The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 130
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH which has misled many, arises from the misleading conception of the word "intercession" as ordinarily understood. Unprincipled men go about interceding for criminals with unprincipled judges, thus thwarting the very ends of justice. Islamic acle is far from this. It is not a mere intercession but is an adjunct of the principle of true belief and right actions. According to Islam only that person is entitled to a who is sincerely connected with the Prophet of the day, is true in faith and earnestly tries to live a righteous life according to the teachings of Islam. But, being weak, he sometimes stumbles. There is nothing inherently wrong with his connection with the Prophet, which is pure and true; only an occasional stumbling in practice makes him fall short of the prescribed standard. God entitles such a one to acles and that also by His special permission; and when the Knower of all things considers one to be deserving of forgiveness, who is there to object that the case is not deserving? The Islamic actes is, in fact, only another form of repentance. For what is (repentance) but reforming a broken connection or tightening up a loose one? But whereas the door of repentance is closed with death, the door of acl remains open. Moreover, acle is a means of the manifestation of God's mercy and God says i. e. "My mercy is stronger than My anger" (Bukhārī). Thus acl (intercession) is based on the manifestation of God's mercy; and as God is not judge but (Master), there is nothing to stop Him from ex- tending His mercy to whomsoever He pleases. 130 PT. 1 Yet another reason why ac has been allowed by Islam is that by this means God honours His Prophets. It is indeed a great honour that He should allow a person to intercede with Him. It has been objected by some Christian critics of Islam that the doctrine of act is likely to encourage people to commit sins. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The act as allowed by Islam should encourage people to strengthen their connection with the Prophet rather than weaken it. As sin is nothing but a product of weakness in the spiritual connection, acle and sin really stand poles apart and it is sheer ignorance to suggest that the doctrine of acle, whose very conception rests on the soundness of man's connection with God and His Prophet, encourages one to sin. On the contrary, it is the Christian doctrine of Atonement which throws open the floodgates of sin; for, unlike Islamic the doctrine of Atonement is based on the unnatural conception that one man can bear the sins of another. But of this, more will be explained later when we come to the relevant verses. شفاعة Now we come to the last question in this connection, i. e. who will be (intercessor) on the Day of Judgement? This question has given rise to much controversy and consequently much misunderstanding. Let it be said up front that Islam does not confine ace (intercession) to one person only; for, according to the Islamic conception of ace every holy person whose connection can materially influence the spiritual condition of a man is virtually a