The word · Belief

التَّوَسُّل

Tawassul

Approaching Allah through a means, such as His names, your own good deeds, or a living person's du'a.

Also written · Tawasul · Tawassal · Tawwasul · Tawassul bil anbiya · Seeking a means · Intermediary · Asking through the Prophet · Waseela

The meaning

What Tawassul means in Islam

All schools agree on three forms: by Allah's names and attributes, by your own righteous deeds, and by asking a living righteous person to pray for you, the last shown in the hadith of the blind man and in Umar asking al-Abbas to pray for rain. They differ over tawassul by the person or rank of a prophet or saint, especially after death. Many Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Sufi scholars permit it as a form of asking Allah, while Hanbali and Salafi scholarship generally rejects it as a door to worse. All sides agree that asking the dead to grant something themselves is not tawassul at all but shirk.

Evidence · Scholars differ · The scholars read this one differently