…is more fitting than claiming the mediation of the celestial bodies. It is also clear that once mediation is understood in the sense the philosophers attach to those heavenly beings, their position seems more compelling, and any reply offered to them becomes weak—precisely because the true nature of Islam is not properly understood.
For among the Ḥunafāʾ there is no one who maintains that human beings can act as intermediaries in creation, governance, provision, giving life or death, hearing supplications, or answering those who call. All the messengers—and everyone who follows them—agree that none is to be worshipped but Allah alone. He is the One who is asked and worshipped; to Him prayer and prostration are directed. He answers the prayer of the distressed, removes hardship from the afflicted, and comes to the aid of His servants when they cry for help:
“Whatever mercy Allah opens to people, none can withhold it; and whatever He withholds, none can release thereafter” (Qur’an 35:2).
“Every blessing you have is from Allah; then, when hardship touches you, it is to Him that you lament” (Qur’an 16:53).
The Ḥunafāʾ do not believe that anyone other than Allah acts independently in any matter. At most, a creature can serve as a means; yet the effect comes about only through that means together with other causes and the removal of obstacles. Allah, exalted be He, is the One who creates by means of causes and through the lifting of impediments, even as He creates the very cause itself. The point, however, is that nothing in existence produces anything on its own, and nothing necessarily brings about any effect except the will of Allah alone: whatever He wills occurs, and whatever He does not will never takes place.
The messengers are intermediaries between Allah and His creation only in conveying His messages, commands and prohibitions, promises and warnings, as He says:
“We send the messengers only as bearers of glad tidings and as warners” (Qur’an 6:48).
“O Prophet, We have indeed sent you as a witness, a bearer of glad tidings, a warner, one who calls to Allah by His permission, and a radiant lamp” (Qur’an 33:45–46).
Thus He informed us that He sent him as a witness, as He also says:
“so that the Messenger may be a witness over you and you may be witnesses over mankind” (Qur’an 2:143),
and:
“How will it be when We bring from every nation a witness, and bring you, over these, as a witness?” (Qur’an 4:41),
and:
“Thus We have made you a balanced community so that you may be witnesses over mankind, and the Messenger may be a witness over you” (Qur’an 2:143).
When the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—buried the martyrs of Uḥud, he said, “As for me, I am a witness…”