Question:

I was talking to some brothers about the issue of saying ya Muhammed as most the people around me do, they provided me with quotes from hadith of people doing dua and only getting dua answered once they said ya
Muhammed.
They also told me about Khalid bin Walid and other sahaba said this in a battle they were losing but they said ya Muhammad and then were victorious. I come across this on a forum which shows:

Hafidhh Ibn Kathir, Imam Tabari and Imam Ibn Athir all wrote [that]: During the Khilafa of Abu Bakr as- Siddique, may Allah be pleased with Him, there was a battle against the false Prophet Musaylima [of Najd]. When the battle commenced, the Muslims lost their footing at which point Khalid bin Walid, may Allah be pleased with Him, and the rest of the companions called out "Ya Muhammad!" [May Allah bless him and grant him peace] and proceeded to win the battle.

[Tarikh at Tabari, Tarikh Ibn Kathir and Tarikh Qamil by Imam Tabari, Hafidhh Ibn Kathir and Imam Ibn Athir and Ibn Jarir in Chapter Musaylima Kadhaab]

I am confused as I feel I shouldn't be saying ya Muhammed but I am being shown different kinds of evidence through hadith where people have said this. Is this true? Also can the prophet (saw) hear our salam where ever we are?

Answer:

One must understand that there is a difference between Istigatha (calling on the creation for help) and Tawassul (using the blessedness of the name of a saint or various good deeds to get a dua answered). Tawassul is permitted and Istigatha is not. The hadith and narrations that people are citing can be understood as Tawassul, if they are proven to be sound, but most of them are not found in the well known hadith books. In fact most of them are recorded in history books like the work of Ibn Kathir and include sanad-less narrations, as such they cannot be used to establish anything in the Shariah.
Thus, It will not permitted to call on any human by saying statements like: "Ya Abd al-Qadir Jilani" or "Ya Muhammad," and to do so is shirk. [There are several other answers on the website explaining further the definition of Tawassul and Istigatha which you may refer to.]

Mufti Mohammed Sajjad

Wallahu Aalam bis-sawab

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The answer to this question is the opinion of the scholar and does not reflect the opinion of other scholars of As-Suffa Institute and As-Suffa Institute as an organisation.