] الكوسج عن يحيى بن معين أنه قال: سليمان التيمي ثقة.»

Ibn Abī Ḥātim mentioned in his Tafsīr (vol. 9, p. 3104):

From Ibn ʿAbbās, that he was asked about two souls whose death occurs at the same instant - one in the East and one in the West - how does the Angel of Death have power over them?
He said: The power of the Angel of Death over the people of the Easts and the Wests, the darkness, the air, and the seas is nothing but like a man before whom is a table from which he takes whatever he wishes.

From Zuhayr ibn Muḥammad, who said: It was said: O Messenger of Allāh, the Angel of Death is one, yet two armies meet from the East and the West, and between them are those who fall and perish! So he said: ‘Indeed, Allāh has gathered the world for the Angel of Death until He made it like a basin before one of you - does anything escape him from it?’

And Kaʿb al-Aḥbār said: By Allāh, there is no house in which any of the people of the world reside except that the Angel of Death stands at its door every day seven times, looking to see whether there is anyone in it whom he has been commanded to take.

قال ابن أبي حاتم في «تفسيره» (ج9ص3104): 

«عن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما أنه سئل عن نفسين اتفق موتهما في طرفة عين. واحد في المشرق، وواحد في المغرب. كيف قدرة ملك الموت عليهما؟ قال: ما قدرة ملك الموت علي أهل المشارق والمغارب والظلمات والهواء والبحور إلا كرجل بين يديه مائدة يتناول من أيها ما يشاء.

عن زهير بن محمد رضي الله عنه قال: قيل: يا رسول الله، ملك الموت واحد، والزحفان يلتقيان من المشرق والمغرب وما بينهما من السقط والهلاك! فقال: إن الله حوى الدنيا لملك الموت حتى جعلها كالطست بين يدي أحدكم، فهل يفوته منها شيء؟

وقال كعب الأحبار: والله ما من بيت فيه أحد من أهل الدنيا إلا وملك الموت يقوم علي بابه كل يوم سبع مرات، ينظر هل فيه أحد أمر أن يتوفاه»

And this shows the complete idiocy of these Khawārij

According to them, believing that - for the Angel of Death - the whole world is like a basin or is between his knees or feet is completely fine, but if you dare believe he can hear you from that distance you're a Mushrik, and if you believe these abilities apply to anyone besides the Angel of Death you're also a Mushrik, even though as we've already established, if it's Shirk to believe any created being has these abilities, it would be Shirk to believe in it for the Angel of Death as well, and this just leads to the view that Sunnīs "worship angels" as many non-Muslims argue, using these same reports

But that's not all, regarding the angels' hearing specifically, Abū al-Shaykh said in al-ʿAẓamah (vol. 3, p. 856):

Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan narrated to us, ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd ibn Mazīd narrated to us, from his father, who said: I heard al-Awzāʿī say: When Isrāfīl glorifies (Allāh), every angel in the heaven cuts off his prayer, listening to him. Then when he finishes, the Lord says: ‘By My might, if My servants knew from Me what he says, they would worship none besides Me.’

قال أبو الشيخ في «العظمة» (ج3ص856):

«حدثنا إبراهيم بن محمد بن الحسن، حدثنا عباس بن الوليد بن مزيد، عن أبيه، قال: سمعت الأوزاعي رحمه الله تعالى يقول: إذا سبح إسرافيل قطع على كل ملك في السماء ‌صلاته ‌استماعا ‌له، فإذا فرغ يقول الرب تبارك وتعالى: وعزتي لو كان عبادي يعلمون مني ما يقول ما عبدوا غيري»

إبراهيم بن محمد بن الحسن هو ابن متويه ذكره السمعاني في «الأنساب» (11/ 129) وقال: «وإبراهيم بن محمد بن الحسن بن أبي الحسن المتويي الأصبهاني المعروف بابن متويه، من أهل أصبهان، إمام الجامع، ‌كان ‌ثقة ‌فاضلاً، ‌يصوم ‌الدهر، حدث عن المصريين والشاميين والبصريين»

وذكره الذهبي في «تاريخ الإسلام» (23/ 85) وقال: «إبراهيم بن محمد بن الحسن الإصبهاني. الإمام أبو إسحاق بن متويه إمام جامع إصبهان. كان ‌من ‌العباد ‌والسادة. ‌يصوم ‌الدهر. وكان ‌حافظا، ‌ثقة.»

عباس بن الوليد بن مزيد ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (6/ 214) وقال: «عباس بن الوليد بن مزيد البيروتي أبو الفضل روى عن... وابيه الوليد بن مزيد... روى عنه أبي وابو زرعة وسمعت منه وهو صدوق ثقة، ثنا عبد الرحمن قال سئل أبي عنه فقال صدوق.»

وجاء في «تهذيب التهذيب» (6/ 483): «وقال مسلمة: ‌كان ‌يفتي ‌برأي ‌الأوزاعي ‌هو ‌وأبوه، ‌وكان ‌ثقة، مأمونا، فقيها»

أبوه هو الوليد بن مزيد ذكره الدارقطني في «المؤتلف والمختلف» (4/ 2036) وقال: «الوليد بن مزيد العذري البيروتي، روى عن الأوزاعي... روى عنه دحيم، وابنه العباس بن الوليد بن مزيد، وغيرهما، كان من ثقات أصحاب الأوزاعي»

وقال النسائي في «رسائل في علوم الحديث» (ص47): «وأثبت أصحاب الأوزاعي عبد الله بن المبارك والوليد بن مزيد ‌أحب ‌إلينا ‌في ‌الأوزاعي ‌من ‌الوليد ‌بن ‌مسلم ولا يخطىء ولا يدلس»

And - again - it is absolutely ridiculous to claim that believing an angel could hear you from an extreme distance on earth is somehow Shirk, but believing every angel in the heaven could hear Isrāfīl is fine

And there is another famous story that proves the creation can - by the will of Allah - hear each others' requests from extreme distances, which no one considered Shirk

ʿAbdullāh ibn Aḥmad said in Faḍāʾil al-Ṣaḥābah (vol. 1, p. 269):

Abū ʿAmr al-Ḥārith ibn Miskīn al-Miṣrī narrated to us: Ibn Wahb narrated to us, from Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb, from Ibn ʿAjlān, from Nāfiʿ, from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar: That ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb dispatched an army and appointed over them a man called Sāriyah. While ʿUmar was one day delivering a sermon to the people, he suddenly began shouting while on the minbar: ‘O Sāriyah, the mountain! O Sāriyah, the mountain!’

Later the messenger of the army arrived, and he asked him. He said: ‘O Amīr al-Muʾminīn, we met our enemy and they defeated us. Then suddenly a caller cried out: “O Sāriyah, the mountain! O Sāriyah, the mountain!” So we placed our backs to the mountain, and Allāh defeated them.’

It was said to ʿUmar that you were shouting that.

Ibn ʿAjlān said: And Iyās ibn Muʿāwiyah ibn Qurrah narrated to me something similar to that.

قال عبد الله بن أحمد في «فضائل الصحابة» (ج1ص269):

«قثنا أبو عمرو الحارث بن مسكين المصري قثنا ابن وهب، عن يحيى بن أيوب، عن ابن عجلان، عن نافع، عن عبد الله بن عمر، أن عمر بن الخطاب بعث جيشا، وأمر عليهم رجلا يدعى سارية، قال: فبينا عمر يخطب الناس يوما، قال: فجعل يصيح وهو على المنبر: ‌يا ‌ساري ‌الجبل، ‌يا ‌ساري ‌الجبل، قال: فقدم رسول الجيش فسأله، فقال: يا أمير المؤمنين، لقينا عدونا فهزمناهم، فإذا بصايح يصيح: ‌يا ‌ساري ‌الجبل، ‌يا ‌ساري ‌الجبل، فأسندنا ظهورنا بالجبل فهزمهم الله، فقيل لعمر، يعني: ابن الخطاب: إنك كنت تصيح بذلك. قال ابن عجلان: وحدثني إياس بن معاوية بن قرة بمثل ذلك.»

And Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ājurrī mentioned this same story with the same chain in al-Sharīʿah (vol. 4, p. 1888) and said:

And included in this chapter among the virtues of ʿUmar is the ḥadīth of Sāriyah, for this is its proper place.

وذكره محمد بن الحسين الآجري في «الشريعة» (ج4ص1888) وقال:

«ويدخل في هذا الباب من فضائل عمر رضي الله عنه حديث سارية، فإن هذا موضعه»

And Ibn Kathīr mentioned this same story with the same chain in al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah (vol. 10, p. 175) and said:

And this chain of transmission is good (jayyid), ḥasan.

Then he mentioned other routes for this narration through al-Wāqidī and al-Lālakāʾī and said at the end:

So these are routes that strengthen one another. And Allāh knows best.

وذكره ابن كثير في «البداية والنهاية» (ج10ص175) وقال:

«وهذا إسناد جيد حسن»

ثم ذكر ابن كثير طرقا أخرى لهذه الرواية عند الواقدي واللالكائي وقال في آخرها: ‌«فهذه ‌طرق ‌يشد ‌بعضها ‌بعضا والله أعلم.»

And again, just to make it clear

Whether applying these specific miracles to other people and other messages is correct or not is irrelevant to the actual discussion, even if it was completely baseless to hold that a human or an angel could hear anything besides your salām and these specific calls from afar, it would still not be Shirk, and if attributing anyone such abilities was Shirk, it would be Shirk to hold that they could hear your salām or ʿUmar's call from afar as well

 

PART TWO

Now, for their "proof" from the Qurʾān

They argue that the Mushrikīn of old affirmed that Allāh is their sole Creator and Provider - meaning they completed their definition of "Tawḥīd al-Rubūbiyyah" - and yet still unintentionally worshiped the creation by "making Duʿāʾ to them" - meaning, just asking them for things, such as intercession with Allāh - without treating them as deities, using Āyāt such as:

{And if you asked them, "Who created the heavens and the earth?" they would surely say, "Allāh." Say, "Then have you considered what you invoke besides Allāh? If Allāh intended me harm, are they removers of His harm; or if He intended me mercy, are they withholders of His mercy?"}

{‌ولئن سألتهم من خلق السماوات والأرض ليقولن الله قل أفرأيتم ‌ما ‌تدعون ‌من ‌دون ‌الله إن أرادني الله بضر هل هن كاشفات ضره أو أرادني برحمة هل هن ممسكات رحمته}

And

{And those who take Awliyāʾ besides Him [say], "We only worship them that they may bring us nearer to Allāh in position."}

{‌والذين اتخذوا من دونه أولياء ‌ما ‌نعبدهم ‌إلا ليقربونا إلى الله زلفى}

And

{And they worship other than Allāh that which neither harms them nor benefits them, and they say, "These are our intercessors with Allāh." Say, "Do you inform Allāh of something He does not know in the heavens or on the earth?" Exalted is He and high above what they associate with Him.}

{‌ويعبدون من دون الله ما لا يضرهم ولا ينفعهم ويقولون هؤلاء ‌شفعاؤنا عند الله قل أتنبئون الله بما لا يعلم في السماوات ولا في الأرض سبحانه وتعالى عما يشركون}

And they also argue that becauase "worship" is used in place of "Duʿāʾ" and vice versa, that this proves that "Duʿāʾ" - but only in the absence of the magic Shirk conditions - is inherently an act of worship using using Āyāt such as:

{And [He revealed] that the masjids are for Allāh, so do not invoke with Allāh anyone.}

{‌وأن المساجد لله ‌فلا ‌تدعوا مع الله أحدا}

And

{Say, "Indeed, I have been forbidden to worship those you invoke besides Allāh."}

{‌قل إني نهيت أن أعبد الذين ‌تدعون ‌من ‌دون ‌الله}

And

{And We bound [i.e., made firm] their hearts when they stood up and said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Never will we invoke besides Him any deity. We would have certainly spoken, then, an excessive transgression.}

{‌وربطنا على قلوبهم إذ قاموا ‌فقالوا ‌ربنا ‌رب ‌السماوات ‌والأرض لن ندعوا من دونه إلها لقد قلنا إذا شططا}

And they then argue that because their idols they "made Duʿāʾ to" - meaning worshiped - are described as inanimate, unable to hear, respond, benefit or harm, that this lays out their beloved Shirk conditions - meaning, they prove that asking anyone who fits this description for anything is Shirk, using using Āyāt such as:

{And those whom you invoke other than Him do not possess [as much as] the membrane of a date seed. If you invoke them, they do not hear your call; and if they heard, they would not respond to you. And on the Day of Resurrection they will disbelieve in your association.}

{‌والذين تدعون من دونه ما يملكون من قطمير - إن تدعوهم لا يسمعوا دعاءكم ‌ولو ‌سمعوا ما استجابوا لكم ويوم القيامة يكفرون بشرككم ولا ينبئك مثل خبير}

And
{And those they invoke other than Allāh create nothing, and they [themselves] are created. They are [in fact] dead, not alive, and they do not perceive when they will be resurrected.}

{‌والذين يدعون من دون الله ‌لا ‌يخلقون ‌شيئا وهم يخلقون - أموات غير أحياء وما يشعرون أيان يبعثون}

 

And many other similar Āyāt and some ḥadīths that all convey the same meaning

 

And Wallāh, only a complete braindead ape who doesn't have the slightest understanding of Tafsīr, Tawḥīd, or even just basic history could ever make such retarded claims

Even the Qitālīs and original Khawārij sometimes manage to use Āyāt that - while still misinterpreted - at the very least establish some correlation between the act they takfīr over and the Kufr mentioned in them, such as {And whoever does not judge by what Allāh has revealed, then those are the disbelievers}

{‌ومن ‌لم ‌يحكم بما أنزل الله فأولئك هم الكافرون}

And {And if you obey them, indeed you would be polytheists.}

{‌وإن ‌أطعتموهم ‌إنكم ‌لمشركون}

While every single Āyah these "Salafīs" quote has absolutely nothing to do with the topic

So, to properly refute their completely moronic understanding, we will need to establish who exactly were the Mushrikīn's "idols", how they themselves viewed those "idols", and how they "worshiped" and "made Duʿāʾ" to them

As well as establish a few important principles in Tafsīr and linguistics - the same principles all sects of the Khawārij ignore to justify their moronic interpretations

Firstly, regarding the Āyah

{And if you asked them, "Who created the heavens and the earth?" they would surely say, "Allāh." Say, "Then have you considered what you invoke besides Allāh? If Allāh intended me harm, are they removers of His harm; or if He intended me mercy, are they withholders of His mercy?"}

{‌ولئن سألتهم من خلق السماوات والأرض ليقولن الله قل أفرأيتم ‌ما ‌تدعون ‌من ‌دون ‌الله إن أرادني الله بضر هل هن كاشفات ضره أو أرادني برحمة هل هن ممسكات رحمته}

Then I say: The Mushrikīn's affirmation that Allāh is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, or even whether they affirmed "Tawḥīd al-Rubūbiyyah" or not isn't relevant to the discussion at all

The Mushrikīn - very openly - proclaimed that Allāh has partners (Shurakāʾ), and many of them believed that - while still inferior to Him - those partners had a share in His dominion, intercession, and legislation, or that they deserved to be worshiped in some manner, and as we already established in part one, directing any legislated act of obedience - such as Sujūd, shaving the head, etc - towards other than Allāh with the intention of worshiping them is obviously Shirk

And this is supported by what Ibn Abī Ḥātim narrated in his Tafsīr (vol. 4, p. 1260) with an authentic chain to the Khawārij's nightmare ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd:

Abū Yazīd al-Qarāṭīsī informed us in what he wrote to me: Aṣbagh ibn al-Faraj narrated to us, who said: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam regarding His statement: {Then those who disbelieve equate [others] with their Lord.}

He said: The deities they worshiped, they made them equal with Allāh, though He has no equal, no counterpart, and there are no deities with Him, and he did not take a companion nor a child.

قال ابن أبي حاتم في «تفسيره» (ج4ص1260):

«أخبرنا أبو يزيد القراطيسي فيما كتب إلي، ثنا أصبغ بن الفرج، قال سمعت عبد الرحمن بن زيد بن أسلم، في قوله ثم الذين كفروا بربهم يعدلون، قال: الآلهة التي عبدوها ‌عدلوها ‌بالله، وليس له عدل، ولا ند، ولا معه آلهة ولا اتخذ صاحبة ولا ولدا.»

And Ibn Abī Ḥātim narrated in his Tafsīr (vol. 9, p. 2912) with an authentic chain to the Tābiʿī Wahb ibn Munabbih:

Abū ʿAbdullāh al-Ṭahrānī informed us in what he wrote to me: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqal narrated to us that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: Allāh said: ‘O assembly of jinn and mankind, listen to Me today and pay attention to Me. By My might, today no wrongdoer shall pass with his wrongdoing, nor anyone who falsely attributes something to Me, nor anyone who innovates concerning My greatness. So bring your proof, O those who falsely attribute things to Me, and those who innovate concerning My greatness, and those who belittle the right of My majesty.

What deceived you about Me, while I am Allāh, the One like whom there is nothing? If I were to manifest Myself to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains, they would collapse from My awe. If I were to cast a glance at the seas, they would dry up from their waters and their depths would become exposed from My fear. If all creation were to hear a single word from My speech, they would be struck down from My fear.

So bring your proof, O ignorant ones, that this creation has a creator besides Me, or that I have a partner in My dominion as you claimed, or a second ally with Me. For what reason did you worship them besides Me? And for what reason did you exclude them from My worship, My dominion, and My Lordship?

So prolonged woe on that Day for the one whose falsehood is exposed against the truth concerning Me. And prolonged woe on that Day for the one who extinguished My right with misguidance. And prolonged woe for the one whose proof is nullified before Me.’

قال ابن أبي حاتم في «تفسيره» (ج9ص2912):

«أخبرنا أبو عبد الله الطهراني فيما كتب إلي، أنبأ إسماعيل بن عبد الكريم، ثنا عبد الصمد بن معقل، أنه سمع وهب بن منبه يقول: قال الله عز وجل يا معشر الجن والإنس اسمعوا مني اليوم وأنصتوا لي، فو عزتي لا يجوز اليوم ظالم بظلم، ولا متقول علي ولا مبتدع في عظمتي فهاتوا برهانكم أيها المتقولون علي والمبتدعون في عظمتي والمستخفون بحق جلالي. ما الذي غركم عني وأنا الله الذي لا شيء مثلي؟ لو تجليت للسموات والأرض والجبال لزلن من هيبتي، ولو لحظت البحار ليبست من مياهها وبدت قعورها من خشيتي، ولو أن جميع الخلائق سمعوا كلمة من كلامي لصعقوا من خوفي. وهاتوا برهانكم أيها الجهلة بأن لهذا الخلق بديعا غيري وبأن لي شريكا كما زعمتم في ملكي، أو ثانيا وليا معي. ولأي شيء عبدتموها دوني؟ ولأي شيء نفيتموها، عن عبادتي وملكي وربوبيتي؟ فالويل الطويل يومئذ لمن أبان كذبه صدقه في، والويل الطويل يومئذ لمن أزهق الضلالة حقي، والويل الطويل لمن دحضت حجته قدامي.»

أبو عبد الله الطهراني هو محمد بن حماد ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (7/ 240) وقال: «محمد بن حماد الطهراني أبو عبد الله روى عن عبد الرزاق واسمعيل بن عبد الكريم الصنعانى... ‌سمعت ‌منه ‌مع ‌ابى ‌بالرى وببغداد واسكندرية وهو صدوق ثقة.»

إسماعيل بن عبد الكريم هو ابن معقل ذكره المزي في «تهذيب الكمال في أسماء الرجال» (3/ 140) وقال: «قال أحمد بن سعد بن أبي مريم، عن يحيى بن معين: ثقة، رجل صدق والصحيفة التي يرويها عن وهب عن جابر ليست بشيء إنما هو كتاب وقع إليهم، ‌ولم ‌يسمع ‌وهب ‌من ‌جابر شيئا. وقال النسائي: ليس به بأس.»

عبد الصمد هو عبد الصمد بن معقل ذكره ابن أبي حاتم في «الجرح والتعديل» (6/ 50) وقال: «عبد الصمد بن معقل بن منبه روى عن وهب بن منبه روى عنه اسمعيل بن عبد الكريم سمعت أبي يقول ذلك قال أبو محمد روى عنه عبد الرزاق نا عبد الرحمن قال وروى عنه ابنه ذكره ابى عن اسحاق ابن منصور عن يحيى بن معين قال ‌عبد ‌الصمد ‌بن ‌معقل ‌ثقة.»

Al-Ṭabarī said in his Tafsīr (vol. 18, p. 646):

And His statement: {except that they say: Our Lord is Allāh} He says: They were not expelled from their homes (by Quraysh) except for their saying: Our Lord is Allāh alone, having no partner!

قال الطبري في «تفسيره» (ج18ص646):

«وقوله: (إلا أن يقولوا ربنا الله) يقول تعالى ذكره: لم يخرجوا من ديارهم إلا بقولهم: ‌ربنا ‌الله ‌وحده لا شريك له!»

And al-Ṭabarī said in his Tafsīr (vol. 19, p. 236):

{And He has no partner in the dominion} He says, refuting those who used to attribute ʾUlūhiyyah to idols and worship them besides Allāh from among the Mushrikīn of the Arabs, who would say in their talbiyah: Labbayka, You have no partner except a partner who belongs to You, You possess him and what he possesses.

Those who say this statement have lied. Allāh has never had a partner in His dominion and authority such that it would be valid for him to be worshiped besides Him.

قال الطبري في «تفسيره» (ج19ص236):

«(ولم يكن له شريك في الملك) يقول تكذيبا لمن كان يضيف الألوهة إلى الأصنام ويعبدها من دون الله من مشركي العرب، ويقول في تلبيته: لبيك لا شريك لك، إلا شريكا هو لك تملكه وما ملك، كذب قائلو هذا القول، ما كان لله من ‌شريك ‌في ‌ملكه وسلطانه، فيصلح أن يعبد من دونه»

 

And another example of this is the Shirk of legislation which many of the Mushrikīn and people of the book fell into - despite affirming that Allāh is their Creator, and it is the Shirk mentioned in the Āyāt:

{Or do they have partners (Shurakāʾ) who have legislated for them in the religion that which Allāh did not permit?}

{‌أم ‌لهم ‌شركاء ‌شرعوا ‌لهم من الدين ما لم يأذن به الله}

{They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allāh}

{‌اتخذوا ‌أحبارهم ورهبانهم أربابا من دون الله}

{And if you obey them, indeed you would be polytheists.}

{‌وإن ‌أطعتموهم ‌إنكم ‌لمشركون}

And this only became Shirk once they delegated to their scholars and idols an ability exclusive to Allāh - making the ḥalāl ḥarām and the ḥarām ḥalāl

In fact, even the Āyāt these morons themselves quote refute them on this, such as:

{And those who take Awliyāʾ besides Him [say], "We only worship them that they may bring us nearer to Allāh in position."}

{‌والذين اتخذوا من دونه أولياء ‌ما ‌نعبدهم ‌إلا ليقربونا إلى الله زلفى}

{And they worship other than Allāh that which neither harms them nor benefits them, and they say, "These are our intercessors with Allāh." Say, "Do you inform Allāh of something He does not know in the heavens or on the earth?" Exalted is He and high above what they associate with Him.}

{‌ويعبدون من دون الله ما لا يضرهم ولا ينفعهم ويقولون هؤلاء ‌شفعاؤنا عند الله قل أتنبئون الله بما لا يعلم في السماوات ولا في الأرض سبحانه وتعالى عما يشركون}

As - again - the Mushrikīn themselves admit that they intended to worship their "idols", and this would in turn make any act of obedience towards them Shirk, and this is supported by what Abū Yaʿlā mentioned in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt (p. 59):

With his chain from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUmar who said: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī, and the Jahmiyyah were mentioned in his presence - those who deny the narrations of the attributes such as the Hand and the Foot, and they say: Allāh is greater than to be described with anything.

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī said: A people were destroyed from this angle, meaning from the angle of exaltation...

...Then he said: Were the Magians destroyed except from the angle of exaltation? They said: Allāh is greater than that we should worship Him, but we worship the one who is nearer to us. So they worshiped the sun and prostrated to it. Thus Allāh revealed: {And those who take Awliyāʾ besides Him [say], "We only worship them that they may bring us nearer to Allāh in position."}

قال أبو يعلى في «إبطال التأويلات» (ص59):

«وبإسناده عن عبد الرحمن بن عمر قال سمعت عبد الرحمن بن مهدي وذكر عنده الجهمية ينفون أحاديث الصفات اليد والرجل ويقولون: الله أعظم من أن يوصف بشيء. قال عبد الرحمن بن مهدي: قد هلك قوم من هذا الوجه يعني من وجه التعظيم، قالوا: الله أعظم من أن ينزل كتابا، أو يرسل رسولا، ثم قرأ {وما قدروا الله حق قدره إذ قالوا ما أنزل الله على بشر من شيء} ثم قال: فهل هلكت المجوس إلا من جهة التعظيم، قالوا: الله أعظم من أن نعبده، ولكن نعبد من هو أقرب إلينا، فعبدوا الشمس وسجدوا لها، فأنزل الله {والذين اتخذوا من دونه أولياء ما نعبدهم إلا ليقربونا إلى الله زلفى}»

Notice how he mentions their Sujūd to the sun, and that's the perfect example of how an act that isn't inherently Shirk can become Shirk depending on your intentions

But the Khawārij have come up with their own Taʾwīl, they claim that their "worship" was just asking their "idols" for intercession with Allāh, and that this proves that asking the dead, inanimate or absent for anything is Shirk, apparently

And this claim is so disconnected from reality it's laughable

Firstly, nothing within the Āyāt themselves supports the idea that their "worship" was the act of asking their idols to intercede for them, nor is there any ḥadīth or statement of a single scholar from the Salaf or Khalaf supporting such notion, rather what is apparent is that they just generally worshiped them in hopes of their intercession

And secondly - like with all their other arguments - they have no reason to distinguish between asking a living person in front of you and asking a dead person or even an inanimate object for intercession, and they will get absolutely destroyed by any Ḥāzimī who holds that both are Shirk if they try

But most hilariously, they didn't even bother checking who those supposed intercessors of the Mushrikīn were

The Imām and Mufassir Muqātil ibn Sulaymān said in his Tafsīr (vol. 3, p. 679):

{Or have they taken intercessors besides Allāh?} This was revealed concerning the Kuffār of Makkah who claimed that the angels have intercession. {Say} to them, O Muḥammad: {Even though} meaning even if {they possess nothing} of intercession... ...{Say: To Allāh belongs all intercession.} Thus everyone who intercedes only does so by Allāh's permission.

قال مقاتل بن سليمان في «تفسيره» (ج3ص679):

«{‌أم اتخذوا من ‌دون ‌الله ‌شفعاء} نزلت في كفار مكة زعموا أن للملائكة شفاعة {‌قل} لهم يا محمد {‌أولو} يعني إن {‌كانوا لا يملكون شيئا} من الشفاعة {‌ولا يعقلون} أنكم تعبدونهم نظيرها فى الأنعام. {‌قل لله الشفاعة جميعا} فجميع من يشفع إنما هو بإذن الله»

And Muqātil ibn Sulaymān said in his Tafsīr (vol. 3, p. 669):

{And those who take Awliyāʾ besides Him - Allāh is [yet] Guardian over them} That is because the Kuffār of the Arabs worshiped the angels and said: {We only worship them that they may bring us nearer to Allāh in position} meaning in rank, so that they may intercede for us with Allāh.

قال مقاتل بن سليمان في «تفسيره» (ج3ص669):

«{‌والذين اتخذوا من دونه أولياء الله حفيظ عليهم} وذلك أن كفار ‌العرب ‌عبدوا ‌الملائكة وقالوا {‌ما نعبدهم إلا ليقربونا إلى الله زلفى} يعني منزلة فيشفعوا لنا إلى الله»

Mind you, as we already established in part one from the ḥadīth of Salmān al-Fārisī, angels are alive, can hear us, and are able to intercede for us with Allāh, so none of the Khawārij's Shirk conditions even apply! But I guess they could argue the Mushrikīn only decided to "worship" angels that were too far away and reached the "Shirk distance", instead of just asking any nearby angels to intercede for them. Or maybe they could say there was no weak ḥadīth for those Mushrikīn to act upon that would justify "angel worship", as they say for Aḥmad 

In any case, the actual Shirk here in regards to intercession was believing the idols have a share in it alongside Allāh, as 

Muqātil ibn Sulaymān said in his Tafsīr (vol. 3, p. 225):

{And He has no partner in the dominion} meaning from the angels. That is because the Arabs said that Allāh had a partner from among the angels, so they worshiped them. Thus Allāh declared them liars.

قال مقاتل بن سليمان في «تفسيره» (ج3ص225):

«{‌ولم يكن له ‌شريك ‌في ‌الملك} من الملائكة وذلك أن العرب قالوا إن لله عز وجل شريكا من الملائكة فعبدوهم فأكذبهم الله»

And Muqātil ibn Sulaymān said in his Tafsīr (vol. 2, p. 477):

{Then is it the favor of Allāh they reject?} meaning: they deny that Allāh is One without partner, even though He is the Lord of these favors. He says: How can I associate the angels and others in My dominion while you yourselves are not pleased with partnership from your slaves in your wealth? Just as you do not admit your slaves into your wealth, likewise I do not admit a partner with Me in My dominion, while they are My servants. And that was when the Kuffār of Makkah used to say in their iḥrām: Labbayka, You have no partner except a partner who belongs to You, You possess him and what he possesses.

«قال مقاتل بن سليمان في «تفسيره» (ج2ص477):

«{‌أفبنعمة الله يجحدون} يعني ينكرون بأن الله يكون واحدا لا شريك له وهو رب هذه النعم، يقول: كيف أشرك الملائكة وغيرهم في ملكي وأنتم لا ترضون الشركة من عبيدكم في أموال فكما لا تدخلون عبيدكم في أموالكم فكذلك لا أدخل معي ‌شريكا ‌في ‌ملكي وهم عبادي، وذلك حين قال كفار مكة في إحرامهم: لبيك لا شريك لك إلا شريكا هو لك تملكه وما ملك»

And al-Farrāʾ said in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (vol. 2, p. 112):

And His statement: {They recognize the favor of Allāh} meaning the Kuffār. When it is said to them: Who provides for you? They say: Allāh. Then they say: By the intercession of our deities, so they associate partners, and that is their denial of the favor of Allāh.

قال الفراء في «معاني القرآن» (ج2ص112):

«وقوله: ‌{يعرفون ‌نعمت ‌الله} يعني الكفار إذا قيل لهم، من رزقكم؟ قالوا: الله، ثم يقولون: بشفاعة آلهتنا فيشركون فذلك إنكارهم نعمت الله»

And Ibn Qutaybah said in Gharīb al-Qurʾān (p. 248):

{They recognize the favor of Allāh} meaning they know that all of this is from Him, then they deny that by saying: It is through the intercession of our deities.

قال ابن قتيبة في «غريب القرآن» (ص248):

«{يعرفون نعمت الله} أي يعلمون أن هذا كله من عنده، ثم ينكرون ذلك، بأن يقولوا: ‌هو ‌شفاعة ‌آلهتنا»

Al-Ṭabarī said in his Tafsīr (vol. 14, p. 326):

And others said: The meaning of that is that when it is said to the Kuffār: Who provides for you? They acknowledge that Allāh is the One who provides for them. Then they deny that by saying: We were provided for through the intercession of our deities.”

«قال الطبري في «تفسيره» (ج14ص326):

«وقال آخرون: معنى ذلك أن الكفار إذا قيل لهم: من رزقكم؟ أقروا بأن الله هو الذي رزقهم، ثم ينكرون ذلك بقولهم: رزقنا ذلك بشفاعة آلهتنا.»

And even the main man himself Ibn Taymiyyah did not agree with this moronic made up Tafsīr, and affirmed the Salaf's interpretation, as he said in Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā (vol. 27, p. 65):

And He said: {Say, [O Muḥammad], "Invoke those you claim [as deities] besides Allāh." They do not possess an atom's weight [of ability] in the heavens or on the earth, and they do not have therein any partnership [with Him], nor is there for Him from among them any assistant.} {And intercession does not benefit with Him except for one whom He permits.}

He made clear that whoever is called upon besides Allāh - from all created beings, whether angels, humans, or others - does not possess the weight of an atom in His dominion, and that He has no partner in His dominion. Rather, to Him belongs the dominion and to Him belongs all praise, and He is over all things capable.

And He has no helper who assists Him as kings have helpers and supporters. And those who intercede with Him do not intercede except for one with whom He is pleased. Thus He negated by that the various forms of Shirk.

That is because those who are called upon besides Him are either (1) owners or not owners. If they are not owners, then they are either (2) partners or not partners. If they are not partners, then they are either (3) assistants or helpers. If they are neither assistants nor helpers, then they are (4) petitioners who ask and request.

The first three categories - ownership, partnership, and assistance - are negated. As for the fourth, it only occurs after His permission, as He said: {Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission?} And as He said: {How many an angel there is in the heavens whose intercession does not benefit at all except after Allāh permits for whom He wills and approves.}

And He said: {Or have they taken intercessors besides Allāh? Say: Even though they possess nothing and do not reason?}

And He said: {Say: To Allāh belongs all intercession; to Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth.}

And He said: {Allāh is the One who created the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them in six days, then He rose over the Throne. You have no protector or intercessor besides Him. Will you not then remember?}

And He said: {Warn with it those who fear that they will be gathered to their Lord, they will have no protector or intercessor besides Him, so that they may become mindful.}

And He said: {It is not for a human to whom Allāh gives the Book, judgment, and prophethood, then say to the people: Be servants to me besides Allāh; rather: Be scholars of the Lord because of what you teach of the Book and what you study. Nor would he command you to take the angels and the prophets as lords. Would he command you to disbelief after you had been Muslims?}

قال ابن تيمية الحراني في «مجموع الفتاوى» (ج27ص65):

«وقال تعالى: {قل ادعوا الذين زعمتم من دون الله لا يملكون مثقال ذرة في السماوات ولا في الأرض وما لهم فيهما من شرك وما له منهم من ظهير} {ولا تنفع الشفاعة عنده إلا لمن أذن له}. فبين سبحانه أن من دعي من دون الله من جميع المخلوقات من الملائكة والبشر وغيرهم أنهم لا يملكون مثقال ذرة في ملكه وأنه ليس له شريك في ملكه بل هو سبحانه له الملك وله الحمد وهو على كل شيء قدير وأنه ليس له عون يعاونه كما يكون للملك أعوان وظهراء وأن الشفعاء عنده لا يشفعون إلا لمن ارتضى فنفى بذلك وجوه الشرك. وذلك أن من يدعون من دونه إما أن يكون مالكا وإما أن لا يكون مالكا وإذا لم يكن مالكا فإما أن يكون شريكا وإما أن لا يكون شريكا وإذا لم يكن شريكا فإما أن يكون معاونا وإما أن يكون سائلا طالبا فالأقسام الأول الثلاثة وهي: الملك والشركة والمعاونة منتفية وأما الرابع فلا يكون إلا من بعد إذنه كما قال تعالى: {من ذا الذي يشفع عنده إلا بإذنه} وكما قال تعالى: {وكم من ملك في السماوات لا تغني شفاعتهم شيئا إلا من بعد أن يأذن الله لمن يشاء ويرضى} وقال تعالى: {أم اتخذوا من دون الله شفعاء قل أولو كانوا لا يملكون شيئا ولا يعقلون} {قل لله الشفاعة جميعا له ملك السماوات والأرض} وقال تعالى: {الله الذي خلق السماوات والأرض وما بينهما في ستة أيام ثم استوى على العرش ما لكم من دونه من ولي ولا شفيع أفلا تتذكرون} وقال تعالى {وأنذر به الذين يخافون أن يحشروا إلى ربهم ليس لهم من دونه ولي ولا شفيع لعلهم يتقون} وقال تعالى: {ما كان لبشر أن يؤتيه الله الكتاب والحكم والنبوة ثم يقول للناس كونوا عبادا لي من دون الله ولكن كونوا ربانيين بما كنتم تعلمون الكتاب وبما كنتم تدرسون} {ولا يأمركم أن تتخذوا الملائكة والنبيين أربابا أيأمركم بالكفر بعد إذ أنتم مسلمون}»

And his student Ibn al-Qayyim said in Miftāḥ Dār al-Saʿādah (vol. 2, p. 269):

And its affirmation is in His statement: {And they do not intercede except for one whom He approves} and His statement: {Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission?} and His statement: {They do not possess intercession except for one who has taken a covenant with the Most Merciful.}

For He negated the polytheistic intercession (al-Shafāʿah al-Shirkiyyah) which they and those like them among the Mushrikīn believed in. It is the intercession of intermediaries for them with Allāh in bringing what benefits them and repelling what harms them by their own essences and selves, without that being dependent on Allāh's permission or His approval for whom the intercessor wishes to intercede.

This is the intercession which Allāh invalidated and negated, and it is the very foundation of all Shirk and its base upon which it is built, and its shelters to which it returns.

And He affirmed the intercession that only occurs with Allāh's permission for the intercessor and His approval of the one for whom intercession is made - his statement and his action. This is the intercession that is attained through the purification of Tawḥīd.

قال ابن القيم في «مفتاح دار السعادة» (ج2ص269):

«وإثباتها في قوله ولا يشفعون إلى لمن ارتضى وقوله من ذا الذي يشفع عنده إلا باذنه وقوله لا يملكون الشفاعة إلا من اتخذ عند الرحمن عهدا فإنه سبحانه نفى الشفاعة الشركية التي كانوا يعتقدونها وأمثالهم من المشركين وهي شفاعة الوسائط لهم عند الله في جلب ما ينفعهم ودفع ما يضرهم بذواتها وأنفسها بدون توقف ذلك على إذن الله ومرضاته لمن شاء أن يشفع فيه الشافع فهذه الشفاعة التي أبطلها الله سبحانه ونفاها وهي أصل الشرك كله وقاعدته التي عليها بناؤه وأخبيته التي يرجع إليها وأثبت سبحانه الشفاعة التي لا تكون إلا بإذن الله للشافع ورضاه عن المشفوع قوله وعمله وهي الشفاعة التي تنال بتجريد التوحيد»

And Ibn al-Qayyim said in Madārij al-Sālikīn (vol. 1, p. 528):

Allāh has cut off all the means by which the Mushrikīn attach themselves, in a manner that whoever reflects upon it and understands it will know that whoever takes besides Allāh a Walī or an intercessor is like the spider that takes a house, while the frailest of houses is the house of the spider.

He said: {Say, [O Muḥammad], "Invoke those you claim [as deities] besides Allāh." They do not possess an atom's weight [of ability] in the heavens or on the earth, and they do not have therein any partnership [with Him], nor is there for Him from among them any assistant.} {And intercession does not benefit with Him except for one whom He permits.}

So the Mushrik only takes his object of worship because of the benefit he hopes to obtain from it. And benefit can only come from one who possesses one of these four qualities: either he owns what his worshiper seeks from him, if he is not an owner, then he is a partner of the owner, if he is not a partner, then he is an assistant and supporter to him, if he is neither an assistant nor a supporter, then he is an intercessor with him.

So He negated these four ranks in a sequential negation, moving from the highest to what is below it. Thus He negated ownership, partnership, assistance, and the intercession which the Mushrik seeks. And He affirmed an intercession in which the Mushrik has no share - which is the intercession by His permission.

وقال في «مدارج السالكين» (ج1ص528):

«وقد قطع تعالى الأسباب التي يتعلق بها المشركون جميعها قطعا يعلم من تأمله وعرفه أن من اتخذ من دون الله وليا أو شفيعا، فهو كمثل العنكبوت اتخذت بيتا، وإن أوهن البيوت لبيت العنكبوت، فقال تعالى: {قل ادعوا الذين زعمتم من دون الله لا يملكون مثقال ذرة في السماوات ولا في الأرض وما لهم فيهما من شرك وما له منهم من ظهير ولا تنفع الشفاعة عنده إلا لمن أذن له}. فالمشرك إنما يتخذ معبوده لما يحصل له به من النفع، والنفع لا يكون إلا ممن فيه خصلة من هذه الأربع: إما مالك لما يريد عابده منه، فإن لم يكن مالكا كان شريكا للمالك، فإن لم يكن شريكا له كان معينا له وظهيرا، فإن لم يكن معينا ولا ظهيرا كان شفيعا عنده. فنفى سبحانه المراتب الأربع نفيا مترتبا منتقلا من الأعلى إلى ما دونه، فنفى الملك، والشركة، والمظاهرة، والشفاعة التي يطلبها المشرك؛ وأثبت شفاعة لا نصيب فيها لمشرك، وهي الشفاعة بإذنه»

 

Now regarding the other Āyāt, which describe the state of the Mushrikīn who call upon idols who cannot benefit or harm the, such as:

{And those whom you invoke other than Him do not possess [as much as] the membrane of a date seed. If you invoke them, they do not hear your call; and if they heard, they would not respond to you. And on the Day of Resurrection they will disbelieve in your association.}

{‌والذين تدعون من دونه ما يملكون من قطمير - إن تدعوهم لا يسمعوا دعاءكم ‌ولو ‌سمعوا ما استجابوا لكم ويوم القيامة يكفرون بشرككم ولا ينبئك مثل خبير}

{And those they invoke other than Allāh create nothing, and they [themselves] are created. They are [in fact] dead, not alive, and they do not perceive when they will be resurrected.}

{‌والذين يدعون من دون الله ‌لا ‌يخلقون ‌شيئا وهم يخلقون - أموات غير أحياء وما يشعرون أيان يبعثون}

Then I say: Using these Āyāt to argue that the one who "makes Duʿāʾ to" - meaning requests from - someone or something that cannot hear or respond to them is a Mushrik is ridiculous, and just shows the complete ignorance of these Khawārij

And once again, these "Salafīs" have fallen into the same mistake as their Qitālī brothers, who quote Āyāt such as

{Have you not seen those who claim to have believed in what was revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], and what was revealed before you? They wish to seek judgement from the Ṭāghūt, while they were commanded to disbelieve in it; and Satan wishes to lead them far astray. - And when it is said to them, "Come to what Allāh has revealed and to the Messenger," you see the Munāfiqīn turning away from you in aversion.}

{ألم ‌تر ‌إلى ‌الذين ‌يزعمون أنهم آمنوا بما أنزل إليك وما أنزل من قبلك يريدون أن يتحاكموا إلى الطاغوت وقد أمروا أن يكفروا به ويريد الشيطان أن يضلهم ضلالا بعيدا - وإذا قيل لهم تعالوا إلى ما أنزل الله وإلى الرسول رأيت المنافقين يصدون عنك صدودا}

And

{Those who believe fight in the cause of Allāh, and those who disbelieve fight in the cause of the Ṭāghūt}

{الذين آمنوا يقاتلون في سبيل الله والذين كفروا ‌يقاتلون ‌في ‌سبيل ‌الطاغوت}

To takfīr those who seek judgement from the Ṭāghūt or those who fight in his ranks (or just takfīr the city's garbage collector), as they argue Allāh described the ones doing these acts as Munāfiqīn and disbelievers in these Āyāt

The response - to both groups - is that these Āyāt are all clearly descriptive, not prescriptive - meaning: they are describing the state of the Mushrikīn and Munāfiqīn, who call upon and rely on their useless idols or seek judgement from other than the Sharīʿah, not prescribing that the one who asks anything that cannot hear or respond to him is a Mushrik, or that the one who seeks judgement from the Ṭāghūt is a Munāfiq, and just like the people in these Āyāt were already Munāfiqīn, the people described in the previous Āyāt were already Mushrikīn, due to their explicit belief that Allāh has partners and their open intent to worship them, and nothing indicates that they became Mushrikīn just by "making requests" they weren't capable of hearing or fulfilling

So for example, these Āyāt are different from prescriptive Āyāt such as:

{And if you ask them, they will surely say, "We were only conversing and playing." Say, "Is it Allāh and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?" Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief. If We pardon one faction of you - We will punish another faction because they were criminals.}

{ولئن سألتهم ليقولن إنما كنا نخوض ونلعب قل أبالله وآياته ورسوله كنتم تستهزؤن - لا تعتذروا قد ‌كفرتم ‌بعد ‌إيمانكم إن نعف عن طائفة منكم نعذب طائفة بأنهم كانوا مجرمين}

Rather they are similar to other descriptive Āyāt such as:

{Indeed, Allāh will admit those who have believed and done righteous deeds to gardens beneath which rivers flow, and those who disbelieve enjoy themselves and eat as grazing livestock eat, and the Fire will be a residence for them.}

{إن الله يدخل الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات جنات تجري من تحتها الأنهار ‌والذين ‌كفروا ‌يتمتعون ويأكلون كما تأكل الأنعام والنار مثوى لهم}

Which, obviously, isn't saying that those who enjoy themselves and eat like cattle are Kuffār

But then in some idiotic attempt to pull a "gotcha", they bring the final set of Āyāt, which show that the word "Duʿā" can be used in place of "worship", such as:

{And [He revealed] that the masjids are for Allāh, so do not invoke with Allāh anyone.}

{‌وأن المساجد لله ‌فلا ‌تدعوا مع الله أحدا}

And

{Say, "Indeed, I have been forbidden to worship those you invoke besides Allāh."}

{‌قل إني نهيت أن أعبد الذين ‌تدعون ‌من ‌دون ‌الله}

And - like everything else so far - this has nothing to do with the topic

For the final time, if they want to argue that because "Duʿā is worship" then "making Duʿā to" - meaning requesting from - other than Allāh is Shirk, they must also takfīr the one who "makes Duʿā to" - meaning requests from - a living person who is present right in front of him, as no matter what defintion of "Duʿā" they will decide to use, it must apply equally to the living, dead, present, absent, human or angel

But the actual issue with this specific argument is that in this case, the word "Duʿā" simply has multiple meanings, so this doesn't even establish anything

And again, this is the same as the Qitālīs who quote the Āyāt

{He could not have taken his brother within the religion (Dīn) of the king except that Allāh willed}

{‌ما كان ليأخذ أخاه ‌في ‌دين ‌الملك إلا أن يشاء الله}

{Or do they have partners who have legislated for them in the religion (Dīn) that which Allāh did not permit?}

{‌أم ‌لهم ‌شركاء ‌شرعوا ‌لهم من الدين ما لم يأذن به الله}

And then go "look! the king's ruling was called a Dīn! and Dīn means religion, so this must mean that whoever rules with his own ruling instead of the Sharīʿah has ruled with another religion!"

And this whole line of thinking has been refuted before, and it simply requires knowing the basic fact that sharing the ism (name) doesn't necessitate sharing the ḥukm (ruling), just like Tarāwīḥ being called a Bidʿah doesn't mean it shares the ruling of Bidʿah in the religion, and just like the Musḥaf or ʿĪsā ʿAlayh al-Salām being called "the speech of Allāh" doesn't mean they are uncreated

And this was covered by Yaḥyā ibn Sallām in al-Taṣārīf (p. 325):

The interpretation of the word "Duʿā" splits into five views.

The first view: Duʿāʾ meaning statement (al-Qawl).
That is His statement in Sūrat al-Aʿrāf: {So their Duʿāʾ was nothing} meaning: their statement was nothing {when Our punishment came to them except that they said: Indeed, we were wrongdoers.}...

The second view: Duʿāʾ meaning worship (al-ʿIbādah).
That is His statement in Sūrat al-Anʿām: {Say: Shall we call upon besides Allāh} meaning: shall we worship besides Allāh {that which neither benefits us nor harms us?}

And He said in Sūrat Yūnus: {And do not call upon besides Allāh} meaning: do not worship besides Allāh {that which neither benefits you nor harms you.}

And He said in Sūrat Banī Isrāʾīl: {Those whom you call upon have gone astray} meaning: those whom you worship.

And He said in Ṭā Sīn Mīm, al-Shuʿarāʾ: {So do not call upon another deity with Allāh} meaning: do not worship with Allāh another deity {lest you be among those punished.}

And He said in al-Furqān: {Those who do not call upon another deity with Allāh} meaning: they do not worship another deity.

And He also said therein: {If not for your Duʿāʾ} meaning: if not for your worship.

The third view: Duʿāʾ meaning calling out (al-Nidāʾ).
That is His statement: {So he called upon his Lord: I am overpowered} meaning: he called out to his Lord.

And He said: {The Day the caller calls} meaning: the caller calls out {to a dreadful thing.}

And He said: {The Day He calls you and you will respond with His praise} meaning: the Day Isrāfīl calls you.

And He said in Sūrat al-Anbiyāʾ: {The deaf do not hear the duʿāʾ} meaning: the call {when they are warned.}

And He said in Sūrat al-Malāʾikah: {If you call them} meaning: if you call out to them {they will not hear your call.}

The fourth view: Duʿāʾ meaning seeking help (al-Istiʿānah).
That is His statement in Sūrat al-Baqarah: {And call your witnesses} meaning: seek help from your partners besides Allāh.

And He said in Sūrat Yūnus: {And call} meaning: seek help {upon whomever you are able} meaning: whoever obeys you {besides Allāh.}

And the like of it occurs in Sūrat Hūd.

And He said: {And Pharaoh said: Leave me to kill Mūsā and let him call upon his Lord} meaning: let him seek help from his Lord.

The fifth view: Duʿāʾ meaning asking (al-Suʾāl).
That is His statement in Sūrat al-Baqarah regarding the words of the Children of Israel to Mūsā: {They said: Call your Lord for us} meaning: ask your Lord for us.

And He said: {They said: O magician, call your Lord for us} meaning: ask your Lord for us {by what He has promised you; indeed we will be guided.}

And He said: {Your Lord said: Call upon Me and I will respond to you} meaning: ask Me and I will give to you.

And He also said therein: {Those who are in the Fire will say to the keepers of Hell: Call upon your Lord} meaning: ask your Lord {to lighten for us a day of the punishment.}

And the meaning of His statement {ask your Lord} is: request from Him.

And there are many similar examples.

قال يحيى بن سلام في «التصاريف لتفسير القرآن مما اشتبهت أسمائه وتصرفت معانيه» (ص325):

«‌‌تفسير الدعاء على خمسة وجوه ‌‌

الوجه الأول: الدعاء يعني قولا وذلك قوله في الأعراف: {فما كان دعواهم} يعني ما كان قولهم {إذ جآءهم بأسنآ} عذابنا، {إلا أن قالوا إنا كنا ظالمين}... ‌‌الوجه الثاني: دعاء يعني عبادة وذلك قوله في سورة الأنعام: {قل أندعوا من دون الله} يعني أنعبد من دون الله، {ما لا ينفعنا ولا يضرنا}. وقال في سورة يونس: {ولا تدع من دون الله} يعني لا تعبد من دون الله، {ما لا ينفعك ولا يضرك}. وقال في سورة بني إسرائيل: {ضل من تدعون} يعني ما تعبدون. وقال في طسم الشعراء: {فلا تدع مع الله} يعني لا تعبد مع الله إلها آخر {فتكون من المعذبين}. وقال في الفرقان: {والذين لا يدعون مع الله إلاها آخر} يعني لا يعبدون. وقال فيها أيضا: {لولا دعآؤكم} لولا عبادتكم. ‌‌

الوجه الثالث: دعاء يعني نداء وذلك قوله: {فدعا ربه أني مغلوب} يعني نادى ربه. وقال: {يوم يدع الداع} يعني ينادي المنادي، {إلى شيء نكر}. وقال: {يوم يدعوكم فتستجيبون بحمده} يعني يوم يناديكم إسرافيل. وقال في سورة الأنبياء: {ولا يسمع الصم الدعآء} يعني النداء {إذا ما ينذرون}. وقال في سورة الملائكة: {إن تدعوهم} يعني تنادوهم، {لا يسمعوا دعآءكم} يعني نداءكم. ‌‌

الوجه الرابع: الدعاء يعني الاستعانة وذلك قوله في سورة البقرة: {وادعوا شهدآءكم} يعني استعينوا بشركائكم من دون الله. وقال في سورة يونس: {وادعوا} يعني استعينوا، {من استطعتم} يعني من أطاعكم، {من دون الله}. ومثلها في هود. وقال: {وقال فرعون ذروني أقتل موسى وليدع ربه} يعني وليستعن بربه. ‌‌

الوجه الخامس: الدعاء يعني السؤال وذلك قوله في سورة البقرة في قول بني إسرائيل لموسى: {قالوا ادع لنا ربك} أي سل لنا ربك. وقال: {وقالوا ياأيه الساحر ادع لنا ربك} أي سل لنا ربك، {بما عهد عندك إننا لمهتدون}. وقال: {وقال ربكم ادعوني أستجب لكم} يعني سلوني أعطكم. وقال فيها أيضا: {وقال الذين في النار لخزنة جهنم ادعوا ربكم} يعني سلو ربكم، {يخفف عنا يوما من العذاب} ويعني بقوله: سلوا ربكم أي اطلبوا إليه. ونحوه كثير.»

 

And these idiots constantly try to conflate between the second meaning and the third to fifth meaning of Duʿāʾ, while unable to explain how such "Duʿāʾ" - regardless of whatever meaning they take at that exact moment - exclusively applies to the dead, angels and inanimate objects but not to present humans

 

Of course, no one actually reads the Qurʾān normally and reaches any of these retarded conclusions, and just like Qitālīs - or any other deviant sect really - they are simply inserting their pre-existing beliefs into these Āyāt

Since - as I've mentioned before - there is only one actual, real reason that they hold Ṭalab al-Duʿāʾ to be Shirk, which is simply that to them, "it feels like Shirk"

And this leads us to their final "argument" for it being Shirk, which is their pathetic emotional attempt at Qiyās, going "oh, but this is just like asking an idol to make it rain! This is just like asking Iblīs to grant you children!"

And the response to such childish argument is that - firstly - they themselves don't actually believe this!

If you asked them "is it Shirk to believe an idol could make it rain for you", or "is it Shirk to believe Iblīs can grant you children", they will of course say yes, but if you ask them "is it Shirk to believe someone could pray to Allāh for you after their death" or even "is it major Shirk to believe an amulet could protect you", they will be forced to concede that neither of these views are Shirk due to the textual evidence

So by their own admission, an idol making it rain isn't the same as a dead person praying to Allāh for you, and if that's the case how could you then compare the two?!

And using this retarded line of thinking, you can make quite literally everything sound like Shirk

"Oh, you think fighting in the army isn't Kufr? What about fighting in the army of Iblīs?!", "oh, you think hanging an amulet in your home believing it will protect you isn't major Shirk? What about hanging an idol in your home?!", "oh you think prostrating to other than Allāh isn't Shirk? What about prostrating to Iblīs?!" "oh you think tabarruk with the items of the Prophet ﷺ isn't Shirk? What about tabarruk with an idol?!" and so on

 

But really, there is no point in even arguing with these children, who base their creed on emotions and Qiyās instead of any actual evidence from the Qurʾān and Sunnah, especially since they are all atheists who think this "supernatural" stuff - such as the dead hearing and praying, or even just the existence of angels and jinn - is completely fake anyways