this may be useful too:
our master sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam said:
"O Allah! Grant Islam respect through Umar ibn Khattab." (Ibn Majah)
also, i remember reading a hadith where the prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam asked Allah by the wasila of the other prophets 'alaihimussalam and if i remember correctly by the virtue of the believers?
i found this from shaykh zayni dahlan raHimahullah:
If performing tawassul had been blasphemy, then the believers, i.e., the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, his Companions, and the Salaf and Khalaf of this nation would not have done it. Yet it is mentioned in the sahih hadith of the Prophet that the Prophet used to ask Allah by saying:
which means: "
O Allah, I ask You by the status of those who ask You.(10) " Without doubt, this is tawassul. The Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, used to teach this supplication (du'a') to his Companions and order them to say it.
(10) Ibn Majah and others related this hadith and the-Hafidh, Ibn Hajar, deemed it a strong hadith.
http://village.flashnet.it/users/fn034463/fitnah.html