al-Tawassul ila Haqiqat al-Tawassul
- Author died
- 1413 AH
- Editions
- Dar Lubnan lil-Tiba'ah wal-Nashr
Al-Tawassul ila Haqiqat al-Tawassul (Reaching the Reality of Intercession) is a theological treatise by the Syrian scholar Muhammad Nasib al-Rifai (d. 1413 AH / 1992 CE) examining the textual evidence and rulings surrounding legitimate and prohibited forms of tawassul (seeking means of nearness to God in supplication).
Purpose and Scope
Al-Rifa'i stated that he was prompted to write the book after observing that many Muslims claimed to accept the validity of legislated tawassul, yet in moments of hardship resorted exclusively to supplicating by the rights, status, and blessings of prophets and deceased righteous figures. The primary aim of the work was to define prohibited tawassul and demonstrate its invalidity, preceded by an exposition of the legislated forms commanded in the Quran and the Sunnah, to persuade those who permitted supplicating through created beings to abandon that practice.
Structure and Content
The treatise begins by defining the terms wasilah and tawassul linguistically, relying on classical lexicographers such as al-Jawhari, al-Fayruzabadi, and al-Fayyumi. It then outlines the categories of legislated tawassul (al-tawassul al-mashru'), illustrating each with scriptural evidence:
- Supplicating God through His divine names and exalted attributes.
- Supplicating God by virtue of one's own righteous deeds.
The author then addresses prohibited tawassul (al-tawassul al-mamnu'), dividing the practices of its proponents into three main aspects:
- Supplicating God through the essence or person (dhat) of a created being.
- Supplicating God through someone's status (jah), right (haqq), sanctity (hurmah), or blessing (barakah).
- Swearing an oath upon God by a created being (al-iqsam 'ala Allah).
Al-Rifa'i explains that the prohibition of these practices carries varying degrees of severity, reaching as far as major disbelief (kufr). In refuting the counterarguments and scriptural interpretations advanced by latecomers who permitted these practices, al-Rifa'i evaluates their narrations in terms of chain of transmission (isnad) and text (matn), drawing on hadith criticism to establish their weakness or fabrication. His arguments rely extensively on the approach of Ibn Taymiyyah and rulings attributed to early jurists such as Abu Hanifah and Abu Yusuf.
Reception
The work received commendations from several contemporary scholars. In a foreword written in Shawwal 1395 AH, the hadith researcher Isma'il al-Ansari observed that after Ibn Taymiyyah's Qaidah Jalilah fi al-Tawassul wa-l-Wasilah, he knew of no work that collected all matters concerning the subject into a dedicated volume as thoroughly as al-Rifa'i's book. It was also praised by Ibrahim Ja'far Saqqa of the Islamic University of Madinah and by the administration of Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, which recommended its widespread printing and distribution. The book was published in several editions during the author's lifetime, reaching a third edition.
The scholar Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani expressed a critical note regarding the title al-Rifa'i appended beneath his name on the book ("founder of the Salafi da'wah and its servant"), arguing that the da'wah represents the true religion of Islam, which was legislated and founded by God alone rather than by any human being.
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