He, he Almighty also said in the Holy Quran "Call on your Lord with humility and in private." (75) And "Call on your Lord with devotion" (76)

All of the above verses from the Holy Quran emphasize invocation of Allah directly without any mediation. Virtuous people and saints, them-selves, need the mercy of Allah. Allah has said in the Holy Quran "Those whom they call upon, do desire for themselves means of access to their Lord. Even those who are nearest, they hope for His mercy and fear His wrath." (77)

In the interpretation of the above verse, Ibn Abbas has said that the prophet had asserted that they adored angels, Christ and Azra. The above verse was revealed as refutation to the Jews' and Christians' false thinking. This verse emphasized that angels, who were adored by people, would themselves seek access to Allah, desire His mercy and fear His wrath. Such a creature can certainly never be invoked with Allah. (78) Ibn Taimiyah (may Allah's mercy be upon him) said that the above verse concerns all those who are taken as deities and who are themselves adorers and worshippers of Allah whether they are from among the angels, jinn or humans. This verse is addressed to all people who invoke anyone or anything which, by itself, seeks access to Allah, desires His mercy and fears His wrath. The context of this verse also includes those who invoke deceased saints or someone who is not present from the apostles or saints in the same context as those who call upon angels or jinns.(79)

EIGHTH : From the following verses, the idolaters deduce the permissibility of seeking mediators between themselves and Allah. The Almighty stated in the Holy Quran "O you who believe, do your duty to Allah and seek the means of approach to Him." (80) He the Almighty also stated in the Holy Quran "Those whom they call upon, do desire for themselves means of access to their Lord. Even those who are nearest.." (81) In fact, these verses mean that one can have access to Allah by good deeds, and not through mediation of Prophets or saints as they erroneously understand. One action is permitted, while the other is prohibited.

Permissible cases include

1. Seeking access to Allah by his beautiful names. Allah the Almighty has said, "The most beautiful names belong to Allah. So call on Him by them." (82) Muslims may ask Allah by His own names and attributes to fulfil one's needs.

2. Seeking access to Allah by showing one's need and desire for Him. As prophet Job (Allah's peace be on him) said, "Truly distress has seized me. But You are the most merciful of those who are merciful." (83) And as Zakariya (Allah's peace be on him) said, "O my Lord! Infirm indeed are my bones and the hair of my head is glistening. But never am I unblessed, my Lord, in my prayer to You." (84) And as Zun-nun the Prophet (peace be upon him) exclaimed, "No god but You, glory to You. I was indeed wrong." (85)

3. Seeking access to Allah with good deeds as Allah has said, "Our Lord! we have heard the call of one calling us to faith, Believe you in the Lord, and we have believed. Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and blot out from us our iniquities." (86) This is also illustrated in the Hadith regarding the three individuals who were trapped by a rock. They invoked Allah by their good deeds and were released. (87)

This is the sort of mediation mentioned in the above verses concerning seeking access to Allah by good deeds.

4. Seeking access to Allah by the prayer of living pious people, i.e., you might visit a pious man and ask him to pray Allah on your behalf. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said to some of his companions, "O, my brother, remember me when you pray to Allah." (88) The companions of the Prophet (may Allah be pleased with him) also used to request the Prophet (peace be upon him) to pray Allah for them. Similarly, they used to request prayers from each other.