Tawassul
(intermediation) and wasīlah (means) are similarly used. Lexicologists
think that wasīlah is a means of achieving an objective.
1. Imam Rāghib Asfahānī comments:
Everything that helps in seeking means of approach, that is, nearness to Allah, is wasīlah.[10]
[8]. Rāghib Asfahānī, Mufradāt alfāz al-Qur’ān (p.871).
[9]. Ibn Manzūr, Lisān-ul-Arab (11:725).
[10]. Zamakhsharī, al-Kashshāf ‘an haqā’iq ghawāmid-it-tanzīl (1:488).
1. Imam Rāghib Asfahānī comments:
Wasīlah means to seek willingly access to
something and since it is based on willingness, it is related to wasīlah,
the means of approach.[8]
2. Ibn Manzūr,
in his research conducted on the word wasīlah, writes:
In fact, wasīlah is a means of approach to something
to attain nearness to it.[9]
3. Imam Zamakhsharī says: Everything that helps in seeking means of approach, that is, nearness to Allah, is wasīlah.[10]
[8]. Rāghib Asfahānī, Mufradāt alfāz al-Qur’ān (p.871).
[9]. Ibn Manzūr, Lisān-ul-Arab (11:725).
[10]. Zamakhsharī, al-Kashshāf ‘an haqā’iq ghawāmid-it-tanzīl (1:488).