Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
It is permissible for a Muslim to ask Allah Almighty while seeking nearness to Him through His perfect Words, because Allah’s Speech is one of His Attributes, and seeking nearness to Allah through His Names and Attributes is a prescribed form of tawassul. Just as seeking refuge through Allah’s Words is established in the Sunnah, a Muslim may also say: “O Allah, I ask You by Your perfect Words to provide me with such-and-such,” or make similar requests concerning permissible matters.
Muslim narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Whoever stops at a place and then says, ‘I seek refuge in the perfect Words of Allah from the evil of what He has created,’ nothing will harm him until he leaves that place.”
[Narrated by Muslim: 2708]
This is an explicit text establishing the permissibility of seeking refuge in Allah’s perfect Words.
Seeking refuge in Allah’s Words means turning to Allah for protection and seeking refuge in Him while invoking one of His Attributes, because Allah’s Speech is one of His Attributes.
Seeking refuge involves asking for protection and safety from evil, such as:
“I seek refuge in the perfect Words of Allah from the evil of what He has created.”
Asking Allah by His Words, however, involves requesting a benefit or need from Allah, such as saying:
“O Allah, I ask You by Your perfect Words to have mercy on me and forgive me.”
Or:
“O Allah, I ask You by Your perfect Words to provide for me from Your bounty.”
Both forms ultimately involve supplicating Allah and seeking nearness to Him through one of His Attributes.
Seeking nearness to Allah through His Attributes means that the supplicant makes one of Allah’s Attributes a means in his supplication to Allah Almighty.
When the supplicant says:
“O Allah, I ask You by Your perfect Words...”
the word “by” in “by Your Words” indicates means or causation—that is: I seek nearness to You and make Your perfect Words a means in my supplication to You.
This falls under the prescribed tawassul through Allah’s Names and Attributes.
Yes. Allah’s Speech is one of His Attributes.
For this reason, seeking refuge in Allah’s Words is prescribed, as established by the authentic hadith.
Therefore, when a Muslim says:
“I ask You by Your perfect Words,”
he is not asking a created being or seeking assistance from other than Allah. Rather, he is asking Allah Himself while seeking nearness to Him through one of His Attributes.
This is an important distinction: the supplication is directed to Allah:
“O Allah, I ask You...”
and the means used in the supplication is His perfect Words, which are among His Attributes.
Yes.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned that the Sunnah is for a Muslim to ask Allah through His Names and Attributes. Among the formulations he mentioned is:
“O Allah, I ask You... by Your Greatest Name, Your supreme majesty, and Your perfect Words...”
This is because seeking nearness to Allah through His Names and Attributes is one of the prescribed forms of tawassul.
A Muslim may ask his Lord for any lawful need while seeking nearness to Him through His perfect Words, such as forgiveness, mercy, guidance, provision, healing, and other forms of goodness in this world and the Hereafter.
For example, one may say:
“O Allah, I ask You by Your perfect Words to forgive me and have mercy on me.”
Or:
“O Allah, I ask You by Your perfect Words to grant me from Your bounty.”
In all such cases, the intention is to ask Allah alone, while seeking nearness to Him through His Speech, which is one of His Attributes.
It is permissible to ask Allah Almighty and seek nearness to Him through His perfect Words, just as it is permissible to seek refuge through them, because Allah’s Words are among His Attributes, and seeking nearness to Allah through His Names and Attributes is prescribed.
Accordingly, there is no harm in a Muslim saying:
“O Allah, I ask You by Your perfect, good, and blessed Words to grant me such-and-such,”
provided that what is being requested from Allah is permissible.
And Allah knows best.