Ṭāhā

يَوْمَئِذٍ لاَّ تَنفَعُ الشَّفَاعَةُ إِلاَّ مَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُ الرَّحْمَنُ وَرَضِيَ لَهُ قَوْلاً

109. “On that Day shall no intercession avail save (that of) him to whom the Beneficent (Allah) gives leave and whose word He is pleased with.”

Since the denial of intercession contrasts the contents of the verses of the Qur’an and the Islamic traditions, and it causes the despair of those believers who are sinful, and also accepting the unconditional and unrestrained intercession causes that the wrong doers become more daring, which is opposite to Allah’s justice, then the Qur’an has assigned some control and prescriptions for intercession. From the viewpoint of the Qur’an, intercession is a ray of hope for the sinners. It is a means of their communication with the saints of Allah and following them.

Intercession is done by the leave of Allah, and the persons who care to intercede are only those believers who are in the path of Monotheism and have a proper logic and rightful notions and whose statements are acceptable with Allah. Therefore, there is an exact process in intercession both for the intercessor and the person who will be interceded. It is so that the Qur’an in this holy verse says:

For this reason, the Qur’an counts the intercession of idols futile for the idolaters. Also, the intercession of Christ (as) in the sense of ransom, in order to purify the sins of his followers, or the martyrdom of Imam Hussayn for the sake of interceding his lovers and followers, is not acceptable, even though Imam Hussayn is one of the great intercessors on the Day of Resurrection, but it should be noted that his goal from martyrdom was not to intercede his advocators, but it was to protect the religion of Allah.

Upon the commentary of this verse, Imam Baqir (as) said:

“The intercession of the Prophet (S) is only for those who are well-pleased (by Allah) from the point of action and speech, and they have lived with the love of Ahlul-Bayt (as) and have died with it.” ²

In the book entitled ‘Mahasin’, there is cited a tradition from Imam Sadiq (as) who said:

“The intercessors are the (immaculate) Imams (as), and the truthful ones among the believers.” ³

The Messenger of Allah (S) said:

“There will be no intercession for the doubtful ones, the disbelievers, and the rejecters. But intercession is particular to the believers, the true confessors of Divine Unity.” ⁴

The holy Prophet (S) said:

“There will be there groups who can intercede before Allah and whose intercessions are acceptable: the prophets, the scholars, and the martyrs.” ⁵

The holy Prophet (S) also said:

“My intercession does not involve the one who does not mind (his) prayer and takes it light; and by Allah he will not arrive (near) me at the Pond of Abundance; and by Allah a drunkard is not of mine and will never arrive (near) me at the Pond.” ⁶