يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱبْتَغُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِ ٱلْوَسِيلَةَ وَجَٰهِدُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
"O you who believe! Be mindful of God, and seek a means of approach to Him, and strive in His way, that you may prosper."
The root و-س-ل: to draw near to a thing, to take hold of what brings one near. The lexicographers explain wasīla as "that by which a thing is reached"; they also record the sense of raghba, desire.
The word occurs in two places in the Qurʾān: here and at al-Isrāʾ 17/57 (yabtaghūna ilā rabbihimu'l-wasīlata ayyuhum aqrab) — treated there. And there, those seeking a wasīla were the very beings being prayed to.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the verb of the verse: the sentence says ibtaghū — "seek". That is, a means of approach is not something given but something sought. And what comes before the sentence is ittaqu'llāh and what comes after it is wa jāhidū fī sabīlih — there is a verb on either side of it.
The exegetes differ on what the means of approach is — obedience and good works, the seeking of nearness, everything that endears one to God. No preference is adopted; but it is recorded that the context of the verse is an act.
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لَوْ أَنَّ لَهُم مَّا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا وَمِثْلَهُۥ مَعَهُۥ لِيَفْتَدُوا۟ بِهِۦ … مَا تُقُبِّلَ مِنْهُمْ (36)
The root of fidya (ف-د-ي): to ransom by paying a price. And the amount is given twice over: all that is on the earth, and as much again.
يُرِيدُونَ أَن يَخْرُجُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلنَّارِ وَمَا هُم بِخَٰرِجِينَ مِنْهَا (37) — the same root twice, once as a verb and once as an active participle: an yakhrujū / bi-khārijīn. The wish is voiced and negated in the same breath.