Tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah) is of two kinds. The legislated kinds — which are unanimously permitted — are three: (1) tawassul through Allah''s Names and Attributes ("O Allah, by Your name…"); (2) tawassul through one''s own righteous deeds (as in the hadith of the three trapped in the cave — [al-Bukhari 2272](/hadith/bukhari/2272)); (3) tawassul through the du''a of a living, righteous person who can pray for you (as ''Umar did with al-''Abbas after the death of the Prophet (ﷺ): "O Allah, we used to seek means through our Prophet and you would give us rain — and now we seek means through the uncle of our Prophet, so give us rain." — [al-Bukhari 1010](/hadith/bukhari/1010)). The forbidden kind is calling upon the dead — even if it be the Prophet (ﷺ) — saying: "O Messenger of Allah, give me, cure me, intercede for me…" This is shirk al-akbar — the very practice of the mushrikun whom Allah condemned: "They worship besides Allah those who do not harm them nor benefit them, and they say: ''These are our intercessors with Allah.''" (Yunus 10:18). The dead, no matter how righteous, cannot hear those who call upon them after their death (Fatir 35:22), and even the Prophet (ﷺ) cannot answer the du''a of one who calls upon him after his death — he is in his blessed grave, and his rank does not change his being a created servant.