Elsewhere, he said concerning His words,

“Intercession will not benefit anyone with Him except those for whom He gives permission”:

“That is, permission to intercede. He said this to refute their claim, ‘These are our intercessors with Allah.’” He said: “It may also mean: except someone for whom He has permitted intercession to be made.”

They likewise mentioned both interpretations concerning His words:

“Those whom they invoke besides Him possess no power of intercession, except those who bear witness to the truth.”

We shall discuss this verse, if Allah Most High wills, and explain that the exception encompasses both groups and is a disconnected exception. These two verses convey the same meaning as that verse, encompassing both categories.

The explanation is that He, glorified be He, said:

“On that Day, intercession will benefit none except one to whom the Most Merciful gives permission and whose words He approves.”

“Intercession” is the verbal noun of “to intercede.” A verbal noun is sometimes placed in a possessive construction with the agent, and sometimes with the object of the action—the latter corresponding to what is sometimes termed the “direct object.” Thus one may say, “I admired the beating of the cloth,” or “the fuller's beating.”

The term “knowledge” is similarly related sometimes to knowledge and sometimes to what is known. Examples of the former are His words:

“They encompass nothing of His knowledge,”

and His words,

“He has sent it down with His knowledge,”

and His words,

“that it has only been sent down with Allah’s knowledge,”

and similar passages.

An example of the latter is His statement:

“Indeed, Allah has knowledge of the Hour.”

Here, the Hour is what is known, not the knower. Another example is His statement when Pharaoh said:

“What, then, of the former generations?”