Tabarruk, Istighatha, Ghayb

Tabarruk = using blessings

Istighatha = seeking aid

Ghayb = the unseen

Wa `alaykum as-Salam:

>One confronts frequent caveats from sira books like by Akram Diya Al Umar (Medina Society..:IIIT), which while admitting tabarruk with the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) personal effects, hasten to add this is unique to him.<

It is good to be informed of this. When a book holds no attraction, the fact that it contains such aberrations explains its lack of light for those endowed with eyes.

Is this so – or are there instances of others using belongings of others for tabarruk?<

What is the proof for limiting tabarruk to the Prophet, upon him peace? Have ANY of the Sunni Imams ever mouthed such a caveat in their definition of the  exclusive Prophetic characteristics (khasa’is)?

Rather, it is as Imam al-Nawawi said – Allah be well-pleased with him, sanctify his soul, and give him mercy!- in his commentary on the hadith of Asma’ bint Abi Bakr:

  << She said: “Here is the cloak (jubba) of Allah’s Messenger,” and she brought out to me [`Abd Allah her Mawla] that cloak made of Persian cloth with a hem of (silk) brocade, and its sleeves bordered with (silk) brocade, and said: “This was Allah’s Messenger’s cloak with `A’isha until she died,  then I got possession of it. The Apostle of Allah upon him peace used to wear it, and we washed it for the sick so that they could seek cure thereby.” >>

Muslim relates this in the first chapter of the book of clothing. Al-Nawawi comments in Sharh Sahih Muslim (Book 37 Chapter 2 #10): “In this hadith is a proof that it is recommended to seek blessings through the relics of the righteous and their clothes (wa-fi hadha al-hadith dalil `ala istihbab al-tabarruk bi-aathaar al-salihin wa-thiyabihim).” Al-Salihun, all of them!

Even if we say “it is limited to him” then we, his Umma, are connected to him, upon him peace, and his baraka is not gone but continues in the Umma. The tabarruk through other than the Prophet, upon him peace, is in reality through him, just as the baraka through him is in reality from Allah Most High.

If they insist in their denial of tabarruk then at least let others continue to seek blessings while they themselves live their lives without tabarruk.

>The hadith (adduced by ibn ‘abd al-wahhab) ‘No-one’s ighatha is sought but Allah'<

See the analysis of this hadith at: http://www.abc.se/~m9783/wahtwd_e.html

Enter the search string, “another weak narration that “a Companion” said: “Let us all go seek the help…”

Even Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab concedes in Majmu`at al-Tawhid (p. 232): “We do not deny nor reject the invocation of help from the creature *insofar as the creature can help,* as Allah Most High said in the story of Musa – upon him peace: {And his countryman sought his help (istaghathahu) against his enemy} (28:15).”

>and Aisha’s (RA) hadith, ‘anyone who says the Prophet (peace be on him) knew the ghayb has lied / is mistaken (kadhaba)'<

Not “knew the ghayb” but “whoever claims that he can tell what shall happen tomorrow, he is lying…” i.e. *independently* of Allah Most High or through his own human device, otherwise he certainly knows any and all ghayb Allah teaches him, as in the noble Ayas:

  {(He is) the knower of the Unseen, and He reveals unto none His ghayb Save unto every messenger whom he has chosen, and then He makes a guard to go before him and a guard behind him} (72:26-27).

Was-Salam.

Hajj Gibril