What is the permissible and impermissible Tawassul (seeking means to approach God), and how can one respond to those who deem it permissible to ask the deceased for prayers by analogy with the permissibility of asking righteous living people?

Tawassul (seeking proximity to God) is an act of drawing closer to Allah, and it is divided into two categories: permissible and forbidden. Permissible tawassul is drawing near to Allah through what He loves and is pleased with, including acts of worship, sayings, deeds, and beliefs. This is achieved by tawassul through His Names and Attributes, through faith and tawhid (monotheism), and through righteous deeds. As for forbidden tawassul, it is drawing near to Allah through what He does not love or approve of, such as supplicating the dead or the absent and seeking their help. This is major shirk (polytheism) which expels one from the fold of Islam, because supplicating to other than Allah is shirk with Him. It is not permissible to direct worship to anyone but Allah alone. Whoever supplicates other than Allah is a polytheist and disbeliever. Allah has clarified in His Book the weakness of the deities worshipped besides Him and their inability to cause benefit or harm. One must beware of falling into shirk, for the shirk of some people today has surpassed that of those who came before, as they direct various types of worship to other than Allah, even in times of distress. In summary, asking the dead is shirk, and asking a living person for something that only Allah can provide is also shirk.