Ruling on Denying the Intercession of Prophet ﷺ

Source​

Taken from: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr Amunpuri

Question​

What is the ruling regarding the one who denies the intercession (Shafāʿah) of the Noble Prophet ﷺ?

Answer​

It is the consensual and unanimously agreed belief of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah that intercession (Shafāʿah) is true and established. The Noble Qur’an affirms various forms of intercession, and mutawātir (mass-transmitted) aḥādīth have been narrated regarding it.

The Khawārij, Muʿtazilah, Murjiʾah, and Shīʿah deny intercession on the Day of Resurrection. The Khawārij claim that the one who commits major sins will remain eternally in Hell and will not be rescued through intercession.

It should be remembered that whoever denies intercession is misguided and unjust, and is a severe opponent of the Sharʿī texts and the consensus of the Ummah.

Our Noble Prophet ﷺ is the first intercessor (Awwal Shāfiʿ) and the first whose intercession will be accepted (Awwal Mushaffaʿ). Several types of intercession will be granted to him ﷺ, among them:

Shafāʿah al-Kubrā (The Greatest Intercession)​

This is the Praised Station (al-Maqām al-Maḥmūd) which Allah Almighty has promised to him ﷺ. When people will be resurrected from their graves and the plain of Resurrection will be established, they will become extremely anxious for reckoning. In that state of severity, people will go to the prophets seeking intercession, but each will excuse himself, until finally they will come to Muḥammad Muṣṭafā ﷺ.

He ﷺ will fall into prostration before Allah Almighty and will praise and glorify Him. Then he will be granted permission to intercede. Through his intercession, people will be relieved from grief, distress, hardship, and suffering. This intercession is exclusive to the Noble Prophet ﷺ.

Statements of the Scholars​

❀ Imām Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī رحمه الله (d. 324 AH) said:

“There is consensus among the scholars that the intercession of the Noble Prophet ﷺ is for the major sinners of his Ummah. There is also consensus that the Prophet ﷺ will bring out a group from Hell who will have turned into charcoal, and they will be placed into the River of Life, where they will grow just as seeds grow along the banks of a flood.”

Reference: Risālah ilā Ahl al-Thaghr: p. 97

❀ Imām Abū Bakr Muḥammad bin al-Ḥusayn al-Ājurrī رحمه الله (d. 360 AH) wrote:

“Clarification of the obligation of believing in intercession: May Allah have mercy upon you! Know that the denier of intercession believes that whoever enters Hell once can never exit it. This is the doctrine of the Muʿtazilah, who deny intercession and many other fundamental matters whose roots are found in the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the way of the Companions رضي الله عنهم, the Tābiʿīn, and the statements of the jurists.

The Muʿtazilah oppose all of this and do not pay attention to the Sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ nor the Sunnah of the Companions, but instead confront them with ambiguous verses and their own intellects. This is not the way of the Muslims; rather, it is the practice of those who have become estranged from the truth and have turned into playthings of Shayṭān. Allah Almighty, the Noble Prophet ﷺ, and the early and later Imāms have all warned us against such people.**”

Reference: Kitāb al-Sharīʿah: 3/1198

❀ Imām Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī (d. 264 AH) and Imām Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī رحمهما الله (d. 277 AH) described the unanimously agreed creed of Ahl al-Sunnah as follows:

أدركنا العلماء فى جميع الأمصار حجازا وعراقا والشام واليمن فكان من مذهبهم والشفاعة حق.

“We encountered the scholars of all regions—Ḥijāz, Iraq, Shām, and Yemen—and their doctrine was that intercession is true.”

Reference: Uṣūl Madhhab Ahl al-Sunnah

Mutawātir Nature of the Aḥādīth on Intercession​

Mutawātir aḥādīth regarding intercession have been transmitted. Refer to:

Reference: Qaṭf al-Azhār al-Mutanāthirah fī al-Aḥādīth al-Mutawātirah by al-Suyūṭī: p. 313

Reference: Laqṭ al-Laʾālī al-Mutanāthirah by al-Zabīdī: pp. 75–78

Reference: Naẓm al-Mutanāthir by al-Kattānī: p. 223

❀ Imām Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim رحمه الله (d. 287 AH) wrote:

الأخبار التى روينا عن نبينا صلى الله عليه وسلم فيما فضله الله به من الشفاعة وتشفيعه إياه فيما يشفع فيه أخبار ثابتة موجبة بعلم حقيقة ما حوت... والصاد عن الأخبار الموجبة للعلم المتواترة كافر.

“The reports we have narrated from our Prophet ﷺ regarding the virtue Allah has granted him of intercession, and regarding his being granted intercession in what he intercedes for, are established reports that yield certain knowledge. Whoever rejects reports that are mutawātir and yield certain knowledge is a disbeliever.”

Reference: Kitāb al-Sunnah: 2/385

Conclusion​

It is firmly established that the one who denies the intercession of the Noble Prophet ﷺ is a disbeliever, because such a person denies the Qur’an, mutawātir aḥādīth, and the consensus of the Ummah.