Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Shafa’at, Intercession Intercession In The Light Of Holy Qur’an The word intercession has come in Holy Qur’an thirty times which itself shows the importance of the subject. Some verses refute and some recommend it so, by going through only one category will not suffice the discussion. We have seen that because of the above mentioned reason, people have not been able to grasp the right concept. As some verses explain the others.
As the Holy Prophet (S) says: اِنَّ الْقُرْآنَ يَصْدُقُ بَعْضُه بَعْضًا. “Surely, some verse of Holy Qur’an attests the other.” [^1] Ameerul Momenin, ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) said: وَ يَنْطُقُ بَعْضُه بَعْضٍ وَ يُشْهِدُ عَلى بَعْضِه “Some verse of Holy Qur’an speaks with the help of other verses and some testifies the other.” [^2] In Holy Qur’an there are seven different types of verses regarding intercession and its explanation.
First Category Of Verses Of Intercession The verse which totally refute the intercession: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ أَنفِقُواْ مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَ يَوْمٌ لاَّ بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلاَ خُلَّةٌ وَلاَ شَفَاعَةٌ وَالْكَافِرُونَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ. “O you who believe!
spend out of what We have given you before the day comes in which there is no bargaining, neither any friendship nor intercession, and the unbelievers — they are the unjust.” (Surah Baqarah, 2:254.) (1) The sentence وَ لاَ شَفَاعَةٌ is the proof against those who completely refuse the intercession which will be explained thus: It is not right to base your opinion because since in other verses of Qur’an the proof of intercession is found. E.g.
Ayatul Kursi ...مَن ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِهِ... “…who is he that can intercede with Him but by His permission?...” (Surah Baqarah, 2: 255.) (2) It is not the negation of intercession but the false intercession. For e.g. وَلاَ خُلَّةٌ (neither friendship nor relation will count). It is the friendship of the believers but not for the disbelievers.
It is evident from the other verses that only friendship of the believers will be useful on the day of judgement and not with the unbelievers. For e.g. اَلْاَخِلاَّءُ يَوْمَئِذٍ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْصٍ عَدُوٌ اِلاَّ الْمُتَّقِيْنَ ... “The friends shall on that day be enemies one to another, except those who guard (against evil).” (Surah Zukhruf, 43 :67) (3) The word انفق ‘those who pay zakat’ and it is so important that those who deny this payment are termed as unbelievers.