In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Shirku-Du'a 
Calling on Other Than Allah

By Br. Abdullah Mujahid 

 The purpose of Mankind, the sole reason behind our creation, is
 to worship Allah Alone: "And I created not the Jinns and men
 except that they should worship Me (Alone)." [51: 56]

 Worship has been defined by Ibn Taymiyyah as being: "a term
 which comprises everything that Allah (s.w.t) loves and
 approves of from the apparent and hidden sayings and deeds."

 The main condition for such worship to be accepted however, is
 that they must be solely made for the Sake of Allah, and no one
 else. This is the essence of Tawheed, and the Kalima itself,
 which declares boldly that there is no deity worthy of worship
 except for Allah. 

 And Du'a (supplication) is undoubtedly a part of worship, as Ibn
 Abbas said, "the best forms of worship is the du'a" [Munthir and
 Ibn Haakim].

 To Allah belongs certain rights, among these including to
 slaughter in His Name, to prostrate before no one but Him, and
 to direct Du'a to no one but Him. In this regard, the scholar Ibn
 Rajab said: "Know that it is an obligation to invoke Allah Alone in
 Du`a, and not His creation... Admitting (and showing) humility
 and meekness can only be revealed to Allah, Alone, for this is
 the essence of worship."

 Ibnul Qayyim said: "And from the types of Shirk, requesting
 needs from the dead, and Istighaathah from them and direction
 (of the call) to them, and this is the original of the Shirk of
 Mankind. Since the dead has his deeds cut off from him, and he
 cannot cause upon himself any good nor bad, let alone whoever
 seeks help from him, or asked him to seek intercession from
 Allah on his behalf. "

 Calling upon the dead represents a hollow attempt to seek help
 from a creature who can benefit the caller nothing. Allah Says: "If
 you call upon them, they hear not your call, and if (in case) they
 were to hear, they could not grant it (your request) to you. And
 on the Day of Resurrection, they will disown your worshipping
 them" [35: 14]

 The argument of the Quraish was similar to that of today's
 people: they only invoked their idols as a means or intermediary
 towards reaching Allah "We only worship them so that they may
 bring us closer to Allah." [39: 3]. Similarly, the Walis (saints) and
 Sheikhs and prophets are still called upon by those seeking
 need, in the hope that they could fulfil their needs. Yet This
 practice was never done by the Companions nor their
 predecessors, but rather was done by Hindus and other pagans
 who Muslims came in contact with during later conquests. 

 And if the dead could indeed help anyone, they would help
 themselves. Take for example Saad Bin Muath, the Sayyid
 (Leader) of the Ansar, upon whose death the Throne of Allah
 shook, this exemplary model himself faced the closing in of the
 grave, yet he had no power to stop this. 

 So the one who does this faces the torment of death, and the
 punishment f the grave, and dwells in Hell, for Allah says: "When
 our Messengers (the angels) come to them to take their souls,
 they will say: 'Where are those whom you used to invoke and
 worship besides Allah,'they will reply, 'They have vanished and
 deserted us. 'And they will bear witness against themselves, that
 they were disbelievers." [7: 37].

 Yet many will swear that upon asking the dead or those far away
 for assistance, their du'a is answered. This is no proof for their
 statements however, and in reality, this is true also of other
 religions, who worship idols and animals and planets, for they
 too find their supplications an. Rather, and as the Scholars have
 explained, any such occurrence is merely a coincidence or an
 act of the Jinns who seek to deviate Muslims. They rush to fulfil
 their desires, thus making this act fair-seeming and correct in
 the eyes of the Muslim. 

 During the time of the Prophet, there was a hypocrite who was
 causing harm upon the Believers. So some of them said "Let us
 go to the Prophet (s.a.w) and ask him to Istagheeth (seek for the
 removal of harm) for us from this hypocrite." So the Prophet
 (s.a.w) replied "Verily, Istighaathah cannot be requested from
 me, rather, from Allah." Although it was within the Prophet's
 (s.a.w) ability and power to prevent the harm from the hypocrite,
 and although their request was Islamically valid, he stressed on
 the importance of using such terms for Allah only, because of
 the consequent damage it could cause to the Tawheed of his
 Ummah, had it been used to other than Allah.

 Nonetheless, a myriad of Muslims still persist in this vice, even
 though the Scholars of Ahlus Sunnah have agreed upon its
 impermissibility. Ibn Taymiyyah commented in this regard: "But
 whoever takes them (Sheikhs, Awliyaa', Pirs etc..) as
 intermediaries between Allah and His creation... So that they are
 the ones to pass on to Allah the needs of His creations, since
 (they believe that) Allah gives the guidance and the sustenance
 because of their intercession, so that the people would ask them
 (the intermediaries), who will then ask Allah, just as the kings'
 intermediaries present people's needs to the kings because they
 are closer to them from the need-seeker.. Whoever takes them
 as intermediaries in this manner, then such person is Kaffir and
 Mushrik, and should be asked to repent, and should be killed if
 he refuses; such people are Mushabbiha (resemblers), who
 have resembled the Creator to His creation, and have adopted
 partners with Him".

 The ways of the Prophets was to call Mankind to the worship of
 Allah, to seek His Help in every way, for He is the All-Hearer and
 All-Seer: "And when My slaves ask you concerning Me, then
 (say) I am indeed near. I respond to the invocations of the
 supplicant when he calls on Me. So let them obey Me and
 believe in Me, so that they may be led aright." [2: 186].