Tawassul

Seeking a means of nearness to Allaah - Its types and its rulings. 'The people are in great confusion about the matter of Tawassul and its rulings in the religion, and they greatly differ concerning it, some declaring it lawful and other prohibiting it, some going to extremes and others being over-lenient. Also, a large number of the Muslims have been used to saying in their supplications for centuries such things as: 'O Allaah by the right of your Prophet...,' or 'by the right of the Sacred House...forgive me.; 'O Allaah by the right of the Awliyaa and the pious, and so and so etc.' Or 'O Allaah by the honour of the men of Allaah to You, and by the honor of those in whose presence we are, and under whose assistance we exist, relieve us and the distressed from all distress'... '...Some people even go so far beyond bounds that they even allow tawassul to Allaah, the Most High, through some inanimate objects from the creation that do not even reach the level of the aforementioned, such as graves of the Awliyaa, metal structures built upon their tombs, and earth, stones and tress found nearby. They claim that whatever is near to those who are honoured itself becomes honoured, and that the honour which Allaah bestows upon the occupant of a grave passes on to the grave itself, so that it becomes a means of Waseelah to draw nearer to Allaah thereby. Indeed some of the later people allow directly seeking aid from others besides Allaah!' 'So what is Tawassul? What are its types? What is the meaning of the Aayaat and the ahaadeeth which mention it? And what is the correct ruling for it in Islaam?'