The irony is that the hadith of the blind man is being used as an argument against the very methodology its proponents claim to follow: returning to the Qur’an, Sunnah and understanding of the Salaf. 1. Nobody denies the authenticity of the hadith. Al-Tirmidhi narrated it in no. 3578. Shaykh al-Albani authenticated it. The disagreement is over its interpretation, not its authenticity. Accusing people of hiding a hadith simply because they reject your inference is intellectual dishonesty. 2. Read what the blind man actually asked. He said: “Ask Allah to cure me.” The Prophet ﷺ then taught him to make duʿāʾ to Allah, including: “O Allah, accept his intercession for me.” The entire supplication is directed to Allah. The Prophet ﷺ instructed the man to seek Allah’s aid, and the narration does not explicitly say that people should call upon the Prophet ﷺ after his death. 3. Where is the evidence that this applies after his death? The incident occurred during the Prophet’s ﷺ lifetime, when the man could approach him and request his supplication. To extend this incident to calling upon him after his death, you must establish that the same ruling applies in that different circumstance. Simply repeating the words of the hadith does not prove that extension. 4. Look at the practice of ʿUmar رضي الله عنه. During the drought, ʿUmar sought rain through al-ʿAbbas رضي الله عنه, as recorded in Bukhari in the chapter on seeking rain. If the hadith of the blind man explicitly established that the Companions should seek the Prophet’s intercession in this manner after his death, why did ʿUmar instead seek the supplication of a living person? This is a significant argument for the Salafi position: the Companions’ practice supports asking a living righteous person to supplicate to Allah. It is not, by itself, an explicit prohibition of every other form of tawassul. 5. Here is where the argument against them fails. They move from an authentic narration to a conclusion that the narration does not explicitly establish. They then accuse those who dispute that conclusion of rejecting the Sunnah. But accepting a hadith and accepting your interpretation of it are two different things. The Ahlul Sunnah position is not “reject the hadith.” It is: accept the hadith, examine its wording, consider the relevant evidence and do not extend a specific incident beyond what the evidence establishes. If you believe this narration proves the permissibility of calling upon the Prophet ﷺ after his death, demonstrate where it establishes that particular ruling.