Intercession: Is Allah Enough?

One of the most common questions regarding the practice of tawassul is rooted in the nature of our relationship with Allah (swt). People often ask: if Allah, who is closer to us than our jugular vein and has mandated upon Himself to answer the calls of the believers, already hears our duas, why is there a need for an intermediary to get closer to Him? Why approach anyone else to reach Allah instead of approaching Him directly?

This question, while sincere, stems from a misunderstanding of the concept of Qurub illa Allah (closeness to Allah). It is true that Allah (swt) is close to us, but are we necessarily close to Him? Allah can reach us effortlessly, but can all of us reach Him in the same way? To answer this, consider the following points:

1. If all individuals were equally close to Allah, then the dua of a fasiq (a sinner) would hold the same weight as that of a salih (a righteous person), which contradicts the divine justice of Allah. Clearly, the dua of a Prophet or a muttaqi (a pious individual) has greater value and closeness to Allah than the dua of someone distant from Him in their actions and state of heart.

2. The Qur'an and Sunnah emphasize the elevated status of Prophets, righteous individuals, and intercessors in their connection to Allah. For instance, when Ibrahim (as) made dua to Allah to destroy a wrongdoer for their sins, Allah instantly answered by fulfilling the request. Was this because Allah has an equal and universal love for all, or was it due to Ibrahim's unparalleled closeness to Allah?

3. Tawassul is not about bypassing Allah but seeking to approach Him through those He loves and has granted special closeness. It reflects humility, recognizing our shortcomings and appealing to Allah through the merits of His chosen servants, not as independent mediators but as means to draw nearer to Him.

Therefore, the need for tawassul arises from our acknowledgment of our distance from Allah and our reliance on those who embody greater nearness to Him to intercede and strengthen our connection.

Indeed, it is apparent to anyone that different people hold different levels of nearness to Allah (swt), and so is His saying in Surah Sad 38:28:

أَمۡ نَجۡعَلُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ كَٱلۡمُفۡسِدِينَ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ

But would We treat those who believe and do good deeds and those who spread corruption on earth as equal? 

It is also clear that the pious cannot be equal to the wrongdoer. When the wrongdoer seeks the dua of the pious, he is not denying Allah's closeness to him but rather acknowledging his own distance from Allah (swt). While Allah is equally close to everyone, not everyone is equally close to Allah. This distance is a barrier we create ourselves through our sins and shortcomings. Hence, Imam Ali (as) says in Du'a Kumayl:

اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي الذُّنُوبَ الَّتِي تَحْبِسُ الدُّعَاءَ

O Allah forgive me those sins which hold back supplication!

Therefore, the sins and lack of piety that someone may hold can lead them to become distant from Allah, to a point where their own du'as become devalued and rejected. By seeking an intermediary, such a person is seeking someone or something that is closer to Allah (swt) to help them reach closeness to Him. This is the meaning of His words in Surah Ma’idah 5:35:

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱبْتَغُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِ ٱلْوَسِيلَةَ وَجَـٰهِدُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ

O believers! Be mindful of Allah and seek what brings you closer to Him and struggle in His Way, so you may be successful.

Thus, someone may seek Allah's closeness through His names, their past righteous actions, or righteous individuals. These are all channels that one may use to reach nearness to Allah (swt), especially when their own sins have caused them to become distant from Him.

Evidence of this concept in Qur'an and Hadith

So far what we have mentioned has been justified by the basis of logic, however we can take this a step further by providing examples of this logic been found in Qur'an and Hadith. For example, we read in Surah Yusuf 12:97- 98:

قَالُواْ يَٰٓأَبَانَا ٱسۡتَغۡفِرۡ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَآ إِنَّا كُنَّا خَٰطِـِٔينَ قَالَ سَوۡفَ أَسۡتَغۡفِرُ لَكُمۡ رَبِّىٓۖ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلۡغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيم

The [brothers] said, ‘Father, ask God to forgive our sins- we were truly in the wrong.’ He replied, ‘I shall ask my Lord to forgive you: He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.’

In this verse, the brothers of Yusuf (as) turn to their father as a mediator between them and Allah, after realizing the severity of their sins concerning what they had done against Yusuf (as). However, they do not decide to approach Allah (swt) directly alone; instead, they use their father, Ya'qub (as), as an intermediary. They ask him to pray to Allah for their forgiveness, and Ya'qub (as) complies without instructing them to go to Allah alone.

If this practice were problematic, as some claim, we would expect the Prophet of Allah to clarify or condemn it. Yet, nowhere in the Qur'an does Allah criticize this act or command them to approach Him directly. This affirms the permissibility of using a mediator in seeking Allah's forgiveness. It also supports our earlier argument that Ya'qub, being closer to Allah, was sought as a means to intercede on behalf of his sons. The brothers could have sought Allah directly, but their supplications were likely veiled due to the weight of their sins.

Another example to cite for this is in Surah al-A’raf 7:134-135:

وَلَمَّا وَقَعَ عَلَيْهِمُ الرِّجْزُ قَالُوا يَا مُوسَى ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ بِمَا عَهِدَ عِندَكَ ۖ لَئِن كَشَفْتَ عَنَّا الرِّجْزَ لَنُؤْمِنَنَّ لَكَ وَلَنُرْسِلَنَّ مَعَكَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ فَلَمَّا كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمُ الرِّجْزَ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ هُم بَالِغُوهُ إِذَا هُمْ يَنكُثُونَ

And when the punishment descended upon them, they said, "O Moses, invoke for us your Lord by what He has promised you. If you [can] remove the punishment from us, we will surely believe you, and we will send with you the Children of Israel." But when We removed the punishment from them until a term which they were to reach, then at once they broke their word.

In this circumstance, we find a similar theme where the Israelites turned to Musa (as) to lift the punishment from them, and we also find here that Allah says He had accepted this act of mediation by lifting the punishment from them. We again ask, why didn't Bani Isra'il turn to Allah directly and ask Him to lift their punishment? Instead they turned to Musa (as) as an intermediary and neither did Musa nor Allah condemn them for doing such.

Another example in Surah Mumtahana 60:4:

 إِلَّا قَوْلَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ لِأَبِيهِ لَأَسْتَغْفِرَنَّ لَكَ وَمَا أَمْلِكُ لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِن شَيْءٍ ۖ رَّبَّنَا عَلَيْكَ تَوَكَّلْنَا وَإِلَيْكَ أَنَبْنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ

Except for the saying of Abraham to his father, "I will surely ask forgiveness for you, but I have not [power to do] for you anything against Allah . Our Lord, upon You we have relied, and to You we have returned, and to You is the destination.

In this verse, Ibrahim (as) is actually the one who offers to repent on behalf of his father (comment: in this verse, 'ab' is a reference to uncle). We ask, why didn't Ibrahim tell him to go repent to Allah directly? Of course that option is available, but instead Ibrahim (as) offers to mediate for him. This attests to the fact that Ibrahim saw a difference between his closeness and his uncle's to Allah (swt), and so the du'a of Ibrahim would have had more value and hence there is more purpose in seeking him as a mediator.

In fact, this very concept existed at the time of Rasulullah (saw) as the Sahaba attested this in Sahih al-Bukhari 1010:

حَدَّثَنَا الْحَسَنُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الأَنْصَارِيُّ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي أَبِي عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى، عَنْ ثُمَامَةَ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَنَسٍ، عَنْ أَنَسٍ، أَنَّ عُمَرَ بْنَ الْخَطَّابِ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ كَانَ إِذَا قَحَطُوا اسْتَسْقَى بِالْعَبَّاسِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الْمُطَّلِبِ فَقَالَ اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا كُنَّا نَتَوَسَّلُ إِلَيْكَ بِنَبِيِّنَا فَتَسْقِينَا وَإِنَّا نَتَوَسَّلُ إِلَيْكَ بِعَمِّ نَبِيِّنَا فَاسْقِنَا‏.‏ قَالَ فَيُسْقَوْنَ‏.‏

Narrated Anas: Whenever drought threatened them, `Umar bin Al-Khattab, used to ask Al-Abbas bin `Abdul Muttalib to invoke Allah for rain. He used to say, "O Allah! We used to seek (na’tawasulu) our Prophet to invoke You for rain, and You would bless us with rain, and now we ask his uncle to invoke You for rain. O Allah! Bless us with rain." And so it would rain.

The companions used to seek the Prophet (saw) as an intermediary for them to receive rain, and as Umar says himself does, they did tawassul. Do we see a mention of the Prophet (saw) saying ‘go approach God alone’? No, rather he went forth with doing it without pointing out any issues. Indeed, this was from the command of Allah (swt) towards them, as Allah has wanted for the believers to use the Prophet as a mediator to Him as He says in Surah an-Nisa 4;64:

وَلَوۡ أَنَّهُمۡ إِذ ظَّلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَهُمۡ جَآءُوكَ فَٱسۡتَغۡفَرُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَٱسۡتَغۡفَرَ لَهُمُ ٱلرَّسُولُ

Had they after having wronged themselves, come to you and sought forgiveness from Allah, and had the Messenger prayed for their forgiveness

Many more verses and prophets can be cited to prove this point, but it is evident that such a concept is clearly supported by the Holy Qur'an. Now a lot of viewers often turn this argument into a red herring fallacy, which means they shift the purpose behind their question into a new purpose. They say, 'but these people were living, while you call to dead!'. Now, if the issue was that these people were dead, then you should have asked us about this from the beginning and we can discuss the power of the dead to hear us. If however your question was about turning to Allah directly, then this answer would have sufficed, but if it was about the dead hearing, then this was the question you should have asked us from the beginning.

Why do intermediaries exist if Allah is enough?

Imam Ali (as) in a saying recorded in Nahjul Balagha, H. 237 says:

وَقَالَ (عليه ‏السلام): إِنَّ قَوْماً عَبَدُوا اللهَ رَغْبَةً فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَةُ التُّجَّارِ، وَإِنَّ قَوْماً عَبَدُوا اللهَ رَهْبَةً فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَةُ الْعَبِيدِ، وَإِنَّ قَوْماً عَبَدُوا اللهَ شُكْراً فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَةُ الْأَحْرَارِ.

Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said: A group of people worshipped Allāh out of desire for reward surely, this is the worship of traders. Another group worshipped Allāh out of fear, this is the worship of slaves. Still another group worshipped Allāh out of gratitude, this is the worship of free men.

Imam Ali (as) categorizes those who worship Allah (swt) into three types, with the highest being the worship of a free person who worships Allah because He is worthy of it. Such a worshipper seeks no reward like heaven or any material gain; their worship is purely out of love and recognition of Allah's worthiness. Allah (swt) cannot reward such a servant with the same heaven that is given to those who worship Him for reward, as this would constitute injustice by equating two inherently unequal intentions and efforts.

If someone argues that giving them a “better” heaven suffices, this too is flawed. The true worshipper of Allah never sought heaven in the first place, so rewarding them with it would be less than the essence of their devotion. Their aim was Allah, and thus their reward must transcend paradise itself.

The only fitting reward for such a servant is to be granted the ultimate closeness to Allah (swt), becoming a means (waseela) to Him. Without this means, one cannot truly worship Allah as He deserves. This principle underscores why Iblis (la), despite his apparent acts of worship, was condemned when he rejected the divine authority (Hujjah) of Allah, represented by Prophet Adam (as). Recognition of the Hujjah is the essence of true servitude to Allah and the distinguishing factor of prophets and Imams from others.

In conclusion, it is not for us to question Allah's ways or commands but to submit to His will. If Allah has prescribed seeking closeness through intermediaries, visiting graves, or seeking intercession, it is a reflection of His divine wisdom. Worshipping Allah as He desires is the ultimate act of servitude, and through this, we align ourselves with His will and attain nearness to Him.