The objections on intercession

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The negative points of this assumptionThe Time of Intercession

We have already defined the meaning of intercession in Islam and Qura’n has explained that it is different from the one prevalent in human society. Mistake in understanding them does create a lot of misunderstandings and doubts. The answers to such doubt are hidden in the truth about Islamic intercession. With this brief note we now turn to the objections and their answers.

Is intercession not an impetus for sin?

Is it not true that the hope of intercession has caused many people to interpret as the signal to sin because on the Day of Reckoning the intercessors will save them from the divine punishments? They may resort to greater sins smug in the idea that they will be saved from the divine punishment. In another instance the punishments are due to negligence or opposition of the divine laws. Does not intercession erase the fear of these compulsory punishments?

The Answer

As we have said earlier, intercession is not an impetus for sins but is one of the powerful instruments to restrain mankind from it. This is because it makes the person stop sinning no matter what his stage of rebellion is and return to the ways of God.

In the second instance we have said that Islamic intercession is the result of the link between the intercessors (The apostles, Qura’n, saints, pious people and angels) and those who are being helped and it all depends on the agreeability and permission of God. The intercession tells us that we should form a bond with the infallible ones through true belief and good deeds and to create the capacity to deserve intercession from God so that on that hard Day there may be some respect for you to deserve it.  

The notable point is that the hope of salvation and intercession on the one side is a deterrent to sin and on the other side urges mankind to reflect upon his past and reform.

The other important point is that no person has taken a promise from any saint or prophet for intercession and no sinner can be content about it for it is just a faint hope and that too with preconditions mentioned above so this cannot give any impetus to sin.

Intercession will be for whom?

Is for those who are ashamed and repentant when the actually do not need it because repentance it self is the cause for salvation? What is the need for intercession when a person has already repented? If the intercession is for those who are not repentant but adamant on their sins then such people do not merit intercession and are not covered by the verse 28 of Surah Anbiya that says: “except for whom We are pleased.”

Answer:

Firstly there are preconditions for repentance and some times people do not fulfill them because one of the conditions mentioned in the Qura’n is the reformation of deeds and a person who has spent his years in sin but then repents has to cover his sins with righteous deeds if they are connected with God. If it is connected with other people then he will have to repay them their rightful dues. Repentant is not just remorse as has been misunderstood by some.

Some times the sinners are not successful in recompensing their sins even though they are very remorseful and sorry. If they do not hope for intercession then they will despair about being forgiven by God and this despair will take them deeper into sins.

Secondly, a person may be immersed in sins but does not have remorse or shame about it but when he realizes that the intercessors will only help if he repents and abstains from sin while he compensates them with good deeds then this feeling will take him to the path of righteousness and salvation.

Is intercession compatible with divine justice?

How it is possible that the sinners are of the same kind but some will be saved from divine punishment because of intercession while the other will not? Is this not against God’s justice?

Some times this is said in another manner and that is if the divine justice is adequate recompense for the sins then asking the infallible ones for intercession is obstruction in the way of justice. If these punishments are not according to the rules of divine justice then they should not be levied at all.

Answer

The answer to this contention is clear from the previous discussion because firstly intercession does not take place without perfect condition. Whoever deserves it is included and it is not done for those who do not merit and there is no contradiction or incompatibility in it. Secondly, the punishment of the sinner is justice itself but the acceptance of intercession is a kind of benevolence for it sees that the person who receives it actually deserves to be forgiven and secondly it is to recognize the respect of the intercessor because of his righteous deeds.

Does intercession not oppose god’s desire?

 It is sometimes thought that the intercessor actually hampers God’s justice and saves those whom God desires to punish and this is not acceptable for God. This is the result of misunderstanding the verses of the Qura’n about it that it treats the tyrants and oppressors as those who will merit it. In this world the powerful people want to save some criminals with whom they are connected and since the rulers kings etc need these powerful people they oblige them and forgive the sinners despite being desirous to punish them.

This is not true for God’s court of justice (and we have said this earlier) the rules for intercession here are completely different. The chosen ones of God after being permitted by God ask forgiveness for those who sins are not too heavy and who have adequate number of good deeds to compensate for the same. This is a program made for the education of the soul and for purity.

If the punishments originate from the deeds then how can they be eradicated through intercession?

Another objection that can be raised is that intercession can be made only manifest punishments and the intercessor is the cause of stoppage of the decree but when we agree that the punishments in the Day of Judgment are the result of the deeds or the natural outcome of the deeds like the effect of the murder of human being then it is not something that can be stopped or erased by intercession.

Answer

As we have already said intercession can be manifest and creative or originating and this clarifies the answer to the above objection because if the punishments are originating or creative then the infallible ones to are powerful authorities and side with those being punished. They save their incapacities with their spiritual help and take them to glory. Thus they overwhelm the creative or originating effects of punishment. It is like the sun that helps the plants that have the capacity to grow and saves them from various hazards.

 If this is decreed then they plead for salvation and forgiveness for those who have the goodness also. In both the cases their spiritual status by the permission of God becomes the cause for successful intercession.

The same can be said about the manifestation of deeds in the hereafter for they too are created from deeds and then become manifest. (Reflect)

Does the belief in intercession lead to decadence?

Some people misbelieve that intercession becomes the cause of being lethargic in deeds and the negligence about improving one’s capacity.

This tells us that the thinking of those who raise such objections is like that of those that people have about intercession in this world. We have meanwhile said that the meaning of Islamic and Qura’nic intercession is not only not leading to decadence but the giving up of sins, reform, repentance for the past , hope for the future, and the move towards purity and piety. Since we have discussed this in details earlier we do not have to repeat it.

Is the Tawhid contradictory to intercession?

One of the famous Wahhabi criticisms is that Tawhid and intercession are contradictory and so we should look deeply into the matter.

The Wahhabi faith revolves around a few contentions that most visible is that of the oneness in deeds and oneness in worship. They explain these branches of Tawhid in such a fashion that goes against intercession, spiritual attachment, the help of the prophets and saints and asking forgiveness from God. This is why they declare all those who believe in these features as polytheists and you not be surprised but it is true that they consider the lives of these others and their wealth to be dispensable.

It is under the influence of this ideology that they have the shed the blood of thousands of Muslims in Iraq and Hijaz and looted their wealth plus they tortured them in way that is unprecedented in Arab history.

Mohammad bin Abdul Wahhab the founder of this sect (d.1206 hij) has written his ideas in a book named “Risala Arbaa Qawaid” as follows:

1. The polytheists against whom the Messenger fought believed that God was the creator of this universe, the sustainer and the controller of all affairs as has been described in verse 31 of Surah Yunus that says: “ Say, “ who provides for you from the skies and the earth and who owns the sight and the hearing? Who brings out the living from the dead and the dead from the living? Who disposes the affairs? They will say “God”. Then say, “Will you then not be afraid of God’s punishment?”

In this way they believed in the oneness of sustenance, creativeness, ownership and the management of affairs.

2. The polytheists said that they were worshipped the idols because they want that the idols should intercede for them with God and make them come close to Him. Verse 18 of Surah Yunus says: “And they worship besides God things that neither hurt nor profit them and they say, “these are our intercessors with God.”

3. the messenger went to war against all those who worship those other than God whether it be trees, idols, of stones, sun or moon, angels, apostles or the righteous people. He did not differentiate between these various kinds of worshippers.

4.  In out times the polytheists (meaning all other sects except the Wahhabis) are worse than the days of ignorance because they worship the idols in the time of peace but worshipped God only when they faced hardships.

Verse 65 of Surah Ankabut says:

“When they embark on a ship they sincerely invoke God vowing to worship Him, and when He brings them safely to land, behold they associate others.” (1)

The strange thing is that they are so adherent to these gross misinterpretations that they easily take the lives and wealth of their opponents. One such leader has written in his book entitled “ Alhadiya sunniah” that the Book and Sunnah tell us that whoever believes that the angels, the prophets or people like Ibn Abbas and Abu Talib and other like them as intercessors between him and God so that they can intercede because of their elevated status, like the close ones intercede with their king, then such people are polytheists and disbelievers and it is lawful to kill them and take their wealth even those such people may recite the Kalima , do the daily prayers and fast in Ramadan” (2)

They have proven their belief of killing and looting the believers in Islam in various incidents in history e.g. the mass murder of Muslims in the city of Taif in Hijaz ( Safar 1343 Hijra) and then the massacre of Muslims in Kerbala in Iraq (18 Zilhijja 1216). These events are recorded in many books of history.

 


 

1. The Book “Four Rules” by Mohammad Ibn Wahhab the founder of the Wahhabi sect page 24 to 27 according to the book “Kashafol Irtiyab” page 163
2. al Hadiya Sunniya page 66

 

The negative points of this assumptionThe Time of Intercession
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