Asking Allah for one of the “miracles” of the awliya’ (“saints”)

Question

Praise be to Allah.

We do not see anything wrong with the Muslim asking Allah
to honour him with that with which He honoured His close friends (awliya’)
with extraordinary things or miracles. This is for a number of reasons:

1.There is no report of any
prohibition on doing so.

2.It is not impossible for
miracles to happen for a believer; rather there are many cases in which
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, honoured His slaves with them, and
He may grant miracles to whomever He wants. If a person asks his Lord for
that, he will not be asking for something that is impermissible and he is
not asking for something impossible, because it is not difficult for Allah.

3.The hadeeth about the three men
who were trapped in the cave by a rock, and each of them prayed by virtue of
his righteous deeds for Allah to move the rock for them, and He moved it for
them. This is an example of asking Allah for a true miracle, because moving
a huge rock without any effort on the part of people can only happen by way
of a miracle. The hadeeth was narrated by al-Bukhaari (2272) and Muslim
(2743).

4.A similar report is the hadeeth
about the man who put money in a wooden box and then threw it into the sea,
and he asked Allah to make it reach its rightful owner from whom he had
borrowed it. The hadeeth was narrated by al-Bukhaari in a mu’allaq majzoom
report, (2291).

5.al-Laalkaa’i referred in
Karaamaat al-Awliya’ to a number of miracles that happened to the
righteous after they asked Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, for them,
such as the du’aa’ of al-‘Ala’ ibn al-Hadrami who said: O Most Forbearing, O
All Knowing, O Most High, O Almighty, give us rain (p. 150), and on another
occasion he offered a similar du’aa’ so that he army could walk across the
river. And there are many other similar stories

All of this is evidence which indicates that in principle it
is permissible to ask Allah for extraordinary events in the form of
miracles.

But we should point out to the one who wants to offer such a
prayer a number of important things which should not be ignored:

1.First of all, the one who wants
to pray for a miracle should intend first and foremost to ask Allah to make
him one of His close friends and he should seek to draw close to Him, so
that Allah will not withhold from him what he is seeking and will honour him
with what he is asking for.

2.His intention should be
sincerely for the sake of Allah, and he should not intend thereby to boast
or show off or compete with others. Rather he should seek the closest of
status to Allah and the dearest of status to Him, so he should ask Allah for
that which is permissible for him, which is karaamah. As for mu’jizah, that
is only permissible for the Prophets.

3.There should be a valid need to
ask for this, such as one who asks Allah for a child even though he is
advanced in years, or he asks Him for rain and for an end to drought and
dryness in the land. As for asking Him for miracles for fun or asking for
extraordinary things that will not benefit anyone in religious or worldly
terms, it is not permissible to ask for that.

Imam al-Quraafi said: One of the haraam actions which do not
constitute kufr is asking Allah for things that are ordinarily impossible,
unless one is a Prophet, because what is the norm for the Prophets (peace be
upon them) is the extraordinary, so it is permissible for them to ask for
that, as they asked for the table to come down from heaven and for the camel
to come out of a solid rock. For one who is a wali (close friend of Allah)
and usually has these miracles (karaamaat), then it is permissible for him
to carry on with that, in the case of these two categories of people, it is
not regarded as poor etiquette.

A third category is the person who is not a wali but he asks
for a miracle, and the meaning behind his asking for that is that so Allah
might make him a wali who is close to Him, so that he will deserve these
miracles.

For these three types of people it is not haraam.

As for that which is haraam, it includes for example, asking
Allah to make one have no need of breathing air so that he can be sure that
he will not be suffocated. The norm indicates that this is impossible. Other
examples include asking Allah for a child without having intercourse or for
fruits and crops without trees and plants. The norm indicates that this is
impossible, so the one who asks for that is showing poor etiquette towards
Allah, may He be exalted. End quote.

The author (may Allah have mercy on him) spoke at length and
in great detail about some points and reservations surrounding this issue.
But we have quoted here what we need concerning this matter.

Anwaar al-Burooq fi Anwaa’ al-Furooq,
4/268

And Allah knows best.