Tawassul: Appealing, resorting and invocation

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

In the Qur’an, sinners are advised that they come to the Prophet and ask him to beseech Almighty Allah for their forgiveness so that Allah forgive them.

“If They had come to you [O, Messenger] When they had wronged themselves and Had begged Allah’s Forgiveness [through You] and the Messenger had begged Forgiveness for them, indeed they would have found Allah all-forgiving, all-merciful.” (Qur’an- 4:64)

In addition, when brothers of Prophet Yusuf (AS) became regretful, instead of asking Almighty Allah for forgiveness directly, they requested their father’s intercession and asked Yaqub (AS) to plead with Allah for their forgiveness.

“They said, “O our father, ask for us forgiveness from Allah against our sins; indeed, we have been sinners.” He said, “I shall plead with my Lord to forgive you; indeed He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful.’” (Qur’an- 12: 97-98)

Tawassul means to invoke someone or something with a high position before Allah SWT in order to become closer to Him so he may fulfill one’s requests. It means to benefit from the good and righteous people who are close to Almighty Allah, in order to fulfill the supplications. Through Tawassul, one presents something before Allah that is the means of acceptance of his repentance and fulfillment of supplication. The object of invocation (Tawassul) is the person or thing that is respectable before Allah SWT. It can be as Allah’s attributes or names, the name of the Noble Prophet (SAW), his supplication, and the name of great friends of Allah and angels. Moreover, the request may be a religious and spiritual issue or a material or worldly need.

The concept of Tawassul and invoking a means is adopted from the Qur’an. The clearest reference to Tawassul is mentioned in chapter five, where Almighty Allah SWT clearly orders the faithful to benefit from the means in order to become close to Allah.

“O, you who believe! Fear from the disobedience of Allah’s commands and seek the means of getting near to Him.” (Qur’an-5:35)

There are many hadiths about Tawassul, which explain about the examples of means (Wasila), the meaning of Tawassul, and its fruits. 

The Qur’an says,

“O, you who believe! Fear from the disobedience of Allah’s commands and seek the means of getting near to Him; and strive hard (in His way), so that you may receive salvation.” (Qur’an- 5:35)

Jihad is an Islamic term referring to the religious duty of Muslims to maintain the religion, and literally means trying hard. The Qur’an says,

“And wage jihad (and strive hard) for the sake of Allah, a jihad (and striving) which is worthy of Him.” (Qur’an; 22:78)

When the term “Jihad” is mentioned, the first meaning that frequently comes to the minds of many people is fighting on the battlefield. Yet, this is only one type of Jihad, for Jihad, which is repeated in the Qur’an 35 times, has a much wider scope of meanings. Jihad is an Islamic term referring to the religious duty of Muslims to maintain the religion. Jihad is not a violent concept. It is not fighting out of anger and hatred. It is not killing innocent people just because they do not agree with you, or because they are not Muslims. It is not flying a plane into a building packed with civilians.

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The common understanding of Jihad as referring only to war is refuted by the hadith of the Prophet (SAW). He said, “The most excellent Jihad is to say the word of truth in front of a tyrant.” The fact that the Prophet mentioned this Jihad as “excellent” demonstrates that there are many different forms of Jihad.

Inwardly, Jihad represented the means of spiritual awakening and of transcending the self. It is the most important jihad that the believer needs to fight. It is the battle in the way of Allah SWT within himself against sinful desires, which Almighty Allah has commanded that must be controlled and submitted to His will, and whoever does so, will enter Paradise (Struggling Against Egoistic Desires (Jihad Al-Nafs).

“As for him who feared to stand before his Lord and he restrained himself from his desires, then Paradise will be his refuge.” (Qur’an- 79: 40-41)

This jihad is the foundation for all other types of jihad, for indeed, if he does not perform this struggle then he cannot resist against the external enemies. The Prophet (SAW) is reported to have said during his Farewell Pilgrimage, “The real Mujahid is the one who strives against his egoistic desires.” He conquers evil inclinations within himself and performs acts of obedience, pleasing to Allah and he avoids acts of disobedience.

Almighty Allah states in several verses that those who purify their hearts from spiritual diseases will enter Paradise. In fact, no one will succeed in the Hereafter unless they approach Allah with a clean heart. Almighty Allah said in the Qur’an,

“So be wary of Allah, as far as you can, and listen and obey, and spend in the way of Allah; that is better for yourselves. Those who are saved from their own greed it is they who are the felicitous.” (Qur’an- 64:16)

“He has succeeded who purifies the soul, and he has failed who corrupts the soul.” (Qur’an: 91: 9-10)

“It will be a day when there will be no benefit in wealth or children, but only in one who comes to Allah with a pure heart.” (Qur’an- 26: 88-89)

This jihad to purify the soul, involves struggling against greed for worldly pleasures, hypocrisy and insincerity, hatred and envy, arrogance and pride, vanity and narcissism, and other evil traits, which Satan uses to lead us into destruction. Muslims without a doubt need to make the struggle against these evils their top priority.

This is the most difficult jihad and as the Prophet (SAW) said, it is the grater jihad. This is because whoever struggles against his egoistic desires and prevents himself from greed will be relieved from the world and its trials, and he will be protected and safe from its harms. In other words, the result of this jihad is attaining perfection. Therefore, all believers on a daily basis must practice the jihad against the soul. They must struggle to purify their hearts from all spiritual diseases that lead to transgression and sin.