Do the Awliya Possess Power of Their Own?

Question

What do you say — may your grace endure — on the following matter: one of the mosque imams says in his sermon that the power which God has, the awliya have too. He also says, in these words, that some of the prophets and awliya gave life to the dead with the words “rise by my leave” (قم بإذني), and did not say “rise by the leave of Allah” (قم بإذن الله). Thereupon some of those who used to pray behind him gave up following that imam in prayer.

Answer

It is not fitting for an imam to utter such speech as becomes a cause of fitna and corruption of belief. The power that appears in people is not their own nor innate, but a reflection of the power of the Absolutely Powerful — jalla sha’nuhu. No one can move a mote or a blade of straw from its place without God’s help.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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