was he referring to tawassul by the right of X or was he referring to seeking aid/istigatha from X? most of the salafis deem the latter shirk but not the former [which most say is bid'a (though some may also add this in the shirk category)].
An interesting point I read in Shaykh Mahmud Said Mamdouh's article whereby Ibn Abdul Wahhab had categorised tawassul as a fiqh question whereby he said," This mas'alah is a fiqh mas'alah! The correct view in our opinion is the view of the majority that it (tawassul) is makruh and we do not CENSOR those who practise it since there is no censorship in ijtihadi mas'alah" (Fatawa Muhammad b Abdul Wahhab 3:68) A follower of Ibn Abd Wahhab, Husain Ghanam al-Ihsa'i voiced the same opinion in his book Rawd al-Afkar wa al-Ifham. Funny that later day Wahhabis seems to give fatwa that people who practise Tawassul (like myself) are musyriks, wal'iyazubillahi min zalik! Rough translation from Shaykh Mahmouh's article under the heading Taznib Mufid likulli Labib
