Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
What is prescribed is that supplication be directed to Allah Almighty Himself. One says:
“O Allah, O Lord, O Most Merciful.”
It is permissible to seek nearness to Allah by means of His Attributes, such as saying: “I ask You by Your knowledge and Your power,” or “I ask You by Your Noble Face.”
As for invoking the attribute itself as though it were the one being called upon, such as saying:
“O Hand of Allah, give me,” or “O Eye of Allah, protect me,”
this is not prescribed.
It is preferable in supplication and tawassul to adhere to the established expressions and avoid unnecessarily formulating expressions that have not been reported.
According to the fatwa, the “form/image” (surah) is affirmed for Allah as it has come in the hadiths, without likening it to creation or asking how it is. It is not correct to reduce it to a collection of attributes such as the Face, Hand, and Shin.
Allah Almighty says:
“Your Lord has said: ‘Call upon Me; I will respond to you.’”
[Ghafir: 60]
And He, Glorified be He, says:
“When My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I answer the supplication of the supplicant when he calls upon Me.”
[Al-Baqarah: 186]
The Prophet ﷺ said to Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both:
“When you ask, ask Allah; and when you seek help, seek help from Allah.”
Narrated by al-Tirmidhi.
Thus, a Muslim calls upon Allah Almighty by His Most Beautiful Names, saying:
“O Allah, O Most Merciful, O Especially Merciful, O Ever-Living, O Sustainer of all.”
There is an important difference between invoking an attribute and seeking Allah through one of His Attributes.
Invoking an attribute separately from the One described by it is not prescribed. Thus, one should not say, for example:
“O mercy of Allah, have mercy on me,”
or:
“O Hand of Allah, give me,”
or:
“O Eye of Allah, protect me,”
with the intention of directing the supplication to the attribute itself.
However, it is permissible for a person to ask Allah Almighty while seeking nearness to Him through one of His Attributes, such as saying:
“O Allah, I ask You by Your knowledge and Your power,”
or:
“I ask You by Your Noble Face.”
In these cases, the One being called upon is Allah, Glorified be He, while the attribute is a means in the supplication and is not independently invoked.
According to the general principle established by the fatwa, it is permissible to seek Allah through His authentically established Attributes.
Based on this, the fatwa states that if a person were to say:
“I ask You by Your Eye that does not sleep to protect me,”
or:
“I ask You by Your Generous Hand to give me,”
this would be permissible in principle as a form of tawassul through an Attribute.
However, the fatwa points out an important matter: these formulations are not among the transmitted supplications and are not known to have been used by the early generations in supplication and tawassul.
Therefore, it is preferable to avoid unnecessary formulations and adhere to the authentically established supplications. They contain sufficient goodness and benefit, making it unnecessary to search for unusual or unreported formulas.
Supplication and matters concerning Allah’s Names and Attributes are areas in which particular care should be taken to adhere to the wording of the Quran and Sunnah.
The Sunnah establishes the principle of seeking refuge by means of Allah’s Attributes.
Among these is the statement of the Prophet ﷺ:
“I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created.”
Narrated by Muslim.
Seeking refuge by Allah’s Might and other Attributes is also established in the Prophetic supplications.
What is prescribed, therefore, is to follow the established formulas without directing the supplication to the attribute as though it were something independent of Allah Almighty.
The fatwa states that it is disliked to ask for worldly matters by the Face of Allah, based on the hadith:
“Nothing should be asked by the Face of Allah except Paradise.”
Narrated by Abu Dawud.
Accordingly, it is preferable that seeking by the Face of Allah be used for great requests appropriate to it, and that a person avoid unnecessarily using it for minor worldly requests.
It is reported in the hadith:
“Allah created Adam in his form/image.”
Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim.
Another hadith states:
“Then the Almighty will come to them in a form/image different from the form/image in which they saw Him the first time.”
Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim.
According to the view preferred by the fatwa, the “form/image” is affirmed for Allah Almighty in a manner befitting Him, just as the other Attributes established in the revealed texts are affirmed, without likening Allah’s form/image to that of any created being.
Allah Almighty says:
“There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”
[Ash-Shura: 11]
And He, Glorified be He, says:
“And there is none comparable to Him.”
[Al-Ikhlas: 4]
We should not construct our own definition of the form/image by saying that it consists of “the Face, Hand, and Shin,” or a combination of particular Attributes, because the revealed texts have not provided such a definition.
What is required is to stop where revelation stops and affirm every Attribute established by its evidence, without attempting to imagine how Allah’s Attributes are or to construct a mental image of them.
Sharing certain words between the Creator and the created does not mean that their realities are identical. Allah is All-Hearing, and a human being may also be described as hearing, yet the hearing of the Creator is not like the hearing of the created. The same principle applies to all other Attributes.
What is prescribed is to supplicate to Allah Almighty Himself. It is permissible to seek Him through His established Attributes, but invoking an attribute separately as though it were itself the one being called upon is not prescribed.
In principle, it is permissible to seek Allah through His Attributes, such as His Face, knowledge, and power. However, it is preferable to adhere to the formulas of supplication and tawassul found in the Quran and Sunnah and avoid unnecessarily using expressions that have not been reported from the Prophet ﷺ and the early generations.
According to the fatwa, the “form/image” is affirmed for Allah as mentioned in authentic hadiths, in a manner befitting Him, without asking how or likening it to creation. It is not correct for us to determine on our own that the form/image consists of the Face, Hand, Shin, or any other collection of Attributes.
And Allah knows best.