Intercession by the
Prophet is one of the events concerning the Day of Requital about which
explicit information has been given in the Traditions and to believe
in which is an essential religious duty of the Muslims. The number of
Traditions relating to it is very large, and, taking them together,
the authorities have concluded that the Prophet will intercede again
and again and in various ways. First, when all men marshaled before
the Lord for Final Reckoning will be striken dumb with fear and astonishment
and even the Divine Apostles – from Adam to Jesus – will
have enough concern of their own to make them indifferent to others,
the sacred Prophet will, step forward with fullest faith in the Mercifulness
of God and entreat Him humbly that the state of anxious uncertainty
and expectation be ended, the Reckoning done and the Judgement pronounced.
It will be the first act of intercession before the Lord and the sacred
Prophet will do it. It is then that the Final Requital will begin. This
intercession, as we have seen, will be for the whole of mankind, and,
hence, it is also called the Great Intercession. After it, the Prophet
will plead on behalf of the sinners among his own followers who will
have been condemned to Hell due to their wicked actions. This intercession
will, also, be granted and a large number of his transgressing followers
will, in this way, be taken out of Hell. The Prophet will, further,
pray for some devout and virtuous Believers that they may be admitted
to Heaven without their deeds being brought to account. Similarly, he
will beseech God for elevation in the ranks of many of his followers.
All these types and events of intercession have been described in the
Traditions.
It, also, appears from the Traditions that once the door of intercession
has been opened through the Prophet, other Apostles, Angels and earnest
bondmen of the Lord, too, will plead on behalf of the Believers in whom
they will be interested, and even the children of believing men and
women who had died in infancy will interpose with God for their parents
which will also be granted and the salvation of a good many people will
take place in that way.
But all the intercessions will come to pass only by the grace of the
Lord and by His permission, and no Prophet or Angel can venture to take
even a single man out of Hell or intercede on his behalf without His
leave. The Quran says: Who is he that intercedeth with Him save by His
leave? [ii : 255], and , also: And they cannot intercede except for
him whom He accepteth. [xxi : 28].
As some theologians have wisely observed, intercession will only be
for making evident the glory of and the Divine fondness for those who
will intercede and with a view to exalt them, otherwise no one can interfere
with the Functions and Judgement of the Almighty.
(101) It is related by Anas that the Apostle of God said: “When
the Last Day will be set up [and all the former and the latter ones
will be gathered together on the field of concourse], there will be
great anxiety among the people. Thus, they [i.e., some of their representatives]
will approach Prophet Adam to intercede on their behalf, and Adam will
reply, ‘I am not worthy of it. You should better go to Prophet
Abraham; he is the Friend of Allah [and may be able to help you]j.’
They will, accordingly, approach Abraham and make the request of intercession
to him. He, too, will reply, ‘I am not worthy of it. You should
better go to Prophet Moses; he is the Speaker with Allah [and may be
of help to you].’ They will, accordingly, approach Moses and made
the request to him. But he, again, will reply, ‘I am not worthy
of it. You should better go to Prophet Jesus; and he is the Spirit of
Allah [and may be able to help you].’ They will, accordingly,
approach Jesus [and place the same request before him]. But he will
also say, ‘I am not worthy of it. You should better go to [the
last of the Divine Apostles] Muhammad.’ They will, thereupon,
come to me and ask me to intercede. I will say, ‘This is my job.’
‘I will, then, seek an audience with the All-merciful which will
be conceded. The Lord will communicate to me the superhuman knowledge
of some of His Praises [which are not known to me at present]. I shall
glorify Him through those Praises and bow low, touching the ground with
the forehead in reverence. [According to a report in Musnad-i-Ahmad,
the Prophet will remain in that posture for a week after which] it will
be said to him, ‘O Muhammad ! Raise your head and say what you
want. Your prayer will be heard. Ask for anything you like. It will
be granted. Make whatever intercession you wish to make and it will
be allowed.’ I shall say, ‘My followers ! My followers !’
[Meaning mercy may be shown to them today and they may be forgiven].
I will be told to go and take them out [of Hell] in whose hearts there
is Faith even of the weight of a mustard-seed. I shall go and do so.
Afterwards, I shall return to the benevolent presence of the Lord, and,
again, sing His Praises through the hymns inspired to me and fall in
prostration before Him. It will, once more, be said to me, ‘O
Muhammad ! Raise your head and say what you want. Your prayer will be
heard. Ask for anything you like and it will be granted. Make whatever
intercession you wish to make and it will be allowed.’ I shall
say, My followers, My followers.’ I will be told to go and take
them out [of Hell] in whose hearts there is Faith even of the weight
of a dust-particle. I shall go and do so. Afterwards, I shall return
to the benevolent presence of the Lord, and, again, sing His Praises
through the hymns inspired to me and fall in prostration before Him.
It will, once more, be said to me, ‘O Muhammad ! Raise your head
and say what you want. Ask for anything you like and it will be granted.
Make whatever intercession you wish to make and it will be allowed.’
I shall say, ‘My followers ! My followers !’ I will, thereupon,
be told to go and take them out [of Hell] in whose hearts there is Faith
even of a lesser weight than a dust-particle. I shall go and do it.
After it, I shall return, for the fourth time, to the benevolent presence
of the Lord and sing His Praises through the hymns inspired to me and
fall in prostration before Him. It will be said to me, ‘O Muhammad
! Raise your head and say what you want. Your prayer will be heard.
Ask for anything you like and it will be granted. Make any intercession
you wish to make and it will be allowed.’ I will, then say, ‘O
Lord ! Allow me [to intercede] on behalf of all those who may have said
La-Ilaha-Il-lallah.’ God will, thereupon, remark, ‘It is
not your job. By My Power and Glory, and by My Majesty and Magnificence,
I shall take out of Hell all those who have said La-Ilaha-Il-lallah.’”
-Bukhari
and Muslim
Commentary.-A few points in the above Tradition require a clarification.
i) What is meant by the presence of Faith in the heart of the weight
of a mustard-seed or even less are degrees of the effulgence of Faith
which we do not perceive but which the Holy Prophet will, due to his
special discernment, see distinctly, and, by the command of God, take
out of Hell every one belonging to those grades.
ii) It says that after interceding on behalf of his followers thrice
the Holy Prophet will, for the fourth time, beseech God for permission
to plead for those who have said La-Ilaha-Il-lallah. Apparently, it
denotes men who accepted the prophet’s call of Divine Unity and
embraced Islam but did not, at all, observe the duties that were necessary
for gaining admission to Heaven. The Prophet will, thus, seek the permission
to take out of Hell bondmen who will be possessing Faith and believing
in Divine Oneness to any extent but utterly devoid of well-doing. Upon
it, he will be told by God that the duty of taking out of Hell those
unfortunate men had not been assigned to him or that it did not befit
the Prophet, but was worthy only of Divine Power and Majesty, and so
He will carry it out Himself. In our humble opinion, it signifies that
it was not proper for the Prophet to take out of Hell men who did not,
in any way, obey the commands of the Lord after they had accepted Islam.
Forgiveness on such a scale was suitable only for the All-merciful.
iii) God will inspire the seekers of intercession to go first to Adam,
and then, on his advice, to Noah, Abraham, Moses and Christ. It will
take place, on the Day of Judgement, at His behest so that it may be
made known to all men in a practical way that ‘function of intercession
and the place of choicest favour and worthiness’ had been reserved
for the Last of the Apostle.
(102) It is related
by Imran bin Hasin that the Apostle of God said: “A group of my
followers will be taken out of Hell, at my intercession, who will be
remembered by the name of the Dwellers of Hell.”
-Bukhari
Commentary.-It will not be insulting for these people to be called as
such but a source of joy for it will remind them of the Generosity and
Kindliness of the Lord.
(103) ‘Auf bin Maalik related to us, saying that the Apostle of
God said: “A messenger from my Lord brought a message, giving
me the right to choose between two things : either God allowed half
of my followers to enter Heaven or I was given the chance to intercede.
I preferred the right of intercession and my intercession shall be on
behalf of those who [after accepting Islam and acknowledging the Oneness
of God] died in such a state that they ascribed no partners to Him.”
-Tirmidhi
and Ibn-i-Maja
(104) It is related by Abu Hurairah that the Apostle of God said: “On
the Day of Recompense only those [bondmen] will profit by my intercession
who will have said la-Ilaha-Il-lallah with a sincere heart.”
-Bukhari
Commentary.-Both the above Traditions show that people who are guilty
of Polytheism will not be benefited by intercession. Those who are free
from it, but have committed other sins, will, of course obtain profit
from it.
(105) It is related by Anas that the Apostle of God said: “My
intercession will be on behalf of my followers who will have been guilty
of major sins.”
-Tirmidhi,
Abu Dawood and Ibn-i-Maja
Commentary.-It will be the height of meanness to derive the wrong kind
of encouragement from such sayings and become more fearless in evil-doing.
Their purpose, simply, is that the unfortunate ones who fall into error
do not lose hope and give way to despair. The Prophet will intercede
on their behalf. They should, on their part, make themselves deserving
of his intercession by trying earnestly to set right the bond of servility
to God and adherence to His Apostle.
(106) It is narrated by Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin-el-‘Aas that
the Apostle of God [one day] recited the Quranic verse concerning Abraham
: My Lord ! Lo ! they [the idols] have led many of mankind astray (xiv
: 36), and, also, the Quranic verse concerning Jesus : If Thou punish
them, lo, they are Thy slaves, and if Thou forgive them [lo, they are
Thy slaves]. (v : 18). After reciting the two verses, the Prophet remembered
his followers and raising his hands in prayer said: “ O my Lord
! My followers. My followers.” He, also, wept during the prayer.
God, thereupon, commanded Gabriel : “Go to Muhammad. Though everything
is known to your Lord, you go to him and ask on Our behalf what is the
cause of his crying.” Thus, Gabriel came to the Prophet and inquired.
The Prophet told Gabriel what he had said to God [i.e., the reason of
his weeping was the anxiety for his followers]. [When Gabriel reported
back to God] He made him, “Go to Muhammad and tell him, on Our
behalf, that We shall make him happy in spite of his followers, and
not make him dejected.”
-Muslim
Commentary.-the import of the above saying is that the Prophet recited
two verses of Quran, one from Sura-i-Ibrahim in which it is stated about
Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham) that he said to God about his followers that
“those among them who obeyed me are mine and I pray to Thee for
forgiveness for them, and those that disobeyed me – Thou art Forgiving,
Merciful, i.e., Thou can forgive them”, and the other from Sura-i-Maida
in which it is stated about Hazrat Isa (Jesus) that he will pray to
God for his erring and misguided followers that “if Thou punish
them, they are Thy slaves and Thou hast every right to punish them,
and if Thou forgive them, Thou art the Might [and can do anything] and
the Wise [i.e., whatever Thou doest will not be without wisdom].”
In both of these verses, two exalted Apostles of God have pleaded on
behalf of the wrongdoers among their followers with complete reverence
and humility.
On reciting the verses the sacred Prophet was reminded of his own followers
and he expressed his anxiety about them to God with hands raised in
prayer and tears flowing from his eyes. He was, thereupon, assured that
the matter of his followers will be settled to his satisfaction and
he will not have to be broken-hearted on their account.
Every Prophet or, rather, every leader has a special affection for his
followers in the same way as all of us possess a peculiar fondness for
our children. It is, therefore, his natural with that they obtained
deliverance from Divine Chastisement. Since the sacred Prophet was ahead
of all other Apostles in this particular kind of compassion and attachment
also, he was specially anxious about the salvation of his followers
and used to pray frequently that they were not thrown into Hell and
those of them whose sinfulness was such that they could not escape punishment
might be taken out of it after undergoing the Penalty of Fire for some
time.
From the Traditions belonging to the above category it is clear that
the Lord will fulfil the earnest desire of the Prophet and a large number
of Believers will be saved from the chastisement of Hell through his
intercession or taken out of the infernal place after being cast into
it.
(107) It is related by Osman bin ‘Affan that the Apostle of God
said: “On the Day of Judgement three types of men will [particularly]
intercede: the Apostles, the theologians and the martyrs.”
-Ibn-i-Maja
Commentary.-It does not mean that no one aside of the three groups mentioned
above will be able to plead on behalf of others on the Day of Requital
but that a special intercession will be made by them. Some other pious
and high-souled persons will also be permitted to intercede, and, as
we have indicated earlier, even children who had died in their infancy
will intercede on behalf o their parents and intercession by good actions
will also take place.
(108) It is related by Abu Sa’eed Khadri that the Apostle of God
said: “Among my followers there will be some who will intercede
on behalf of nations and communities [i.e., their station will be so
high that God will permit them to intercede on behalf of whole communities
and their intercession will be accepted], and some who will intercede
on behalf of groups of from ten to forty people, and some who will intercede
on behalf of one person [and God will accept the intercession of all
of them] till everyone shall enter Paradise.”
-Tirmidhi
(109) It is related by Anas that the Apostle of God said: “On
the Judgement Day the people of Hell will be marshaled in a row [i.e.,
some sinful men among Believers who will be deserving of chastisement
will stand in a row on some occasion on the Last Day]. A dweller of
Paradise will pass by them and one of the men standing in the row will
call him and say, ‘Do you not recognise me? I am the person who
once gave you water [or some other wholesome beverage] to drink’,
and another man standing in the same row will say, ‘I am the person
who had [once] given you water to perform the Wudu.’ Thus, the
dweller of Paradise will intercede with God on behalf of those people
and get them admitted to Heaven.”
-Ibn-i-Maja
Commentary.-It shows that the bond of affection with devout and virtuous
men in the present world is going to avail a great deal in the Hereafter
provided that one is blessed with Faith.