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Asking help form Allah, or saying Ya Ali madad?

Q:

When I read surah Fatiha . I found that in verse number 4 ‘You alone (Allah) we worship, You alone we ask for help’.
And I am shia I always call ‘Ya Ali madad’ when I am scared or fall down. I want to know is it  right to say Ya Ali Madad?

A:

As-salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah

Thanks for your question

The answer to your question has strong connection with the subject of Tawassul. Allah (swt) created the word and he is the sustainer of everything in it. Also, He created the structure of our world, both in physical aspect like physics rules, cause and effect etc. Or non-physical; so as the world has physical and non-physical aspect, the structure and ruling of it is also physical and non-physical with things to speed up things (for example soil, water and sun are necessary for seed to grow, but if we add fertilizer the process of growth happens faster). Allah (swt) in 5:35 says “O you who have faith! Be wary of Allah, and seek the means of recourse to Him, and wage jihad in His way, so that you may be felicitous.” in this Aya Allah (swt) commands believers to be pious then says to bring means of recourse(وسیله) to him, this shows that we can speed up the process by bringing Imams as means of resources to Allah, that is why it is called Tawassul (توسل), so in this viewpoint Prophet and Imams (as) doesn’t have a separate or independent power over things. They have special place in Allah’s presence, so when we say “ya Ali Madad” to ask Imam as to mediate for us to Allah swt.

regards

Sheikh Mahdi Mosayyebi