Good Innovation, Seeking Blessing, and Intermediacy

First: bidʿa ḥasana (praiseworthy innovation).

The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever establishes a good practice in Islam will have its reward and the reward of whoever acts on it after him." He also said: "Every bidʿa is misguidance" — a general expression, specified by contextual indicators.

The rule — Bidʿa is of two types: - Misguiding bidʿa (forbidden): what contradicts Qurʾān, Sunna, or an established principle of the religion. - Good bidʿa (rewarded): what accords with the principles and contradicts no text.

Evidence from the Companions: ʿUmar raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu, when he gathered people to pray tarāwīḥ in congregation behind one imām, said: "What a beautiful bidʿa this is!" [al-Bukhārī]. He called it 'bidʿa' because it had not been done in that form during the Prophet's ﷺ lifetime, and praised it as 'niʿma.'

Examples of good bidʿa: Compiling the Qurʾān into one muṣḥaf; adding dots and vowel marks to the muṣḥaf; building schools and madrasas; Mawlid celebrations containing dhikr, ṣalāh, Qurʾān recitation, and feeding people (good bidʿa per the majority).

Second: tabarruk (seeking blessing).

Tabarruk is seeking blessing from a thing in which Allah has placed blessing. It is established in Qurʾān and Sunna.

Qurʾān — Yūsuf's shirt: "Take this shirt of mine and cast it over my father's face; he will regain his sight" (Qurʾān 12:93). Yaʿqūb sought blessing through Yūsuf's shirt, and regained his sight by Allah's permission.

Sunna: Companions sought blessing through the Prophet's ﷺ hair, his perspiration, his ablution water, and his saliva. The Prophet ﷺ did not object.

Seeking blessing means: seeking it from Allah through a means Allah has blessed. The real actor is Allah; the thing is a cause. Believing the thing itself has independent causal power is shirk. Believing Allah has placed blessing in certain things and asking through them is sound.

Third: tawassul (asking through a beloved of Allah).

Tawassul is saying: "O Allah, I ask You by the rank of Your Prophet Muḥammad," or "by the right of Your saint so-and-so." The believer places Allah's love for this beloved as a means in the request.

Evidence: The sound ḥadīth of the blind man who came to the Prophet ﷺ asking him to pray for his sight. The Prophet ﷺ taught him to perform wuḍūʾ, pray two rakʿas, then say: "O Allah, I ask You, and I turn to You by Your Prophet Muḥammad — the Prophet of Mercy. O Muḥammad, I turn by you to my Lord in this need that it may be fulfilled for me." [al-Tirmidhī, graded ṣaḥīḥ; Ibn Mājah; Aḥmad]. The man supplicated in the Prophet's ﷺ words, and Allah returned his sight.

And Companion practice: ʿUmar raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu prayed for rain through the Prophet's uncle al-ʿAbbās, saying: "O Allah, we used to seek means to You by our Prophet and You gave us rain; and now we seek means to You by our Prophet's uncle, so send us rain." [al-Bukhārī].

Condition for valid tawassul: believing that the Benefactor and Harmer is Allah alone, and the intermediary is merely a means. Believing a saint or prophet acts independently is shirk.

Fourth: visiting the graves of the righteous.

Lawful — for remembering the Hereafter, seeking the blessing of the buried, and supplicating Allah at their graves. The correct belief: we supplicate Allah, not the deceased. We ask Allah through the rank of the deceased, not from the deceased himself. So the phrase is: 'O Allah, give me through the rank of so-and-so,' not 'O so-and-so, give me.'