Ask elders to make dua.
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
(May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
assalamuailkum...
are we
supposed to ask blessings from any elderrly person or parents is it allowed or
only God we have to ask..
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Ask elders to make
dua
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His
help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide,
and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear
witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear
witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His
Messengers.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah
Nisaa verse 64:
64 We sent not a Messenger but to be obeyed in accordance with the Will
of Allah. If they (the hypocrites) had
only when they were unjust to themselves, come
unto thee (O Mohammed (saws)) and asked Allah's forgiveness, and the Messenger
of Allah (saws) had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found
Allah indeed Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 53 Surah
Munafiqoon verse 5:
5 And when it is said to them (the hypocrites) "Come, the Messenger of Allah (saws) will pray for your
forgiveness" they turn aside their heads and thou (O Prophet
(saws)) wouldst see them turning away their faces in arrogance.
Ata ibn Rabah
related from Abdullah Ibn Abbas (r.a.) who said: "A black woman came to
the Prophet (saws) and said: 'I suffer from epileptic fits, and because of
these, (at times) my body becomes uncovered. Would you invoke Allah, the
Exalted One, to cure me of this disease? ' The Prophet (saws) said: 'If you
wish, you can be patient and you will attain
If a believer goes to another believer who is alive,
regardless if that believer happens to be the Messenger of Allah (saws)
himself, or a scholar, or an elderly person, or one’s parents, or any
believer…..as long as one is in direct conversation with another believer who
is alive, and one implores that believer to make dua or supplication for them
from their Lord Most Gracious, there is absolutely no harm.
What is absolutely and categorically forbidden in Islam is
that one invoke or call upon one who is neither alive nor in direct
conversation with them……assuming that that person can hear and respond to their
plea in the ‘unseen’…..for that then would be a manifest form of the absolute
abomination of ‘shirk’! Absolutely none
in creation has a right to be invoked or called upon in the ‘unseen’ except
Allah Subhanah, for He Alone is The One Who is All-Hearing.
Thus in conclusion there is absolutely no harm if one asks
or implores an elderly, or one’s parents, or any believer one is in direct
conversation with to make dua or supplication for them from their Lord Most
Merciful….but to invoke or ask or call upon anyone in creation (deceased or
alive) in the ‘unseen’, other than the Lord Most High Alone, would be a
manifest form of the abomination of ‘shirk’ in the Sight of the Lord.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 10 Surah Yunus
verse 18:
These people serve (or invoke) beside Allah
those which can neither harm nor benefit them, and say, “These are our
‘shofa’a’ (intercessors) with Allah!” (O
Mohammed (saws)), tell them, “Do you wish to inform Allah of that thing which
He knows not in the heavens, or in the earth?”
He is absolutely free from, and exalted above the shirk that they
commit.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 39 Surah Zumur verse 2-3:
So worship Allah Alone, making your religion His exclusively. Beware!
Religion is the exclusive Right of Allah. As for those who have taken other ‘auliyas’
with Allah (and justify their this conduct by saying): “We serve them only that
they may bring us closer to Allah.”
Allah will surely judge between them concerning all that in which they
differ. Allah does not show guidance to
any liar and denier of the Truth.
If one trusts, obeys, and follows the guidance and
commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws),
one can be assured of never ever being misled; but if one believes, obeys and follows any
other guidance, other than that of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be
assured of being led astray.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only
due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me
alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is
the Only Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
Wister