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Intercession Of The Prophets (Nabi Ki Shifaat)
The real obligation of a prophet is to warn people of the fate – good or bad – that awaits them in the Hereafter; however, besides this, he also intercedes for his people before God. When a person wants to seek forgiveness from the Almighty then joining him in beseeching God for this forgiveness is called intercession. This is the real meaning of intercession. Thus without a person first taking the initiative in seeking forgiveness from God, it has no basis. A person who intercedes for someone is one who seeks forgiveness together with him and is another voice raised for this purpose and he in fact becomes a means for him in imploring and supplicating before God. The Quran says:
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا يَسْتَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ لَوَّوْا رُؤُوسَهُمْ وَرَأَيْتَهُمْ يَصُدُّونَ وَهُم مُّسْتَكْبِرُونَ (٥:٦٣)
And when they are told: “Come, God’s Messenger will seek forgiveness for you,” they wave their heads and you see them drawing away in arrogance. (63:5)
The first instance of intercession arises when a person professes faith, a prophet seeks forgiveness for him. The second instance arises when he commits a sin and after repenting seeks forgiveness from God. The Hypocrites of the times of the Prophet (sws) were, at one instance, urged by God to seek forgiveness from God themselves and also request the Prophet (sws) to do so if they wanted to repent from their sins. If they ask the Prophet (sws) for this, then this would be instrumental in directing God’s mercy towards them. The Quran says:
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا (٤: ٦٥)
And if they, having wronged themselves, had come to you and sought God’s forgiveness and the Messenger had also sought God’s forgiveness for them, they would have certainly found God Forgiving and Merciful. (4:65)
At various places, the Quran has urged people to seek forgiveness from the Almighty. In 39:53 and 12:87 it is said: “My servants! If you have wronged your souls do not lose hope of My mercy. Your Lord is Most Forgiving and Ever Merciful. If you turn to Him, He will forgive your sins. Remember! Believers never lose hope of His mercy.” The Almighty has also explained his law about accepting repentance in 4:17-18: A person should repent as soon as he can after he commits a sin. This is because He never punishes people who while being overcome with emotions commit a sin and then repent immediately. However, He does not forgive people who deeply indulge in sin all their lives and when they see death approaching start to repent and seek forgiveness from the Almighty.
A little deliberation on the contents of these verses shows that the Almighty has not mentioned what will happen to people who after sinning do not repent immediately, yet do not delay repentance till their death. It is these people about whom one can expect intercession. Thus the Quran has affirmed this, and has also negated all the incorrect views that people formed about intercession which actually contradict God’s justice and His reward and punishment for people.
The first thing asserted is that only God has the authority of intercession. Without His permission, no one can intercede for anyone. So much so, even the angels who are very close to Him cannot take the initiative in saying anything on their own. Thus it is essential to first please God so that intercession is allowed by Him and then also accepted:
أَمِ اتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ شُفَعَاء قُلْ أَوَلَوْ كَانُوا لَا يَمْلِكُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَعْقِلُونَ قُل لِّلَّهِ الشَّفَاعَةُ جَمِيعًا لَّهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ (٣٩: ٤٣-٤٤)
Have they chosen others besides God to intercede for them? Tell them: “Can they intercede even if they have no power nor understanding?” Tell them: “Only God has authority over intercession. His rule extends over the heavens and the earth. Then to Him shall you be returned.” (39:43-44)
وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ الرَّحْمَنُ وَلَدًا سُبْحَانَهُ بَلْ عِبَادٌ مُّكْرَمُونَ لَا يَسْبِقُونَهُ بِالْقَوْلِ وَهُم بِأَمْرِهِ يَعْمَلُونَ (٢١: ٢٦-٢٧)
And they say: “The Merciful has children.” Glory be to God! They are but His honoured servants. They do not speak first before Him and obey only His directives. (21:26-27)
The second thing in this regard is that even after being permitted by God to speak, intercession shall be possible only for those about whom God pleases. No one shall be able to say anything about anyone out of his own will:
يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلَا يَشْفَعُونَ إِلَّا لِمَنِ ارْتَضَى وَهُم مِّنْ خَشْيَتِهِ مُشْفِقُونَ (٢٨:٢١)
He knows what is before them and behind them. And they intercede for none except those whom He permits and tremble in awe of Him. (21:28)
يَوْمَئِذٍ لَّا تَنفَعُ الشَّفَاعَةُ إِلَّا مَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُ الرَّحْمَنُ وَرَضِيَ لَهُ قَوْلًا يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِهِ عِلْمًا (٢٠: ١٠٩-١١٠)
On that Day, no intercession will avail except for him who is allowed by the Merciful and words about that person are acceptable to Him. He knows what is before them and behind them, and their knowledge cannot truly embrace Him. (20:109-110)
The third thing is that the person who is acceptable to God to be interceded for – about him too whatever will be allowed to be said would be the absolute truth:
لَا يَتَكَلَّمُونَ إِلَّا مَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُ الرَّحْمَانُ وَقَالَ صَوَابًا (٧٨: ٣٨)
[On that Day], only they will speak whom the Merciful permits and they will say the truth. (78:38)
This is the point of view of the Quran regarding intercession. All narratives on this topic should be understood in the light of this view of the Quran and anything which contradicts this view should be ignored regarding it to be the handiwork of the narrators.
(Javed Ahmed Ghamidi)
(Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem)
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70 Replies
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Intercession Of The Prophets (Nabi Ki Shifaat)
updated 3 years, 7 months ago
4 Members
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Lectures by Ghamidi Sahab on Intercession of the Prophets:
(Part-1) – from 13:52 to 40:14
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(Part-2)– from 00:00 to 40:07
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Umer bhai im confused. The verses قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا يَسْتَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ لَوَّوْا رُؤُوسَهُمْ وَرَأَيْتَهُمْ يَصُدُّونَ وَهُم مُّسْتَكْبِرُونَ (٥:٦٣)
And when they are told: “Come, God’s Messenger will seek forgiveness for you,” they wave their heads and you see them drawing away in arrogance. (63:5)
And
أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا (٤: ٦٥)
And if they, having wronged themselves, had come to you and sought God’s forgiveness and the Messenger had also sought God’s forgiveness for them, they would have certainly found God Forgiving and Merciful. (4:65)
Why have we equated these to intercession?
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Because both these verses provide basis for the whole foundation of the intercession concept i.e. A person has to take first step in admitting his mistake and seeking forgiveness from GOD (at all costs).
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So bhai the asking of forgiveness of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم- what is the practical value of this? Is it just a means of comforting the person and helping him to further do good?
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This is my question also. @UmerQureshi
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In this world, when the Prophet was present himself among the people, then of course He was the direct source of religion Himself, the direct way of communication with God through revelation. So I think it was of great practical value at that time, every person reverting back to the truth was practically bound to ask Prophet for guidance and for way to ask forgiveness to God and in return, how can the Prophet not ask for that person’s forgiveness at His end?
In the hereafter, in my understanding, it will be to honour the Prophets, Siddeqeen, Shohadah and Sabiqoon for all their hardships in this life and their sacrifices for the message of the God.
Ghamidi Sahab has summarized this whole concept of intercession of the Prophets. Please refer to the video below from 1:16:38 to 1:19:44
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This video shared by Faisal Sahab in the following thread also summarizes it beautifully:
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Intercession (Shifaat) is a phase of cleansing after it is finally decided by God that a certain person deserves His rehmat / mercy after application of Justice criteria, only then phase of intercession will happen. Therefore, there is no question of forgiveness for a rapist or a murderer in this phase.
As far as Ahadith are concerned, in our discourse, we don’t see ahadith in isolation, all such ahadith / narrations are to be seen in the context of Quranic verses mentioned above. As a principle, it is authority of Prophet (Quran & Sunnah) that is to be established on third-party narrations and not the other way round.
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Faith And Beliefs:
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And God has said that one who does intentional polytheism and doesn’t repent won’t be forgiven. This means that the prophecy from God has come that these people will lead righteous lives- through their freewill and will attain heaven through it
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So, it means that these 10 companions lost their free will after this declaration ? What would prevent them from committing shirk if they willed ? Did Allah take their free will away ?
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Allah made a prophecy that these people through their freewill will lead righteous lives. The thing that stopped them was their own belief and piety
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That is the problem and contradiction.. Allah declared the result of the test before the test was over.. and again that’s not Allah’s word… it was Prophet’s alleged word which Shia don’t accept.
Again, how can someone who angered Fatima be entering heaven ?
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I don’t know how angering someone can always lead to hellfire. I would need more context
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We can discuss her anger in separate thread.. my basic point is .. Prophet declaring the result of some people’s test even before their test was over. If Allah wanted it to be revealed, why she didn’t mention it in Qur’an ?
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This is the hierarchy you should understand. If a hadith is sahih by sanad if it does not conflict with Quran there should be no problem. I believe this is the case here
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Do you not see the contradiction in declaring the result before the test is over?
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Do you not see the contradiction in declaring the result before the test is over?
Surah 46:9 indicates that Prophet did not know his own fate or those of the others .. so how did he know fate of 10 companions ?
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There can be many ways of also interpreting this hadith. Maybe it was just the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم stating that these people were righteous . @UmerQureshi @faisalharoon @Sohail Bhais- what do you think- can this hadith be taken as true taken in light of the ayah?
Also I don’t think this would negate that the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم could have revelation that these people will go to heaven. And this prophecy revealed to him indicates that these people won’t do anything wrong- according to their own freewill they will remain pious.
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This verse has a context. You need to understand it in that context. Having said that, you ignored the succeeding words in the same verse “I only follow what is revealed to me.”
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No the meaning of the Hadith is clear cut, that these people will make it to Heaven.
I don’t know what’s the confusion about exactly, Ahmad bhai?
God’s knowledge is Infinite. He knows that these people will make it to Heaven (through their own efforts and work) and these people, Hell (again, through their own work and efforts). How does Him knowing clash with our freewill? He didn’t create this world for Himself to see who makes it to heaven and who males it to Hell. We need to understand something here. He created this world for our test, not His own test. So, all of this day of Judgement, heaven and hell are for us. To show US, the ultimate truth in every sense. So that He doesn’t have any Hujjat left. We dont have any queries/confusions left. To add to our ilm (knowledge), not His. Our knowledge requires time and events to happen for it to increase.
When taught Adam the names (Asmaa). They were of the righteous people like the prophets, saliheen, shuhada. When the angels put forth their query of creating a being like us. So after they were told the names of all these figures by Adam, they were humbled before Allah. The point here is, Allah knew from the beginning that these people will make it to Heaven (by their own efforts). Now, it is for us to see in this world whether the people he predicted in the beginning, all turn out to be from the people of Heaven (and ofcours they will). This we will witness on the Day of Judgment thus, confirming that He undoubtedly the All Knowing.
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I agree with you sister 👍
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I think we should open a thread and discuss the contradiction between predestination and free will.
The point is .. the result is declared before the test was over .. so why continue their test ? When polytheists test was ended why not companions ?
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Did any of them? No
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It is not the point.. the point is none of them had any free will to do so… also Shia believe many of them to be sinners.
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I don’t believe the Shia belief is authentic. Please read sister Sheharbano’s post. These people would go to heaven by their freewill and God had revealed this to Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم according time this hadith
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The test was not ended- but the result was given that it would be positive. And the only way it could be positive would be if they fulfilled it with their freewill
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For them and for us. Basically for us, human beings. See, we need to view this world from our lens. Not God’s. Then everything will fall into place.
So that we can witness His knowledge. Now they, aswell as we can testify that yes, they died being true believers. All of this is done for us to bring out the truth clearly.
If it had been for God then we can argue, why start the test in the first place if You (God) know the outcome even before the actual test begins?
God is not testing Himself, trying Himself. All of this is for us. View it from our lens.
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How can God decide it for them ? The problem is God decided it that they will use their free will like this .. God can’t know their future without them choosing it.. I am not sure why you can’t see the contradiction.
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The problem is : Any entity which can fix the future .. can’t leave the choice to someone’s free will.. specially when the person knows that what will be his choice.. now if he had free will, he would be free to commit sin also, now he won’t, because God decided the future and what action he will take..
This is not a test. We are robots programmed to behave like that.. there is no free will.
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God didn’t decide it. God made His laws. Of guidance and Misguidance. He KNEW that these people would choose guidance over misguidance for themselves.
Now the thing is, we being a creation, can only experience and witness this for ourselves and others by being bound by space and time. Witness this during our lives which to us is a matter of years.
For example, He knew I would make it to Heaven the very moment He created me. Now He has to put me into a setting that fits me as a human being so that I can witness and confirm what the truth is and what falsehood is during the process, the ultimate manifestation of which would be the Day of Judgement.
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God’s infinite knowledge was given to us that these people will enter jannah. And it would obviously be according to his concept of freewill. God does not let his knowledge interfere in the actions of humans.you are saying God forces them to now be righteous like robots. This is against the main narrative
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He created and knew you will be reaching heaven, and he also told you that you will be reaching heaven.. did he fix events in your life too ? Did he fix that you will choose to be a Muslim and reject some hadiths or did he leave it to your choice ?
A fixed future goes against the free will concept.
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God doesn’t let his knowledge interfere in the actions of humans ?? No.. the test for polytheists was ended because God said they denied the truth and God knew there is no point continuing their test.. with the companions, when God knew that they are in heaven, why continue their test ? Why not kill them too ?
Fix one thing.. does God interfere in human lives or not ? You can’t apply one criterion at one place and completely opposite at the other place.
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Interfering in human lives yes. Letting his knowledge or his will take dominance over their freewill: no
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This is what I just explained above. Had it been only for God’s Knowledge then He already knew even before sending us on this earth to start the test. Continue or discontinue the test wouldnt even be a question then. Why even start the test?
But you are not understand the whole scheme. It is for US to try and witness things. Not God. The whole purpose of this us to make us see what is the truth, what is the real purpose of our existence. Now as for your question, he continued their lives because according to God’s scheme, they were going in the right direction. So giving them more time shouldn’t be a cause for complaining. Ultimately, they will also die.
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God already knew where everyone would go – so why create anyone anyway? Please ask this to God when you meet him. If I’m missing something please someone correct me
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” his will take dominance over their freewill: no” ..
Suppose you are told by God that you are going to go to heaven.. now suppose your freewill is that you want to commit shirk .. how will you exercise your free will now.. please explain the method. Do you have the choice to commit shirk after you know that God has told you to be in heaven ?
Please understand that not only God.. now you also know your future.
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How can God interfere in human lives without overriding their free will ? He can only do it by presenting to them some situations which are not human controlled .. as soon as he brings any human into doing his action, he is overriding that human’s free will .
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How can God know the future without fixing it ? So, when he created you, he fixed your choices that you will take to reach heaven..
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Suppose I know that There is a tv program tomorrow morning. Is my knowledge of this going to affect the people conducting it? No. God’s knowledge is definite- but the people’s freewill s is still therr
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If you tell them that they are going to conduct a TV programme, and you have the power to fix the future ..
Then no.. they don’t have free will..
But if they have a free will, and they can DECIDE to not conduct the TV program, then your knowledge of future is flawed.. so there is no way they can NOT conduct it.
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Once you know your own future, you don’t have the free will to go against it. You are just a robot following the actions which lead to that future.
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Let’s take it to a new thread- please @ me
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Please read brother umers response on the new discussion
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If they were going in the right direction, so continue their life.. when they were going in the wrong direction, so end their life.. is this the test criterion God follows for all or only for some ?
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