Doubts about intercession

 

Muslims do not disagree that the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, is the intercessor whose intercession will be accepted on the Day of Resurrection, and that intercession - in general - is proven by the Book and the Sunnah. The people of the Sunnah and the community agreed to prove it for those who committed major sins and died without repenting from their sins, while the Mu'tazilah and the Khawarij disagreed with them and said: The intercession mentioned in the Book and the Sunnah is nothing but raising the ranks and increasing the reward of those who are interceded for from among the believers. As for the people of major sins, they are disbelievers in the fire of Hell, abiding therein forever. They provided evidence for that with evidence that we will present with criticism and scrutiny. However, before that, we will cite from the evidence of the people of the Sunnah what makes clear the correctness of their approach and the soundness of their method, and that the text and consensus are with them and not with those who disagreed with them:

Evidence of intercession:

The evidence of intercession mentioned in the Qur’an is general evidence that is not detailed, and it indicates in its entirety the establishment of intercession on the Day of Resurrection. The Prophetic hadiths came explicitly stating that, and among those hadiths are:

1- The hadith of Abu Hurayrah, may God be pleased with him, who said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: (For every A prophet whose supplication is answered, so every prophet hastened his supplication, and I have saved my supplication as intercession for my nation on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be granted - God willing - to whoever dies from my nation without associating anything with God. Narrated by Muslim. There is no doubt that whoever commits adultery, steals, or drinks alcohol without associating anything with God is one of those who will receive intercession, God willing.

2- The hadith of Abu Saeed Al-Khudri, may God be pleased with him, who said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: (As for the people of Hell who are its people, they will neither die in it nor live, but people were afflicted by the Fire because of their sins - or he said - because of their transgressions, so it caused them to die a complete death, until they were charcoal, then intercession was permitted, and they were brought in groups - that is, groups - and they were spread out on the rivers of Paradise. Then it was said: O people of Paradise, pour water over them, so they will grow like a seed in the mud of a torrent.) Narrated by Muslim.

3- The hadith of Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) say: (My intercession on the Day of Resurrection will be for those of my nation who committed major sins) Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud.

4- The hadith of Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) who said that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: (He who says, "There is no god but Allah" and in his heart is a grain of barley of goodness will be taken out of the Fire, and he who says, "There is no god but Allah" and in his heart is an atom's weight ...) Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.

5- The hadith of Awf bin Malik Al-Ashja'i (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Do you know what my Lord gave me to choose from tonight? We said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: He gave me to choose between half of my nation entering Paradise and intercession, so I chose intercession. We said: O Messenger of Allah, pray to Allah to make us among its people. He said: It is for every Muslim) Narrated by Ibn Majah and authenticated by Al-Albani.

These hadiths and others clearly prove intercession for those who commit major sins, but the opponents rejected these hadiths claiming that they are individual hadiths that do not prove beliefs, and that even if they are authentic, they are interpreted as raising ranks and increasing reward.

The answer to that is to say: How can it be correct to interpret intercession in the previous hadiths as increasing reward and raising ranks?! It is explicit that the sinners will be taken out of Hell, and that their taking out will be through the intercession of the intercessors, and that he who says there is no god but Allah and in his heart is the weight of a barley grain of good will be taken out of Hell. All of that refutes this interpretation and invalidates it. As for the claim that the hadiths of intercession are individual hadiths, this is a claim that is rejected by their proponents, since the scholars have stated that they are mutawatir, and among those who have stated that are Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, al-Sakhawi, Qadi Iyad and others. Imam al-Baqillani says in Tamhid al-Awa’il fi Talkhis al-Dala’il: “The hadiths about intercession are too many to mention, and they are all mutawatir and concordant about the monotheists taking out of Hell through the intercession of the Messenger and his family, even if their wording differs. The early Muslims agreed to accept this narration and its authenticity despite its prevalence and spread, and the knowledge that it was narrated by the Companions and Followers. If it were something that was not supported by evidence, someone would have challenged it by rejecting reason and hearing it, as the Mu’tazilites say, and the Companions would have been more knowledgeable about that.” And they are more hasty in denying it. If they had done that, or some of them, it would have become apparent and widespread, and there would have been many reasons to broadcast it and make it known, until it was transmitted like it, and knowledge of it would have replaced knowledge of the news of intercession, because this custom is established in the news, and in knowledge of the corruption of that is evidence of the establishment of the news of intercession and the invalidity of the statement of the Mu’tazila.

The above is supported by what Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani mentioned in Fath Al-Bari that the Companions, may God be pleased with them, used to denounce those who denied intercession, as he mentioned from the narrations that support that, saying: “The Khawarij - the famous innovating sect - used to deny intercession, and the Companions used to deny their denial, and they used to narrate what they heard from the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, about that. Al-Bayhaqi narrated in Al-Baath from the path of Shabib bin Abi Fadalah, who said: They mentioned intercession in the presence of Imran bin Husayn, and a man said: You are telling us hadiths that we do not find any basis for in the Qur’an, so he became angry and told him - in a sense - that the hadith explains the Qur’an. Saeed bin Mansour narrated with a sound chain of transmission on the authority of Anas, who said: Whoever denies intercession will have no share in it. Al-Bayhaqi narrated in Al-Baath... on the authority of Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with him, who said: Umar, may God be pleased with him, gave a sermon and said: There will be in this nation people who will lie about stoning, lie about the Antichrist, and lie about the torment of the Fire.” The grave, and they deny intercession, and they deny people who come out of the Fire. And through the path of Abu Hilal on the authority of Qatada, he said: Anas said: “A people will come out of the Fire, and we do not deny it as the people of Harura’ deny it, meaning the Khawarij.” End quote.

And through what Al-Hafiz (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated, it becomes clear that the issue of denying intercession is an old issue that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) addressed, and they demonstrated its falsehood and invalidity.

Despite that, the Khawarij and the Mu’tazila held fast to denying intercession, and they provided evidence from the apparent meanings of verses of the Noble Qur’an that deny intercession absolutely, including the words of Allah the Almighty: {So what benefit will the intercession of intercessors benefit them?} (Al-Muddaththir: 48). And the Almighty’s saying: {And fear a Day when no soul will suffice for another soul at all, nor will intercession be accepted from it, nor will compensation be taken from it, nor will they be aided.} (Al-Baqarah: 28), and His saying: {And fear a Day when no soul will suffice for another soul at all, nor will compensation be accepted from it, nor will intercession benefit it, nor will they be aided.} (Al-Baqarah: 123), and His saying: {O you who have believed, spend from what We have provided you before a Day comes in which there will be no exchange, nor friendship, nor intercession. And the disbelievers - it is they who are the wrongdoers.} (Al-Baqarah: 254), and His saying: {And warn them of the approaching Day when the hearts will be at the throats, stifling. The wrongdoers will have no close friend, nor any intercessor who will be obeyed.} (Ghafir: 18).

The answer to these people is that the requirement of jurisprudence in religion and following the path of the believers is to take the sum of what was mentioned in the Book and the Sunnah and not to suffice their texts, and not to take some of the Book and ignore some, because that is evidence of whims and a path of deviation.

The texts of intercession mentioned in the Book are divided into sections:

The first section: Texts that refer intercession to God, such as the Almighty’s saying: {Say, “To God belongs all intercession. His is the dominion of the heavens and the earth. Then to Him you will be returned.”} (Az-Zumar: 44).

The second section: Texts that deny intercession in general, such as the verses that were used as evidence by those who deny intercession.

The third section: Texts that deny the benefit of intercession for the unbelievers, such as

the Almighty’s saying: {So what benefit will the intercession of intercessors benefit them?} (Al-Muddaththir: 48). The fourth section: Texts that confirm it with restrictions and stipulate conditions for it, such as the Almighty’s saying: {They do not possess intercession except for one who has taken a covenant with the Most Merciful} (Maryam: 87), and His saying: {On that Day, no intercession will benefit except for one to whom the Most Merciful permits and whose word is acceptable to Him} (Taha: 109), and His saying: {And intercession will not benefit with Him except for one to whom He permits} (Saba’: 23), and His saying: {He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they do not intercede except for one with whom He is pleased, and they are fearful of His fear} (Al-Anbiya’: 28). The summary of these conditions indicated by the previous verses are: the faith of the intercessor and the one for whom intercession is made, and the pleasure of Allah with them, and His permission for intercession.

There is no doubt that the approach of the scholars is to combine these verses and not to isolate them or to use some of them as evidence without others. Accordingly, the verses that prove that intercession belongs entirely to God are not problematic, since the entire matter is up to God, before and after.

As for the verses that deny intercession absolutely, they are from the absolute restricted, and their restriction is by the verses that prove it with conditions, and the verses that deny the benefit of the disbelievers from intercession remain in agreement with the general negation of intercession, and there is no problem with this, and with it the verses come together and do not separate and come together and do not differ, and this combination between the verses is what the scholars have decided, the scholar Ibn al-Wazir al-Yemeni says in al-Rawdh al-Basim: “The Almighty’s saying: {Before there comes a Day in which there will be no trading, nor friendship, nor intercession} (al-Baqarah: 254), so He made the negation of friendship and intercession absolute in this verse for everyone, then He restricted it in His saying: {Friends, on that Day, will be enemies to one another, except for the righteous} (al-Zukhruf: 67), and the Almighty said: {And they will not intercede except for him with whom He is pleased, and they are fearful of His fear} (al-Anbiya’: 28), so He established friendship and intercession for the one who fears Him, and for the one with whom He is pleased after He negated them absolutely, and likewise what It was reported in the exit of the people of Islam from the Fire from the authentic hadiths, and Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said in response to those who denied intercession for the people of major sins based on the previous verses: “The response of the people of the Sunnah is that what is meant by this is that it does not benefit the polytheists, as God Almighty said in describing them: {What has brought you into Hellfire? They will say, “We were not of those who prayed, and we did not feed the poor, and we used to engage in vain talk with those who engage in vain talk, and we used to deny the Day of Judgment, until the certainty came to us. So the intercession of the intercessors will not benefit them.”} So the benefit of the intercession of the intercessors was denied to them because they were disbelievers. Al-Shanqeeti says in Adwaa al-Bayan in his interpretation of the Almighty’s saying: {And fear a Day when no soul will suffice for another soul at all, nor will intercession be accepted from it, nor will compensation be taken from it, nor will they be aided.} (Al-Baqarah: 48) He said: “{And no intercession will be accepted from it} The apparent meaning of this verse is that intercession will not be accepted at all on the Day of Resurrection, but it is clear in other places that the intercession that is denied is intercession for the disbelievers, and intercession for others without the permission of the Lord of the heavens and the earth. As for intercession for the believers with His permission, it is proven in the Book, the Sunnah, and consensus.”

The Khawarij and Mu'tazila also objected to the denial of intercession by saying that those who commit major sins are infidels who will remain in the fire of Hell forever, and Allah will not remove them from the fire after they enter it, neither by intercession nor otherwise.

The answer to this issue - which is one of the oldest issues of disagreement between them and the Sunnis - has been previously discussed in a discussion under the axis of belief entitled: "Doubts of those who declare the perpetrators of major sins infidels."

Thus, we have clarified with evidence and proof that intercession is proven

for the sinners among the monotheists, and that there is no sound rational or textual evidence for those who deny it. What is worth noting in this regard is that even if a Muslim believes in intercession for those who commit major sins, his belief in intercession should not be a reason for his laxity in committing sins and crimes. For one day in the fire of Hell, a wise person should do righteous deeds that will save him from it, and he should stay away from that which will bring him closer to it, and Allah knows best.