Intercession in legislation...
Intercession in legislation: Intercession, as analyzed earlier, is
effective in this sphere too. It is in this context that Allah says:
`On that day shall no intercession avail except of him whom the
Beneficent God allows and whose word He is pleased with' (20: 109);
And intercession will not avail aught with Him save of him whom He
permits' (34: 23); And how many an angel is there in the Heavens
whose intercession does not avail at all except after Allah has given
permission to whom He pleases and chooses' (53: 26); ...and they do
not intercede except for him whom He approves...' (21: 28); And those
whom they call upon besides Him have no authority for intercession,
but he who bears witness of the truth- and they know (him)' (43: 86). These verses clearly affirm intercessory role for various servants of
Allah-both men and angels- with divine permission and pleasure. It
means that Allah has given them some power and authority in this
matter, and to Him belongs all the kingdom and all the affairs. Those
intercessors may appeal to Allah's mercy, forgiveness and other
relevant attributes to cover and protect a servant who otherwise would
have deserved punishment because of his sins and transgressions. That intercession would transfer his case from the general law of
recompense to the special domain of grace and mercy. (It has already
been explained that the effect of intercession is based on shifting a
case from the formers to the latter's jurisdiction; it is not a confrontation
between one law and the other.) Allah clearly says; so these are they
of whom Allah changes the evil deeds to good ones' (25: 70). Allah
has the power to change one type of deed into another, in the same
way as He may render an act null and void. He says: And We will
proceed to what they have done of deeds, so We shall render them as
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scattered floating dust' (25: 23); so He rendered their deeds null' (47:
9); `If you avoid the great sins which you are forbidden, We will expiate
from you your (small) sins' (4: 31); `Surely Allah does not forgive that
anything should be associated with Him, and forgives what is besides
that to whomsoever He pleases' (4: 48). The last verse quoted, is certainly about the cases other than true
belief and repentance; because with belief and repentance even
polytheism is forgiven, like any other sin.
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