Shafa'a (intercession: good and bad, in the hereafter, for prescribed penalties, and the gift it may bring)

In language, shafa'a is a person's asking for another's need and speaking for it. In the technical sense it is speaking on another's behalf so that he gains a worldly or otherworldly benefit, or is saved from a similar harm; or it is asking for pardon of sins from the one who was wronged; or it is praying to God for the one interceded for. The technical sense does not depart from the linguistic one. ¹

Intercession is good when it aims to remove a harm or lift a wrong from one who has been wronged, or to bring a benefit to one who is entitled to it without harming anyone. It is recommended and commanded, on the basis of the verse of the surah of the Table Spread (2) about helping one another in righteousness and piety. A Muslim's prayer for his brother in his absence falls under it. ^{1 2} It is bad when it seeks to drop a penalty after the case has reached the ruler, to deny a right, or to give something to one who is not entitled to it. It is forbidden, since it helps sin and aggression, and the intercessor takes a share of the sin, as the verse of the surah of the Women (85) says. The rule is that good intercession is what the law approves, and bad is what it dislikes and forbids. ²

The Sunni community agree that intercession will take place in the hereafter and that belief in it is obligatory. The verses of the surah of Ta-Ha (109) say that on that day intercession avails only one whom the Merciful permits, and of the surah of the Prophets (28) that they intercede only for one whom He approves. Reports of intercession for sinful believers are numerous enough to be mass-transmitted, and those permitted by God will intercede: prophets, angels and righteous believers. ² The scholars count five kinds in the hereafter. The first is specific to our Prophet: relief from the terror of the standing place and the speeding of the reckoning, the Great Intercession. The second, also specific to him, is bringing a group into Paradise without reckoning. The third is for people who have earned the Fire, to be spared it by his intercession and that of others God permits. The fourth is for sinners who have entered the Fire, to be brought out by the intercession of the Prophet ﷺ, the angels and believers. The fifth is for higher ranks in Paradise for its people. ^{2 3} A person may ask God for the Prophet's intercession. Al-Nawawi, quoting al-Qadi 'Iyad, says the righteous predecessors are known to have asked for it and to have desired it, and the view that it is disliked to ask for it, because intercession is only for sinners, is not to be heeded; by the same reasoning one would not ask for forgiveness or mercy either. ³

There is no dispute that intercession in a penalty fixed by God is forbidden once the case has reached the ruler. The Prophet rebuked Usama for speaking for a woman of the Makhzum clan who had stolen, and explained that earlier nations perished because they punished the weak and let the noble go free; a hadith says that whoever's intercession stands between a person and a penalty fixed by God has opposed God. Some Hanafis hold that intercession is permitted while the case is with the one who raised it and before it has been established before the ruler. ³ The Malikis hold that intercession is not allowed once the case has reached the police and the guards, who stand in the place of the ruler. Before that it is allowed; a report says that al-Zubayr ibn al-'Awwam, meeting a thief, interceded for him before the case reached the imam. The Malikis also say it is not allowed when the person interceded for is one of the wicked who persist in acts that call for a penalty. ⁴

Intercession in discretionary penalties is allowed whether or not the case has reached the ruler, and is even recommended; the Malikis add that this holds if the person interceded for is not a wicked one. ⁴

Intercession with rulers for the needs of Muslims is recommended, on the basis of the verse of the surah of the Women (85) and of a report in the two authentic collections that when a man in need came to the Prophet he turned to his companions and said: intercede, and you will be rewarded. God decides by the tongue of His Prophet what He loves. ⁴

If the one interceded for gives a gift to the intercessor who speaks to the ruler or other person of authority, then if the intercession seeks something forbidden, the dropping of a right, help in an injustice, or the advancement of someone over one who has a better claim to a post, accepting the gift is unlawful by consensus. If the intercession lifts a wrong, delivers a right, or gives a rightful post, then if the gift is made a condition, or the one interceded for says it is the reward, accepting it is also unlawful. If neither applies, the Shafi'is hold that where the intercessor used to receive gifts before the intercession, acceptance is not disliked; otherwise it is disliked, unless he repays the giver, in which case it is not. The Hanbalis hold that the intercessor may never accept a gift, since it is like a wage, and a good intercession is a public good, so taking anything for it is forbidden; the one who offers may offer what helps him reach his right. ^{4 5}

Seeking intercession with God through good deeds, through the Prophet or through the righteous is a form of tawassul, and its ruling is discussed under that heading. ⁵