Some say that it is better to ask directly from Allaah
Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa BarakatuhuBrother thc. Its the wahabbis /deoband tableeghis who say this.
The Ahl e Sunnah wal Jammat strongly believe, that seeking help through wasila of our Beloved Prophet Sayedina Muhammad
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) and the Awliya e Allah is not only right but means to acceptance of our prayers.
There are numerous Hadiths and books wrritten on the subject.
It is related that once Hadrat Abdullah bin Umar
(Radi Allahu anhu) foot went numb. He was told.
" Remember the most Beloved to you and it will go away. he called out ,
" Ya Muhammad!"
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam)and the feeling returned in his foot.
(Imam Bukhari, Al-Adab-ul-Mufrid)
Again asking and seeking help for our prayers to be answerd, we turn to Our Beloved Prophet Sayedina Muhammad
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) and seek their wasila.
There was a blind man, who asked our beloved Prophet Sayedina Muhammad
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) to ask Allah
(Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) to restore his eyesight.
Aap
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) taught him a dua/prayer and instructed him to say it after completing wudhu and two rakats of Salaat:
" O Allah, I ask You and turn to You through My Prophet Muhammad
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) the Prophet of Mercy; O Muhammad ( Ya Muhammad), I seek your Intercession with my lord for the return of my eyesight".
(Related by Tirmidhi and 15 other ahadith masters and classified as rirgorously authentic-Sahih)
Praying to the Prophets, the awliya, the saints, the pious or any other being is indeed sin.
BUT there is no sin to ask Almighty Allah through them, as the Prophets
(alayhis 'salam) and the great Awliya do and can intercess for us sinful beings and our dua's have more of a chance of acceptance with their intercession than on our own.
Praying through them is following the Sunnah of the sahaba, re-enforcing the status of the awliya that Allah
(Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) has granted them and obeying the command of Almighty Allah who has said in the Gloroius Quran;
"Seek Waseela"
There is a great sin to those who lable the Muslims who ask Allah
(Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) through the wasila of Our Beloved Prophet Sayedina Muhammad
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam)as Mushriks.