Peace be upon you. I want to ask about the Hadeeth about the blind man who supplicated Allaah by means of the status of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and the Hadeeth about losing an animal. Are these Hadeeths authentic? What do they mean?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

There is a difference between seeking the support (from destruction) of others, other than Allaah The Almighty (Istighaathah), and supplicating to Allaah by means of any of His creatures (Tawassul). Istighaathah is unanimously considered major Shirk (i.e., who commits it is judged as a polytheist), while there is disagreement concerning Tawassul - whether it is a religious innovation or not. 

With regard to the Hadeeth where it was said that when a person's animal, which he uses as a means of transport, flees to a desert land where no one can be seen, he should cry, “O slaves of Allaah, help me recover my animal and prevent it from escape, for there is one of the creatures of Allaah on this earth be he a human, Jinn or angel, who will help him recover it.” This Hadeeth was narrated by At-Tabaraani, Abu Ya‘laa in his Musnad (Book of narrations), and Ibn As-Sunni in A‘maal Al-Yawm Wa Al-Laylah on the authority of ‘Abdullaah ibn Mas'ood . Nevertheless, it is Dha‘eef (weak) and can never be authentic as judged by Al-Haythami, Al-Haafith Ibn Hajar and Al-Albaani .

Some argue that this has been proven by experiment and experience, but matters of the Sharee‘ah cannot be authenticated by depending only on experimentation. Rather, Sharee‘ah commandments must be authenticated with reference to Allaah The Almighty, as explained by Ash-Shawkaani who added that Allaah fulfilling such a supplication may in fact be a gradual drawing towards punishment.

At-Tabraani also narrated a similar Hadeeth on the authority of ‘Utbah ibn Ghazwaan who directly attributed it to the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, but it was judged as Dha‘eef (weak) by Ibn Hajar and Al-Albaani who explained that it cannot be used to establish the permissibility of seeking the help of a righteous dead person.

Al-Bayhaqi narrated in Shu‘ab Al-Eemaan that Ibn ‘Abbaas stated that there are angels on earth whose job is to record the fallen tree leaves, so whoever is in distress in a desert should call to those angels and ask them for help. If we assume that this Hadeeth is authentic, then it proves that the "slaves of Allaah" who are mentioned in the previous Hadeeth refers to the angels, not humans or Jinn, whether living or dead, because seeking help from them is Shirk as they do not hear supplication, and if they heard it they could not respond, as stated in several Quranic verses such as the following:

Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {If you invoke them, they do not hear your supplication; and if they heard, they would not respond to you. And on the Day of Resurrection they will deny your association. And none can inform you like [one] Acquainted [with all matters].} [Quran 35:13, 14]

As for the Hadeeth on the blind man who supplicated to Allaah by means of the status of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, it is Saheeh (authentic) and proves that supplicating to Allaah by means of any of His living present righteous servants is permissible. There are previous Fatwas on this Hadeeth. Please see them under Fatwas 16690 and 4416.

Allaah Knows best.