The background of most innovation is our morbid fascinations with sects, we gravitate towards them because we can find in the words of men what we want to hear, we are afraid that by following the words of God we will lose our wiggle room or at least that's how we fear it may turn out. We are busy looking for a fixer for our sins, we are looking for identity instead of truth.
Within this background, we can further identify the driving forces that make it work. Human greed and the accompanying hunt for the free lunch is one motivation and the time-tested option of the need for fixers born of man's inherent insecurities is the other one. Think of it like buying a sports car or even a Louis Vuitton purse will do. In fact, all the minor innovations in Religion are part and parcel of these patently false Umbrella doctrines, like intercession, Imamat/Pope, disproportionate rewards/punishments and the chance to wipe the slate clean. All of the resulting innovation can be traced back to these core theological innovation. All the sects are doing it and we are lapping it up. The divisions are just a by-product of the resulting competition in the marketplace.
Before we dive into Tawasul, we must understand the concept from the other end. IMHO the verses from the Quran are clear and point out the rules, nobody has the power or sanction for unqualified intercession, furthermore, the intercession is useless as a rule, within these two constraints, there is a limited provision for intercession as long as it does not violate the laws of God especially the laws of His mercy. In other words, don't count on it as a free ticket :)
The notion that this limited right of intercession has a qualification criterion which can be mastered or earned is absurd since that will violate all the other laws of His creation. How this provision will work in practice when we are summoned in front of God alone (Quran 19:95) only God knows and once again, don't count on it.
Once again to insist on calling it where there is no definite call to be made is nothing but an attempt to peddle influence for the group. On the other hand, to deny the words of God and reject it outright, amounts to merely opposing the first group's claim for the sake of opposing it.
I will try and reduce the confusion of Tawassul in the following manner;
First, one is free to ask God to forgive someone. If you can ask God for basically anything, why would you exclude asking to forgive your father or mother as was the case with Prophet Abraham. This is reasonable to assume because the relationship between God and Man has not changed since Adam.
Secondly, the messenger of God was asked and he obliged to pray for forgiveness of the visitors. So we have a specific example to compare.
The third point both the above instances is restricted to ''praying for forgiveness" of another human being.
Fourth point; the person must be alive to pray for forgiveness of another, the person who is asking another person to intercede must be able to ask him/her. With death, our two-way communication with another is broken and the door is shut even for him/herself as is clear from the Quranic verses, then how can he/she continue to intercede for another.
The exception is when permission is granted by God, the interceder (human or another of God's creation) must apply for this permission, for this permission to be granted you need a loopback from God. Hence, ask for permission to intercede and wait :) when and if the permission is granted then proceed. This, in reality, will only happen on the Day of Judgement.
The last point, it is always better to ask God directly and trust His infinite mercy and judgment.
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