…“he will then intercede” (1); therefore he will not intercede until permission has been granted. Affirmed intercession is reserved for the people of tawhid (pure monotheism); a polytheist will gain no benefit from it. Whoever presents sacrifices or vows to graves is a polytheist, and no intercession can help him. In summary: the intercession that is denied is that which is sought without Allah’s permission or on behalf of a polytheist, whereas the intercession that is affirmed comes only after Allah’s permission and is for the people of tawhid. 8. The third principle: the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was sent to a people who were polytheists—some worshipped the angels, some the sun and the moon, others idols, stones, and trees, and still others the saints and the righteous. This illustrates the ugliness of shirk (polytheism): its adherents share no single object of worship, whereas the monotheists have but one deity—Allah, the One, the Subduer: “Are separate lords better, or Allah the One, the Prevailing? You worship nothing besides Him but mere names you have coined” (Yusuf 39). Thus one of the defects and falsehoods of shirk is that its people are scattered in their acts of worship, not— (1) Part of a lengthy hadith recorded by al-Bukhari, Sahih, no. 7510, Book of Tawhid, chapter “The speech of the Lord—Mighty and Majestic—on the Day of Resurrection with the prophets and others,” and by Muslim, Sahih, no. 193, Book of Faith, chapter “The lowest-ranked inhabitant of Paradise,” on the authority of Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him.