Intercession

Although it's a Friday, a time when I usually have a random ramble and moan about feeling tired, today I'm going to steer clear of that. Instead, I want to discuss an important topic for Shias and Muslims in general. The subject of intercession is often brought up by Sunnis and more importantly Wahhabis as a tool to attack Shias, claiming that we engage in shirk - the act of associating others with God.

For Shias, intercession involves reading duas and invoking the help of the Prophet and the Holy Imams to act on our behalf and seek forgiveness and blessings from God. Wahabbis claim that this is shirk and we should only go straight to God, we don't need anyone else. (As I will mention later, this can have practical complications!) It was discussed earlier this year on the otherwise excellent documentary The Quran, on Channel 4. Shias have rightly criticised the portrayal and description of Shia Muslims in the documentary. The narrator states:

"The God the Sunni worship may not be described in human language, nor represented in any art form, for that would be blasphemous. Yet sometimes the human heart yearns for more. For a faith you can touch and feel, for drama, for music, for ceremony, for great stories of sacrifice, pain, martyrdom and salvation and for someone to pray to who has human form Shia Islam answers these needs ... But the Qur'an makes it so clear that your prayer should only be directed to God."

And then when the programme goes on to describe Shia faith and mentions intercession, the narrator asks:

"But do these specific beliefs have any substance in the Qur'an? The answer is no."

The programme also interviews one Shia Ayatullah and totally misrepresents his views, as he has recently stated in The Independent. With all the criticism Channel 4 received, they held a Right to Reply programme to discuss peoples concerns and the director, Anthony Thomas, remained unmoved, refusing to apologise for the blatant mistakes and misrepresentation of Shias. As it stands, I believe OFCOM are dealing with complaints made about the programme and have yet to make a decision.

This is just a small example of the Shia-bashing that exists across the world and intercession seems to be a favourite topic to criticise. Instead of joining the band-wagon, if Muslims (Sunni, Wahabbi etc) actually took time to read the Quran, they would find numerous verses not only permitting intercession, but also recommending it:

• "Who is he that can intercede with Him but by His permission?" (Surah 2, Verse 255)
• "None shall have the power of intercession, but such a one as has received permission (or promise) from (Allah) Most Gracious." (Surah 19, Verse 87)
• "On that Day shall no intercession avail except for those for whom permission has been granted by (Allah) Most Gracious and whose word is acceptable to Him." (Surah 20, Verse 109)
• "There is no intercessor (with Him) save after His permission." (Surah 10, Verse 3)

Who do you think God is referring to when he say "except for who permission has been granted?" It can only be the Holy Prophet and for us Shias, we believe the Holy Imams as well. Now people will argue that there other verses which appear to condone intercession, but again, that's being lazy as the interpretation of those verses are wrong.

• "And guard yourselves against a day when no soul will in aught avail another, nor will intercession be accepted from it" (Surah 2, Verse 48)
• "We have provided for you, before the Day comes when no bargaining (Will avail), nor friendship nor intercession. Those who reject Faith they are the wrong-doers." Surah 2, Verse 254)
• "And warn with it those who fear that they shall be gathered to their Lord-- there is no guardian for them, nor any intercessor besides Him" (Surah 6, Verse 51)

Taken at face value, one could argue that these verses forbid intercession, but firstly that would a contradiction of the verses that permit intercession which is not possible and secondly, the correct interpretation of these verses clearly refers to those who reject God and his Holy Prophet. In those instances, even intercession is useless, they will not be saved.

Being facetious for a moment (it is Friday morning after all), if we take the arguments of Wahabbis literally - we should only go to God directly - why then, does that apply to prayer only? Shouldn't it be part of everyday life? They should be consistent. Therefore, they shouldn't use a car - ask God to transport them directly, if they need to move furniture, they shouldn't ask anyone to help them, ask God to move it for them directly, if they are seeking a promotion at work, don't ask a colleague to put in a good word - no that's shirk - ask God directly. Now I know I'm bordering on ridiculous, but if they can keep saying "shirk, shirk, shirk," I want to tell them not to get help for anything, ask God directly.

It's convenient how they only pick on one thing, and only because of the importance it gives to the Ahlul-Bayt, whom they will try to put down at every opportunity. For those who have been fortunate to have gone on Hajj or Umra, what happens when you try and visit the graves of Bibi Fatima (a.s.) and Imam Hasan (a.s.) in Madina? Wahabbi Saudis come to try and stop any duas or prayers for them and prevent anyone from getting anywhere near the graves. What a travesty - the Ahlul-Bayt for all of mankind, not just Shias, has been disregarded and marginalised by the Saudis and there's nothing we can do about it.

Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?