Conclusion From the three stated preliminaries...

Conclusion From the three stated preliminaries, we reach the conclusion that the main purport of these Qur’anic verses is prohibition from calling upon the groups of idolaters who regard the idols as partners of God or having the power of intercession, and from any gesture of humility, meekness, or lamentation, seeking assistance, pleading, and request for intercession, or seeking help for the fulfillment of need with the belief that they are gods who have been commissioned to do divine acts and to do some acts related to this world and the hereafter.

What relationship do these verses have with imploring a pure soul which, according to the supplicator has not gone a speck beyond the limit of servitude, but a beloved and honorable servant of God?! When the Qur’an says: "وأن المسجد لله فلا تدعوا مع الله أحداً." “The places of worship belong to Allah, so do not invoke anyone along with Allah,” [^7] it refers to the way the Arabs before Islam called upon the idols, celestial bodies, angels, and jinn s that they worshipped.

This verse and other related verses are pertaining to calling upon a person or thing deemed as an object of worship. No doubt, requesting from these beings in such a belief is tantamount to worshipping them. But what do these verses have to do with the idea of asking a person to pray for you without considering that person as god, lord or capable of governing world, but treats him instead as a worthy servant whom God loves?

Some may imagine that one can call on outstanding godly figures only when they are alive and it is an act of polytheism to do so after their demise. In reply, we say: First: It is from the pure souls of such good servants (of God) as the Prophet and the Imams ( ‘a ) who are, as described by the Qur’anic verses, alive and leading their purgatorial { barzakhi } life, that we seek aid and not from their dead bodies in the ground.

And our presence in the vicinity of their shrines contributes to strengthening our communion with and attention to their sacred souls. According to hadith s, in these sites supplications are granted. Second: Their being alive or dead cannot be a criterion for distinguishing monotheism from polytheism. It is worth noticing that our discussion is about the criteria of polytheism and monotheism, and not about the importance or unimportance of these supplications.

Of course, this issue (that is, the importance or unimportance of this kind of implorations) has been treated elsewhere.