—seeking to be the nearest—and hope for His mercy and fear His punishment. Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is ever to be feared.”

He thus states that those invoked besides Him have no power to remove harm or shift it elsewhere, and that they hope for His mercy, fear His punishment, and seek to draw near to Him. Thus He—glory be to Him—has denied this of the angels and prophets, except for intercession with His permission. Intercession is supplication.

There is no doubt that created beings benefit from supplicating for one another, and Allah has commanded this. However, the one who supplicates and intercedes may do so only with Allah’s permission. He must not offer any intercession that has been forbidden, such as interceding for polytheists and praying for their forgiveness. He, the Most High, says:

“It is not for the Prophet and those who believe to seek forgiveness for the polytheists, even if they are close relatives, after it has become clear to them that they are destined for the blazing Fire.”

“Abraham’s prayer for his father’s forgiveness was only because of a promise he had made to him. But when it became clear to him that his father was an enemy of Allah, he disassociated himself from him.”

And He, the Most High, says concerning the hypocrites:

“It makes no difference to them whether you ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them: Allah will never forgive them.”

It is established in the authentic hadith collection that Allah forbade His Prophet to seek forgiveness for the polytheists and hypocrites, and declared that He would not forgive them. This is also expressed in His words:

“Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him, but He forgives anything less than that for whom He wills.”

And His words:

“Never offer the funeral prayer for any of them who dies, nor stand at his grave. Indeed, they disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger and died in a state of defiant disobedience.”

He, the Most High, also says:

“Call upon your Lord humbly and privately. Indeed, He does not love those who transgress”—that is, in supplication.

One form of transgression in supplication is for a servant to ask for something that the Lord would not do: for example, to ask Him for the stations of the prophets when he is not one of them, or for forgiveness for the polytheists, and the like. Another is to ask Him for something involving disobedience to Allah, such as help in disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience.