Let us carefully reflect upon this very profound Qur'anic verse; Allah, the Almighty, who knows everything and needs nothing, in this verse, has commanded the Believers TO SEEK THE SPECIFIED MEANS, I.E. "AL-WASEELAH", towards Allah. Of course Allah is Omnipotent and does not need the WASEELAH that He has commanded the Believers to seek for approaching His Pleasedness, but surely, whether a servant of Allah does as Allah has commanded or not, is a great test of whether that servant is truly a Believer or not, a test of belief, faith, obedience, sincerity, humbleness and … . (We also cordially invite you to read the article: "Toward God" in this site: kindfather.com)

In interpretation of this verse, the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP) has introduced his Infallible Ahl-Ol-Bayt (PBUT) as the Allah-Authorized WASEELAH, i.e. the Means whom if sought, followed and obeyed, the exalted goal of obedience of Allah and approaching the Pleasedness of Allah is accomplished. (Tafseer Noor-O-Ththaqalain; Majma'-Ol-Bayaan; ...).

The Arabic word "TAWASSOL" means "SEEKING THE WASEELAH"; as it can be observed the two words Tawassol and Waseelah have both been derived from the common root of وسل. Therefore the Shi'ah, who seek the Prophet Muhammad and his Infallible AhlulBayt (PBUT) as the WASEELAH to approach Allah's Pleasedness, are doing exactly as Allah has commanded in Qur'an.

It is noteworthy to mention that even in Sunni documents, there are Ahadith from the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) himself which verify the Allah-Ordained concept of Tawassul.

Here we are going to narrate two of these Ahadith from Sunni documents; the first one is known as: THE HADITH OF THE BLIND MAN.

Tirmidhi relates, through his chain of narrators from 'Uthman ibn Hunayf, that a blind man came to the Prophet (PBUH&HP) and said, "I've been afflicted in my eyesight, so please pray to Allah for me." The Prophet said: "Go make ablution (wudu), perform two rak'as of prayer, and then say:

"Oh Allah, I ask You and turn to You through my Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of mercy; O Muhammad (Ya Muhammad), I seek your intercession with my Lord for the return of my eyesight [and in another version: "for my need, that it may be fulfilled. O Allah, grant him intercession for me"]."

The Prophet (PBUH&HP) added, "And if there is some need, do the same."

Even Ibn Taymiya -an extremely anti Shi'ah Sunni scholar- narrated this Hadith as Sahih! Moreover, Baihaqi related the hadith by way of Hakim and confirmed that it was rigorously authenticated (SAHIH), Hakim having related it by a chain of transmission meeting the standards of Bukhari and Muslim, which the Sunni hadith master Dhahabi confirmed, and Shawkani cited as evidence.

This hadith was recorded by Bukhari in his "al-Tarikh al-kabir", by Ibn Majah in his "Sunan", where he said it was rigorously authenticated (SAHIH), by Nasa'i in "Amal al-yawm wa al-layla", by Abu Nu'aym in "Ma'rifa al-Sahaba", by Baihaqi in "Dala'il al-nubuwwa", by Mundhiri in "al-Targhib wa al-tahrib", by Haythami in "Majma' al zawa'id wa manba' al-fawa'id", by Tabarani in "al-Mu'jam al-kabir", by Ibn Khuzayma in his "Sahih", and by others. Nearly 15 hadith masters ("huffaz", hadith authorities with more than 100,000 hadiths and their chains of transmission by memory) have explicitly stated that this hadith is rigorously authenticated (sahih). As mentioned above, it has come with a chain of transmission meeting the standards of Bukhari and Muslim, so there is nothing left for a critic to attack or slanderer to disparage concerning the authenticity of the hadith.

The second Hadith is known as: THE HADITH OF THE MAN IN NEED.

Tabarani, in his "al-Mu'jam al saghir," reports a hadith from 'Uthman ibn Hunayf that a man repeatedly visited Uthman ibn Affan concerning something he needed, but Uthman (Othmaan) paid no attention to him or his need. The man met Ibn Hunayf and complained to him about the matter - this being after the death of the Prophet (PBUH&HP)- so Uthman ibn Hunayf, who is considered one of the Companions of the Prophet, said: "Go to the place of ablution and perform ablution (wudu), then come to the mosque, perform two rak'as of prayer therein, and say:

'O Allah, I ask You and turn to You through our Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of mercy; O Muhammad (Ya Muhammad), I turn through you to my Lord, that He may fulfill my need,' and mention your need. Then come so that I can go with you [to the caliph Uthman]." So the man left and did as he had been told, then went to the door of Uthman ibn Affan, and the doorman came, took him by the hand, brought him to Uthman ibn Affan, and seated him next to him on a cushion. 'Uthman asked, "What do you need?" and the man mentioned what he wanted, and Uthman accomplished it for him, then he said, "I hadn't remembered your need until just now," adding, "Whenever you need something, just mention it." Then, the man departed, met Uthman ibn Hunayf, and said to him, "May Allah reward you! He didn't see to my need or pay any attention to me until you spoke with him." Uthman ibn Hunayf replied, "By Allah, I didn't speak to him, but I have seen a blind man come to the Messenger of Allah and complain to him of the loss of his eyesight. The Prophet said, "Can you not bear it?' and the man replied, 'O Messenger of Allah, I do not have anyone to lead me around, and it is a great hardship for me.' The Prophet told him, 'Go to the place of ablution and perform ablution (wudu), then pray two rak'as of prayer and make the supplications.'" Ibn Hunayf went on, "By Allah, we didn't part company or speak long before the man returned to us as if nothing had ever been wrong with him."

This is an explicit, unequivocal text narrated by the Sunni, regarding tawassul through the dead. The account has been classified as rigorously authenticated (SAHIH) by the Sunni Baihaqi, Mundhiri, and Haythami.

Notice that, in both cases, the Prophet (PBUH&HP) was also directly called upon; i.e. "O Muhammad! (Ya Muhammad!)". And in both cases the Prophet (PBUH&HP) was not present; i.e. in the first case, the blind man called upon the Prophet, while the Prophet (PBUH&HP) was not standing next to him, in fact it is reported that the Prophet had left town; and in the second case, the Prophet had passed away.

There are more Qur'anic verses and many Ahadith narrated in authentic Shi'ah documents supporting this concept which we have not included in this writing, but for now: WE REST OUR CASE.

In these days that we are remembering the sad and heart breaking martyrdom of our Lady, Fatimah Zahra (PBUH), we seek her as our Waseelah to implore Allah to hasten the Appearance of her beloved Mahdi (PBUH) so that the truth about what were done against the Prophet Muhammad and his Infallible AhlulBayt (PBUT) will become known to all, and therefore as the result, the Truth about the Religion of Allah shall be known; for, what were done against them which finally resulted to their martyrdom, were Shaitaan-Guided deceits and conspiracies to distort the Religion of Allah; Ah! How they have sold the Truth and their own Salvation for such a low price!!!

O Fatimah Zahra, O daughter of Muhammad, O Joy to the eye of the Prophet, O our Lady, O our master! Indeed we turn towards thee, and we seek thy intercession, and we Tawassol through you towards Allah, and we put before you our needs and requests; O esteemed and respected by Allah! intercede for us in the Presence of Allah.

The Tawassol Supplication: http://www.duas.org/tawassul.htm

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