Seeking Help Through Bukhari

The late 18th and 19th centuries saw Egypt invaded by European powers, beginning with Napoleon’s 1798 campaign to disrupt British trade routes to India. Then, in 1882, the British invaded to secure control over the Suez Canal. To combat these attacks, Al-Azhar scholars are said to have advocated for the Muslim population to recite Sahih Bukhari to ward off the invasion. 1

This practice reflects a broader phenomenon within Sunni Islam known as Istighāthah ( استغاثة): Seeking help or relief from Allah, sometimes through an intermediary, during times of distress or need for divine intervention. This is a clear act of associating partners with God (shirk), as our supplications and seeking of help should be to God alone.

10:106 “You shall not call upon beside GOD what possesses no power to benefit you or harm you. If you do, you will be a transgressor.”

وَلَا تَدْعُ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا يَنفَعُكَ وَلَا يَضُرُّكَ فَإِن فَعَلْتَ فَإِنَّكَ إِذًا مِّنَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ

35:13 He merges the night into the day, and merges the day into the night. He has committed the sun and the moon to run for a predetermined period of time. Such is GOD your Lord; to Him belongs all kingship. Those you call upon beside Him do not possess as much as a seed’s shell.   If you call on them, they cannot hear you. Even if they hear you, they cannot respond to you. On the Day of Resurrection, they will disown you. None can inform you like the Most Cognizant.