needs helpers, gatekeepers, and the like. The Most High says:

“When My servants ask you about Me, I am indeed near. I answer the supplicant’s call when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me and believe in Me, so that they may be rightly guided.”

The Most High also says:

“Say, ‘Call upon those you claim to be gods besides Allah. They possess not even an atom’s weight in the heavens or on earth, nor do they have any share in either, nor does He have any helper among them.’”

“Intercession before Him is of no benefit except for one whom He permits.”

Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the foremost of those who intercede before Him. His intercession is the greatest of all intercessions, and his standing before Allah is the highest of all. On the Day of Resurrection, when people seek intercession from Adam, then Noah, then Abraham, then Moses, then Jesus, each will refer them to another. When they come to the Messiah, he will say, “Go to Muhammad, a servant whose past and future sins Allah has forgiven.”

The Prophet said:

“I will go, and when I see my Lord, I will fall down in prostration before Him and praise my Lord with words of praise that He will inspire me to utter, which I do not know now. Then it will be said, ‘O Muhammad, raise your head. Speak, and you will be heard; ask, and you will be given; intercede, and your intercession will be accepted.’” He said: “Then He will set a limit for me, and I will admit them to Paradise.” The hadith continues.

Whoever denies our Prophet’s intercession—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—for those who commit major sins is a misguided innovator, as are the Khawārij and the Mu‘tazilah, who deny it. Whoever says that a created being intercedes before Allah without His permission has contradicted the consensus of the Muslims and the explicit statements of the Quran. The Most High says:

“Who can intercede before Him except with His permission?”

The Most High also says: “Nor