Intercession of prophet Muhammed (sallahu alaihi wassalam)

From past few years the muslim people testifying Islamic monotheism(Tauheed) have started raising doubts about the Shafat-E-Mustfa skeptic people clearly deny the ability of prophet Mohammed's (sallahu alaihi wassalam) to do the shafat of his community. Intercession through prophet Mohammed's (sallahu alaihi wassalam) is the firm belief of Ahle sunnat wal jammat from past 1400 years that is from the time of prophet Mohammed's (sallahu alaihi wassalam) until most recently in the past couple of century when Abdul Ibn Wahab arrived and started spreading the disbelief. The permissibility of intercession is proved through various hadees and quranic verses still its not enough for the disbelievers .They reply those hadees on intercession with the quranic verses in which Allah forbids people to ask from idols. Below are the various proofs of intercession and is a challenge to skeptics to prove it wrong.

Proofs from Quran

There are several verses in the Holy Quran that establish the legality of seeking medium (waseelah) to gain divine proximity. These verses clearly reject the belief of the skeptics who reject all waseelah and term Tawassul as Shirk

1) In Surah Maaedah (5): 35, Allah orders:

يَأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللَّهَ وَ ابْتَغُواْ إِلَيْهِ الْوَسِيلَةَ وَ جَاهِدُواْ فىِ سَبِيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُون
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‘O you who believe! Be careful (of your duty to) Allah and seek means of nearness to Him and strive hard in His way that you may be successful.’

According to this verse every believer is duty bound to seek a medium for attaining proximity to Allah without which achieving the station is impossible. It is notable that the tone and tenor is that of a command and not a recommendation.

Who are the media that the believers should seek to gain divine proximity? As we will see they are none other than the divinely ordained entities. Seeking divine proximity and pleasure through these entities is not Shirk; else the blame for Shirk would lie with Allah.

2) In Surah Nisa (4): 64, Allah declares:

وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا

…and had they, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked forgiveness of Allah and the Apostle had (also) asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Oft-returning (to mercy), Merciful.

There is more than one point in this verse that needs highlighting:

i.            Seeking forgiveness from Allah alone is not sufficient; forgiveness of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) is a necessary prerequisite. Those who claim that one should approach only Allah and seek all demands from Him alone and not from the creatures have erred in their Tauheed. Seeking help and forgiveness from divinely designated personalities is not against Tauheed. On the contrary as underscored in Surah Nisa (4): 64, it is an inherent condition of Tauheed and if one does not approach these divine personalities along with Allah he has violated the fundamental canons of Tauheed and is liable for censure and condemnation.

ii.            The verse in Surah Nisa mentions ‘coming to you’ i.e. Prophet (s.a.w.a.). This implies that Muslims must beseech the Prophet (s.a.w.a.) for forgiveness of their sins. And this is an order for Muslims of all times, not just Muslims in the Prophet’s (s.a.w.a.) era. If the verse was restricted for Muslims in the Prophet’s (s.a.w.a.) era and even then those who were in direct contact with him, only a few Muslims would have benefited from this Quranic injunction and got their sins forgiven; the rest would have been destined for Hellfire only by virtue of being unable to ‘come to the Prophet (s.a.w.a.)’.

iii.            An equally notable point is that the verse mentions ‘coming to you’ i.e. Prophet (s.a.w.a.) is in the beginning after which the sinner must seek forgiveness from Allah. Approaching the Prophet (s.a.w.a.) is a prerequisite not just for seeking forgiveness from the Prophet (s.a.w.a.), it is a prerequisite for seeking forgiveness from Allah Himself. Those who say that a dead Prophet (s.a.w.a.) is of no use (Allah forbid) have no way to seek forgiveness from Allah as the Prophet (s.a.w.a.) is the channel through whom the Muslims have been ordered to seek forgiveness.

iv.            Clearly, the command to ‘come to the Prophet (s.a.w.a.)’ is like any other command of such a nature. For instance, the 59th verse of Surah Nisa (4) commands the believers:O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those in authority from among you; then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to Allah and the Apostle…

The Quranic injunction to obey the Prophet (s.a.w.a.) and refer him (s.a.w.a.) in disputes is not restricted to his lifetime and is a command for believers across eras and none can raise an objection that obeying and referring to a ‘dead’ prophet is not possible or that it is tantamount to Shirk. Likewise ‘coming to the Prophet’ for seeking forgiveness of sins is a command applicable to Muslims of all eras and it does not lead to Shirk.

3) In Surah Yusuf (12): Verse 97-98:
The sons of Hazrat Yaqoob (a.s.) on regretting their evil deeds approached him and requested him to seek forgiveness from Allah. Allah recounts the incident thus in Surah Yusuf (12): Verse 97

قَالُوا يَا أَبَانَا اسْتَغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا خَاطِئِينَ

‘They said: O our father! Ask forgiveness of our faults for us, surely we were sinners.

Hazrat Yaqoob (a.s.) accepted their request (Surah Yusuf (12): Verse 98)

قَالَ سَوْفَ أَسْتَغْفِرُ لَكُمْ رَبِّي إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

He said: I will ask for forgiveness from my Lord, surely He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.’

Hazrat Yaqoob’s (a.s.) sons could have sought forgiveness of Allah on their own without any intervention but chose to approach their father because of his stature. This is another example of the people of a nation approaching their prophet for forgiveness of sins.

4) In Surah Baqarah (2): Verse 37:

فَتَلَقَّى آدَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ

Then Adam received (some) words from his Lord, so He turned to him mercifully; surely He is Oft-returning (to mercy), the Merciful.

What are the words that Adam (a.s.) received from his Lord through the medium of which he was granted forgiveness? Why were these words necessary? Being a prophet, was it not possible for him to get forgiven without the mediation of the words? Does seeking divine proximity and forgiveness through the words amount to Shirk more so for a prophet who knows the definition of Shirk better than us?

The answer to these questions can be found in the first verse of the article (Surah Maaedah (5): Verse 35). Anyone who takes a waseelah ordained by Allah is not guilty of Shirk. Rather he is eligible for a great reward. Shirk is when you take a medium that/who is not divinely ordained.

Under the exegesis of this verse Jalaal al-Deen Abd al-Rahman Ibn Abu Bakr al-Suyuti in al-Durr al-Manthoor has recorded two traditions that are particularly noteworthy.

i) The very first tradition that Suyuti has recorded under this verse (vol 1 pg 58) is on the authority of Umar b. Khattaab, who narrates from the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.):

After Adam had sinned he raised his head towards the sky and said: (O Allah), I beseech You that you forgive me for the sake of Muhammad (s.a.w.a.).

Allah: Who is Muhammad?

Adam: When you created me I raised my head towards Your Arsh and saw written – There is no God save Allah and Muhammad is Messenger of Allah. I understood that there was none greater in esteem than Muhammad so much so that you ascribed his name alongside Your Name.

Allah revealed to Adam: O Adam he is the last Prophet from your progeny. Had it not been for him I would not have created you.

This tradition is also recorded by Al-Tabaraani in Al-Mo’jam al-Sagheer, Haakem Neshapuri, Abu Noaim Isfahani, Al-Baihaqi and Ibne Asaakir.

ii) ‘….O Allah I ask you for the sake of Muhammad, Your Servant and his noble position near You that you forgive my sin….Armies of angels greeted Adam (on being forgiven) and said – Greetings to you on Allah’s Forgiveness O Father of Muhammad!.’

5) In Surah Baqarah (2): Verse 89 Allah declares regarding the Jews

And when there came to them a Book from Allah verifying that which they have, and aforetime they used to pray for victory against those who disbelieve, but when there came to them (Prophet) that which they did not recognize, they disbelieved in him; so Allah’s curse is on the unbelievers.

This verse refers to the Jews of Hijaz. Before the Holy Prophet’s (s.a.w.a.) advent, the Jews faced persecution from the infidels of Mecca. The Jews were followers of divine prophets (a.s.) and the infidels were idolaters. The ideological differences heightened the tension between the two groups and affected the Jews in particular as they were heavily outnumbered. To counter the aggression of the infidels, the Jews took the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.), whose advent they were eagerly awaiting, as a waseelah and prayed to Allah to grant them victory against their enemies in battle.

These Quranic verses are some irrefutable belief of intercession but still the disbeliever raise doubts about it but the person with true faith will obviously understand the true intercession and will use it for proximity  to the almighty Allah.Tawassul is in no sense shirk to any great imams since the time of Prophet(SAW) but this corrupt sects have just born and started telling tawassul as shirk and when asked which imam has given a fatwa on intercession through Prophet (SAW) as shirk even searching the whole Islamic books they don’t get a single line in which it is written that seeking intercession through Prophet (SAW) is shirk. Alhamdulillah ulema Ahle sunnat wal jammat are striving hard to protect the true faith and Insha Allah no sect can destroy true faith. Many sects came and gone but Ahle sunnat wal jammat are just too firm in their belief and has protected the true aqeeda of islam for the past 1400 year without even a single change in faith.

May Allah guide us all to follow the straight path.Ameen