As salaamu aleykum

Before we see the verses that deal with shafa&a, there is a very important Islamic principle that is in direct connection with this topic.

That principle in bold and clear words goes:

53:38, "wa anla taziru wa ziratan wizra ukhraa,/No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another 53:39, "wa an leysa lil insaani ila ma sa&aa"/ and that man can have nothing but what he strives for 53:40, "wa anaa sa&yahu sawfa yuraa/ and that his striving will soon come in sight. 53:41, "thuma yujzahul jazaa al awfaa/ then will he be rewarded with the reward complete. 53:42, "wa ana ila rabikal muntaha/ and that to thy Lord is the final Goal.

So, in these very simple and straightforward verses we can clearly see that any kind of intercession is not of this simple and perfect teaching.

The Absolute Just does not leave our fate on the hands of mortals no matter what someone might sometimes mistakenly conclude.

Many people all over the world have accepted mortals as their shafi&s (patrons, protectors and helpers). Many of them would never give up this belief for they have "witnessed" miracles and "seen" incredible things done by these mortals or when using their names.

You can hear "O, Hassan, help me", or, in some places when a severe wind blows "Muhamed is with us so, evade us", or "Jesus, help me".

We have a lot of stories about some people who ask help from dead people by visiting their graves.

For instance some people, when have troubles in life, like if their children become ill, they go and ask for help in the graves of these "Salih-men". Many of them, as mentioned already, have "seen" and "witnessed" miracles, like "their children got cured immediately after their visit to the grave of this and that wali and ..etc".

When someone is captured in the fear of mortals, that one has no knowledge at all about the Power of the Mighty.

The word SH F & in Arabic used to mean; to double, to join, to add.

Notice 89:3 where SH-F-&, stands opposite to WTR (odd)

All other uses in the Quran are mainly translated as to intercede (verb)and intercession (noun).

I think that, generally, the idea is that, when you do SHAFA&A for someone, your intention is to give him/her a kind of support.

To clarify this in simple words; Two righteous men are welcome together for this does not change anything in the essence. But one righteous and one evil can not work together.

Good people will enter paradise together in zummar /groups but each according to his/her own deeds. The same goes for the evil doers (39:71-73).

6:94, "And now you have returned to Us alone (in single = furaada) as We created you at first, leaving behind all that We bestowed on you. Nor do We see with you your intercessors (shufa&aakum), those whom you claimed to be God's equals. Broken are the ties which bound you, and that which you presumed has failed you."

So, as single we return to our creator.

We will GW see from some straightforward (muhkamat) verses (ayaats) what SH AF &A is all about and then we can check some other verses who, if viewed separately MIGHT indicate an idea other than the one that goes with the consistency of the message.

Some of the straightforward verses;

39:43, "Or do they take beside God intercessors, say: "Even then when they have no power whatever and no intelligence"

39:44, "Say: "To God belongs exclusively intercession, to Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, to Him you shall be brought back"

2:48, "And fear/be aware of the day when one soul shall not avail another nor shall intercession be accepted for her nor shall compensation be taken from her nor shall any one be helped (from outside). (see also 2:123)

2:254, "O you who believe, spend out of what We have provided for you before the day comes when no bargaining (will avail), nor friendship, nor ntercession. Those who reject faith are the wrong doers."

6:51, "Warn with it (Quran) those who fear that they will be brought before their Lord: except for Him they will have no protector nor intercessor that they may be aware."

6:70, "Leave alone those who have taken their deen to be mere play and amusement and are deceived by the life of this world and admonish with it (Quran) lest a soul is caught in its own ruins by its own deeds. It will find for itself no protector or intercessor except God: if it offered every ransom, none will be accepted: such (is the end) of those who deliver themselves to ruin by their own deeds: they will have for drink boiling water and grievous punishment for they persisted I rejecting (God).

So, the above verses are very simple and clear. They leave no room for any kind of teaching about intercession by mortals.

Such verses are muhkamaat and they constitute the basis of the book (3:7). If we want to understand a quranic teaching then we must take those muhkamaat/clear and straight-forward verses as our basis.

Mutashabihaat/similar, on the other hand, can not constitute a basis for any correct teaching and can be understood only in the light of the muhkamaat.

To try to understand this let us view some verses/ayaats that MIGHT imply other idea than this.

2:255, "..who can intercedes in His presence except with His permission (ila bi idhnihi).."

10:3, "There is no intercessor except after His permission.."

19:87, "They do not possess intercession except who has an oath with the Merciful.."

20:109, "At that day intercession will be of no benefits except to whom the Merciful permits or be satisfied with his word"

21:28, "They intercede for none save those whom He accepts."

53:26, "How many of malak are in the heavens, yet their intercession shall avail nothing until God gives leave to whom He accepts and choose.."

In all the verses, ayaats we do not see that God says clearly that some people other than Him possess the right for SH FA &A.

What we clearly see is that this is exclusively done after HIS PERMISSION, when HE IS SATISFIED.

There is a system set by the Mighty and no one can violate it. Check this;

34:20, "And on them did Iblis prove true his idea and they followed him, all but a party that believed."

34:21, "But he had no authority over them,-except that We make it clear (distinguish) who believes in the hereafter from him who is in doubt concerning it and YOUR LORD DOES WATCH OVER ALL THINGS."

He has set a system and He does watch over all things.

The possibility to go astray is within ourselves. It does not happen at once or without any reasons that we go astray. In God's system our choice comes first then the sheytan is always here if the choice includes some wishes and earthly desires. He has no authority over us as God informs us but it is we who accepted his call (14:22)

Why is this important to the issue of SH FA &A?

Because the message of God is a compact teaching and all its aspects are all linked together as we will GW see in this research.

41:30, "Those who say: "Our Lord is God" and then stand straight and steadfast, the malaika descend on them "fear you not! Nor grieve! But receive the glad tidings of the garden of bliss which you were promised!"

41:31, "We are your protectors in this life and in the hereafter therein you shall have all that you shall desire; therein you shall have all you ask for."

So, within this system and in this particular function, malaika stand opposite to sheytan. Sheytans are sent to disbelievers to incite them with fury (19:83) and malaika are sent to believers to support them.

Both of the actions are done according to Absolute justice. Each according to his merits.

So, again few verses/ayaats about SH AF &A.

Lets us start with sura 34 where we have quoted verses/ayaats 20, 21.

34:22, "Say: "call upon those whom you fancy besides God: they have no power,- not a weight of an atom,- in the heavens or on the earth no share have they therein, nor is any of them a helper to God."

34:23, "No intercession can avail with Him, except for whom He has granted permission. When fear is banished from their hearts, they shall ask "what has your Lord ordained?" the truth" They shall answer, "He is the most High the Supreme One."

36:23, "Shall I take other gods besides Him? If the Most Gracious should intend some adversity for me, of no use whatever will be their intercession for me, nor can they deliver me"

43:86, "And those whom they invoke besides God have no power of intercession:- only he who bears witness to the Truth and knows it."

The righteous people, those who fear only God and serve only God will be among the preachers and the witnesses, and the truthful (4:69, 39:69, 57:19)

Does God need witnesses? NO, indeed.

But it is a question of honor. Those who will be taken of us as witnesses (3:140) will be accepted as so according to their deeds and attitude towards the given life. Their being witnesses does not mean that they can bring decisions or change decisions.

When the Absolute Just brings our accounts, He needs no witnesses. Being witness is only a high and great honor to the witnesses and they are aware of this fact.

Let us try to understand this through some quranic verses/ayaats. Look at this one:

20:109, "On that day shall no intercession avail except for those to whom the Most Gracious gives permission and whose word is acceptable to Him."

34:23, " No intercession can avail with Him, except for those for whom He has granted permission. So far (this is the case)that when terror is removed from their hearts they ask "What is it that your Lord commanded? They will say: " The Truth (which is true and just); He is the Most High Most Great'".

So, Truth is the final judge and no single believer should accept or understand otherwise.

Generally, looking at all those verses/ayaats that IMPLY a kind of intercession we see that the main two words used after EXCEPT are:

1. Permission from the Mighty (IDHN) 2. The Mighty to be satisfied with him (RA DIYA LAHU QAWLAN, IRTADA, .. ETC)

For each I will GW provide one simple and clear example from the Quran to give more insight into the issue;

Permission:

3:49, "And a messenger to bani Israeal "I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, in that I make for you out of clay, as it were. The figure of a bird and breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God's leave (BI IDHNIL LAHI) and I heal the blind an the lepers, and I bring the dead into life by God's leave (BI IDHNIL LAHI) .."

So, Isa did all the above BY GOD'S LEAVE ( BI IDHNIL LAHI).

To illustrate this we will GW ask the question:

Did Isa POSSESS the POWER to do all the above?

That is, did that power originate from him? Did he ever think that way?

Isa believed and knew that it was God who allowed him to do so. He could not do any of the above without God's leave.

For the other expressions used in the verses under discussion (IRTADHA, YARTADHI, RADHIYA) we have one simple example:

89:27, "O serene soul" 89:28 "Return back to your Lord well pleased (thyself) and well pleasing unto Him (radhiyatan mardhiya).

So, to be pleasing unto God requires to get back to Him with a serene soul.

>From all the above we can see that there is no-one who POSSESSES the POWER to intercede for others EXCEPT the One and Mighty. If He allowed any one to do so then this will be a matter of honor to the same and according to complete just. If we can imagine that messengers and truthful and witnesses will inter together by God's leave the jannah, then we have to understand that they have been put together in one group by God's knowledge and leave. It is not that Muhamed, for instance, would call someone who is heading to hell fire to join him and the righteous to the Jannah.

39:19, "Is, then, one against whom the decree of punishment is justly due (equal to one who eschews evil)? Wouldst thou, then deliver one who is in fire?

Of-course no.

So, to say few words at the end of this humble analysis.

It is God and only God who decides who will end up in hell fire and who will be sent to jannah. One of verses that speak about the permission for intercession (2:255) begins with;

"God there is no God but Him. The Living, and the Eternal One. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs what is in the heavens and the earth."

These are some of the attributes of the Absolute Just. He is ALWAYS, EVERYWHERE. This emphasis at the beginning of the verse is to clarify the issue of intercession with His permission that is mentioned after that. It is done according to His absolute Knowledge and Justice and for the one permitted it is only an act of honor to them.

God says:

28:56, "You can not guide whomever you please: it is God who guides whom He will, and He best knows those who yield to guidance"

Let us try to understand this in the light of live experience. A righteous man with his attitude and views towards this life attracts another man to his way of life. The other one starts to ask and the righteous one answers wisely. At the end the other man accepts the righteous man's views towards life and becomes a believer in God and gets the benefits of his life.

The righteous man understands very well that he has nothing to do with guiding that man. It is God who guided him and the righteous man has only been honored because of his attitude and conduct in life, that is, his believing in God and trusting Him. God could have guided that man with a falling leaf or a sound of a bird or any other thing.

If the righteous man, at any time thought that he was the one who guided the other man then he simply misses the whole issue and does not understand God's Power adn would not have been righteous.

So, it is only a matter of honor. The right understanding would be to thank God for this honor deep in his heart and to continue to live righteous life.

God's party wins with or without any of us. God invites us to join His party and that is a great honor to those who join this winning party.

But to be a member of this winning party we have to fulfill certain conditions and to follow certain commitments(58:22).

So, intercession is just an act of honor. It changes nothing in terms of people's fate and destination.

The absolute decision is the hands of the Mighty.

Peace MH