The Myth of Intercession

Can Prophet Muhammad save you on Judgment day? Can your parents save you on Judgment day? Can reciting Sura Yasin everyday save you on Judgment Day? Will the Quran save you on Judgment day?


When I was young, I used to go in the local mosque for Quran recitation and memorization. I memorized 4 Chapters of Quran! (not Sura but chapters 1, 28, 29 and 30) Then came Mathematics! God I hate Math! I failed in class 6th in this subject and I had to abandon the memorization of Quran to give more time to Math! End result - I left memorizing Quran and still am as impotent at mathematics as I was earlier.


The thing that was used as a motivation factor in memorization of Quran was that one who is a 'hafiz' (a person who memorizes Quran) will ensure that his/ her parents are made to wear a golden crown. Apart from that, the hafiz will be able to intercede on behalf of 10 of his relatives and Allah will forgive their sins and enter them into paradise! Lovely is it not? :) Of course that will not happen.


What is Intercession? and what does Quran say about it. Intercession is an act through which God Almighty supposedly will forgive you on behalf of that person who will request God to do the favour. Quran says


19:87 - None shall have the power of intercession, but such a one as has received permission (or promise) from (Allah) Most Gracious.


Ok we do come to know that intercession 'can' take place. There is this mechanism set by God whereby He will let people intercede for other. That makes a certain person 'very' powerful. Imagine, a person so powerful that if he tells God about a certain person.. God forgives all the sins of that person and enters him in paradise!


But is it really so? I get to read from Quran..


2:255 - ...Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth?...


So you require 'permission' to intercede? What kind of intercession is it that requires permission of God first? Lets probe a bit more...


21:28 - He knows what is before them, and what is behind them, and they offer no intercession except for those who are acceptable, and they stand in awe and reverence of His (Glory).


Isn't it a bit contrary to the common belief held? A person can request intercession for another person 'only' for the ones whom God have approved! It is just like a 'favour' that God is bestowing upon a certain person that 'OK, you can intercede on that fellows behalf! this is my gift to you!". There is no 'charm' in the person who is interceding rather God is bestowing a favour. No intercession can take place for a person who is not 'approved' by God!


That natural affiliation/ respect/ admiration is due to what reason? that a person is 'closer' to God. Because in this way you can be 'closer' to God yourself. Just like God states in the following verse..


39:03 - Is it not to Allah that sincere devotion is due? But those who take for protectors other than Allah (say): "We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah." Truly Allah will judge between them in that wherein they differ. But Allah guides not such as are false and ungrateful.


Analyze yourself. The reverence you have for Prophet Muhammad - could it be due to same reason as stated in the verse above? All these saints and 'revered' personalities.. you don't by any chance think that they might show you the path to the Lord?! Bring you closer to Him?! Do you some favour in this world and on Judgment Day?!


10:37 - Say: Is there any of your associates who guides to the truth? Say: Allah guides to the truth. Is He then Who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed, or he who himself does not go aright unless he is guided? What then is the matter with you; how do you judge?


Do respect the Prophet, he was anointed by God as the last Prophet - thats not an ordinary thing but remember that Prophet will not save you on the day of judgment. Prophet Muhammad has no power of intercession. He was even told that he cannot guide anyone - let alone intercede on someones behalf. This can only be done by God.


28:56 - Lo! thou (O Muhammad) guidest not whom thou lovest, but Allah guideth whom He will. And He is Best Aware of those who walk aright.


Intercession can not take place - at least not the common way in which it is understood.


30:11 - It is Allah Who begins (the process of) creation; then repeats it; then shall ye be brought back to Him
30:12 - On the Day that the Hour will be established, the guilty will be struck dumb with despair.
30:13 - There will be none to intercede for them of those whom they made equal with Allah. And they will reject their partners.

Prophets and Miracles

In my last post I had ended with a piece that it appears that Prophet Muhammad was not given any miracles - apart from Quran that is. I had asked whether not giving miracles to a prophet reduces his stature?

We all know that prophets in their times were given various miracles/ signs to support their cause of spreading the message of One God and other reasons like fighting tyranny. Jesus could spoke as an infant, could heal the blind and talked to the dead. Moses was given various miracles in his fight against the pharoh. So why not Prophet Muhammad?

The answer lies in this verse perhaps.

20:133 - They say: "Why does he not bring us a sign from his Lord?" Has not a Clear Sign come to them of all that was in the former Books of revelation?

Quran refers at several places that the disbelievers should ask for the advice of people of the book if they have doubts regarding the authenticity of this scripture. According to Quran, those that are true 'believers' in the followers of the other scriptures readily see whether Quran is a true scripture.

17:107 - Say: "Whether ye believe in it or not, it is true that those who were given knowledge beforehand, when it is recited to them, fall down on their faces in humble prostration,

People from previous generations have been given sign/ miracles but they still chose not to believe.

8:54 - (Deeds) after the manner of the people of Pharaoh and those before them": They treated as false the Signs of their Lord: so We destroyed them for their crimes, and We drowned the people of Pharaoh: for they were all oppressors and wrong-doers.

Quran says that all the signs/ examples/ miracles are already in knowledge of the disbelievers. They do not need any new miracles. If they want to believe then the previous ones do the same good. But its of no use...

6:111 - Even if We did send unto them angels, and the dead did speak unto them, and We gathered together all things before their very eyes, they are not the ones to believe, unless it is in Allah's plan. But most of them ignore (the truth)

So we come to know that Prophet Muhammad was not given miracles. But does this in anyway reduce his stature?

Of course not. He was the final prophet of God - the seal of them. Only God knows who was the best amongst them but for the followers... the proclamation is straight. There is no distinction between the messengers.

2:285 - The Messenger believeth in what hath been revealed to him from his Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one (of them) believeth in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers. "We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His messengers." And they say: "We hear, and we obey: (We seek) Thy forgiveness, our Lord, and to Thee is the end of all journeys."

Check My Previous Posts:
- Planet Mars and Islam
- Moon Split - The Miracle?

Moon Split - The Miracle?

As a muslim you must have heard about the miracle attributed to Prophet Muhammad that he split the moon in two halves in reply to the critics of his prophethood. I am not concerned whether you believe in it or not. What I am writing here alludes to what Quran tells us about miracles given to Prophet Muhammad.

Interestingly, Quran does not inform us that Prophet was given the Miracles - apart from Quran only. Quranic tone is very different. Quran tells us that Prophet Muhammad was just a 'bearer of good news and warner' and the last Prophet at that. He knew nothing about the future nor knew about the unseen.

7:187 - They ask you about the hour, when will be its taking place? Say: The knowledge of it is only with my Lord; none but He shall manifest it at its time; it will be momentous in the heavens and the earth; it will not come on you but of a sudden. They ask you as if you were solicitous about it. Say: Its knowledge is only with Allah, but most people do not know.

7:188 - Say: I do not control any benefit or harm for my own soul except as Allah please; and had I known the unseen I would have had much of good and no evil would have touched me; I am nothing but a warner and the giver of good news to a people who believe.

6:50 - Say (O Muhammad, to the disbelievers): I say not unto you (that) I possess the treasures of Allah, nor that I have knowledge of the Unseen; and I say not unto you: Lo! I am an angel. I follow only that which is inspired in me...

The disbelievers of Mecca did ask Prophet Muhammad to show them miracles so as to believe in him.

6:109 - And they swear by Allah with the strongest of their oaths, that if a sign came to them they would most certainly believe in it. Say: Signs are only with Allah; and what should make you know that when it comes they will not believe?

Whether God grants a Prophet with a miracle or not that is His wish - not the prophet's. If God deems fit then He will grant a miracle to a prophet. When it came to disbelievers of Mecca - it just did not matter. According to Quran, they were just not being honest.

6:111 - And even if We had sent down to them the angels and the dead had spoken to them and We had brought together all things before them, they would not believe unless Allah pleases, but most of them are ignorant.

Now coming to the attributed miracle of Splitting of the moon. There is chapter in Quran Al-Qamr (The Moon) and the first verses state..

54:1 - The Hour is nigh, and the moon is cleft asunder.
54:2 - But if they see a Sign, they turn away, and say, "This is (but) transient magic."
54:3 - They reject (the warning) and follow their (own) lusts but every matter has its appointed time.

To most of the translators of Quran - these verses refer to the time and the sign that Day of judgment will be very close. Many refer to these verses as evidence of Prophets miracle.

The interesting thing is that Chapter Al-Qamr was revealed in Mecca and was revealed as the 37th Sura in order of revelation. Chapter 6 (Al-Anam) too is a Meccan Sura but has the revelation order of 55. So Sura Qamr was revealed before Sura Anaam and disbelievers are still asking for miracles from Prophet in that Sura. why would it be so if the miracle of splitting of Moon had occured?

These are the issues that I think needed to be highlighted. There is just one more thing which will be highlighted in the subsequent post and which is that whether all of the above indicate somehow that Prophet's stature has been degraded as compared to the prophets who were given miracles?

I'll write about it in the next post.

Also Check These Posts

Prophets and Miracles

Planet Mars and Islam!

Planet Mars and Islam!

No seriously! Mars does figure in Islam! one way or the other! As I wrote in my previous post that one receives a forwarding in email regarding motion of planet Mars and the closest ever proximity of it to Earth, one also gets an other email for the 'believers' that the motion of Mars is explained in Islam already! Go figure!

But first the text of that email...

Sunrise from the West

(Nasa's Report):

The science of astronomy states that the speed of planet Mars has been decreasing in its course toward the eastern direction in the few past weeks to the level we notice the "waver" between the east and the west and on Wednesday the 30th of July the planet movement stopped going toward the eastern direction..

Then in the months of August and September...Mars changed its course in the opposite direction to the West- and that until the end of September..which means the sun will rise now from the west on Mars!!

And this weird phenomena of the opposite movement called "Retrograde Motion" Most scientist state that all the planets will go through the same once at least and our planet Earth is one of them. Planet Earth will move in the opposite direction some day and the sun will rise from the west!!

This might occur soon and we are unaware!

The rise of the sun from the west is mentioned in the hadith and this is the major sign of the day of judgment, most if not All, the minor signs have occured. Wake up.

Our beloved messenger Mohamed (Peace Be Upon Him) said:

"One of the signs of the hour..the sun will rise from the west, where no longer tauba (forgiveness) will be granted" !!

And the strange thing..most of our Shariah scholars mentioned that the rise of the sun from the west occurs only once..on that day..thewest..then again from the east..and continues until Allah wishes..and this is similar to what is happening to Mars..it stops, then it changes its course of direction for a short period of time..then returns to way once it was.

Check the following link:

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/mars_retrograde_030725.html

I don't know but reading this made my marbles follow a retrograde motion! For heavens sake. Retrograde motion of Mars is an optical phenomenon. Mars does not actually start to go in reverse! It appears to the human eye to be reversing back becasue of the relative motion of Earth and Mars around the Sun and the Earth being in the inner orbit as compared to Mars!

Even if one follows the link that has been provided in the text - one can read all about it (update 4th September 2012: The link no longer works. Follow this one). But No! we muslims will take for granted anything as being true if it has been labeled under the tag of 'Islam'!

First we keep ourselves ignorant about science. The we love to place Islam and Prophet Muhammad in it! and guess who gets mocked? I just request people out there not to put Prophet's name and keep placing Islam in everything not even remotely related to them.

And I really do not like people branding Prophet Muhammad as 'local hakeem' or astronomer with a very poor knowledge suggesting herbs to remedy certain ills or explaining motion of planets. Really I do not.

Muslims should be the ones respecting Prophet Muhammad. They on the other hand provide sufficient material otherwise.

Also Check the following posts.


- Moon Split - The Miracle?
- Prophets and Miracles

Cartoon Controversy Aftermath

On 14th Feb, protesting crowd burnt 70 motorcycles, 10 cars, 4 ambulances, a fire brigade, buildings, offices. Two people died.

What the hell is wrong with us? Is this the image of "Islam is a religion of tolerance and peace"? People are being killed and property being damaged in the name of Prophet? How on earth can one do that in the name of Prophet?

Publishing derogatory cartoon was offensive. Burning cars and vandalizing is repulsive. Do we have sense? If this were a conspiracy.. I suppose the object was achieved when we showed how uncivilized we muslims are. All the moral high ground that we had gained has been lost by these stupid acts.

Awful.

Cartoon Controversy

"Are Muslims justified in staging worldwide protests over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad? "

Asks the West. I want to ask this. How many times have you seen Muslims ridiculing Jesus or Moses? any cartoons published by any muslim? in last century? in history?

see... we Muslims are very particular when it comes to respecting the Prophets. We believe that they had been given a status worthy enough of being respected by us. I understand that the muslim reaction of burning cars and building is not justified but the arguments coming out from the West are atrocious to say the least. One commentator I heard on CNN was saying that since they (majority of muslims) are poor and uneducated, they dont have anything to do so they are doing such act. ?? You (west) don't get it do you?

Spill a word against jews and you are branded anti-semitic. In Germany, law actually prohibits you to cast doubts on holocaust. Every society has its taboos that have to be looked in to when making opinion about them. And when Muslims cry foul, they are told that they are irrational people who cannot take criticism. How awful can you get?

If the west wants to criticise what goes on in the Muslim world, please do so (now don't get me started over west's corruption in maintaining puppet governments in muslims countries). We dont mind criticism but at least show some respect for the people that we respect. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to misbehave or offend people. Journalism with responsibility is what is required. grow up! and stop telling us that you are always right and we are wrong!