Tālib:

“It is not for the Prophet and those who believe to seek forgiveness for the polytheists, even if they are close relatives.”

And he was told concerning the hypocrites:

“It is all the same for them whether you ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them; Allah will never forgive them.”

Allah Most High has also said in general terms:

“Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission?”

And He said:

“Intercession will not benefit anyone with Him except those to whom He gives permission.”

Who, then, is this person who, if he asked Allah for whatever he himself wished, would be granted it?

“Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the foremost intercessor on the Day of Resurrection, related that he would prostrate beneath the Throne, praise his Lord and extol Him. He would then be told: ‘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: ‘He then sets a limit for me, and I admit them to Paradise.’”

Allah Most High has said:

“Call upon your Lord humbly and privately. Indeed, He does not love transgressors.”

What transgression could be greater or more outrageous than for a servant to ask his Lord not to do what He has declared He will certainly do, or to do what He has declared He will not do? Yet He, glorified be He, is as He has described Himself:

“And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the supplication of the supplicant when he calls upon Me.”

And He said:

“And your Lord says, ‘Call upon Me; I will respond to you. Indeed, those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell, humiliated.’”

In the two Sahih collections, it is reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “There is no