righteous. The entire Quran refutes this meaning. Thus Allah Most High says:

“How many angels there are in the heavens whose intercession avails nothing, except after Allah gives permission for whom He wills and is pleased with.”

Allah Most High also says:

“They say, ‘The Most Merciful has taken a son.’ Glory be to Him! Rather, they are honoured servants. They do not precede Him in speech, and they act at His command. He knows what is before them and what is behind them. They intercede only for those with whom He is pleased, and they stand in awe of Him.”

He thus makes clear that they intercede only for those with whom the Lord is pleased. It follows that they must be granted permission concerning those for whom they intercede; they are not given unrestricted permission.

Moreover, whenever the Quran denies intercession independently of Him, it does so without qualification. His words “besides Him” may modify “have power,” “invoke,” or both. The meaning would therefore be: “Those whom they invoke have no power of intercession independently of Him”; or: “Those whom they invoke besides Him have no power to intercede.” The latter is more apparent, because He says:

“Those whom they invoke besides Him have no power to intercede.”

He places “intercession” last and “besides Him” before it. Such expressions occur frequently in the Quran: “they invoke besides Allah” and “they worship besides Allah,” as in His words:

“They worship besides Allah what can neither harm nor benefit them,”

and:

“Do not invoke besides Allah what can neither benefit nor harm you.”

This differs from saying: “Those whom they invoke have no power of intercession independently of Him.”