notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Greetings. Please explain intercession, given that the Most Merciful Lord says in various verses, “Am I not sufficient for you?” and, “Call upon Me, and I will answer you.”
Intercession means turning to the Infallibles (AS) as intermediaries in drawing near to God; it does not mean worshipping them. It is a beautiful way of connecting with God, a response to His command, and a sign of one’s worth and standing in the eyes of the Beloved. As those beloved by God, the Infallibles (AS) are means of grace, adornment, and drawing closer to Him.
When meeting someone beloved and dear, it is fitting to wear fine clothes and present oneself well-groomed, adorned and perfumed—all of which show the regard and esteem in which the person being visited is held.
When we write to a close and cherished friend, we choose the finest expressions and write in our most beautiful hand.
Tawassul is like fine clothing, adornment and perfume, and like beautiful words and elegant handwriting: it raises a person’s honour and standing, and helps them find acceptance and draw near to the beloved.
The Infallibles, peace be upon them, are the most beautiful adornment in creation and the finest means of grace, beauty and nearness.
Because the Infallibles, peace be upon them, are beloved in God’s presence, through them a person can more readily attain nearness to Him.
Tawassul does not mean directing our worshipful supplication to the Infallibles, peace be upon them. It means making these revered figures a means through which we supplicate to God.
Calling upon God by His Most Beautiful Names means using those Names as a means of calling upon Him.
Making the Infallibles a means of calling upon God is the most beautiful way to connect with Him.
Good deeds, noble character, strengthening a monotheistic outlook, the beautiful Names of God, knowledge of God, beneficial learning, and the Infallibles, peace be upon them, are all means of drawing near to God.
It bears repeating that turning to an Infallible or to any other means does not mean directing worshipful supplication to that means; rather, they are means by which we direct our worshipful supplication to God.
For further reading:
He is the All-Wise
#Wine_of_Wisdom29
The Wisdom of Tawassul
1—Tawassul is a response to God’s command! God has granted permission for tawassul, and no one has the right to object.
2—Tawassul is the finest and closest way to draw near to God; it is like the straight path of supplication.
3. Just as no direction can be considered beyond God’s attention and regard, we nevertheless face the qibla when praying, at His command. In the same way, although God has no need of any intermediary, at His command we make the Infallibles, peace be upon them, intermediaries through whom we seek His gracious attention and care.
4. Seeking tawassul is different from asking someone to pray for us, though the two have certain things in common. Both are ways of turning toward God, just as prayer and fasting are distinct ways of drawing near to Him.
5. Tawassul is, in fact, a pure and beautiful path to communion with God, for those who serve as means are among His purest and most devoted servants.
6. Just as ablution makes a person’s relationship with the Creator more refined, tawassul adorns and perfumes the relationship between Creator and creature.
7. In tawassul, we do not regard the intermediary as more worthy of respect than the Creator. God is the most merciful and compassionate toward His servant, and no one—not even the intercessor himself—can surpass Him.
8. In intercession, we regard God Himself as the first intercessor, for before creating His creatures, He called Himself the Intercessor, and this is among the Most Beautiful Names of the Lord. In truth, it is through the Lord’s intercession that the Infallibles become our intercessors.
هو الشفیع، هو أشفع الشافعین
9. The Infallible’s role as intermediary in tawassul does not mean that they stand between us and God as a barrier. God is closer to a person than anything else; He encompasses both the one who seeks tawassul and the means through which it is sought.
10. By His will, God sustains existence and the existence of all means; otherwise, neither we nor any means or instrument would exist.
11. We believe that God is closer to the one who seeks tawassul than any means, instrument or intermediary. In every act of intercession and mediation, it is God who connects us to the means, and the means to the one who seeks their aid.
12. We believe that tawassul and seeking intercession must bring us closer to God. Otherwise, we are going astray in seeking tawassul and intercession.
13. We regard God alone as the One who answers and fulfils our needs. Any mediation through other means is solely by God’s will and pleasure.
14. We regard God as the ultimate source of all effect. No beloved or despised creature possesses any independence of its own; any good or harmful effect produced by creatures occurs only by God’s permission.
15. God makes every effect effective; every act, great or small, has an effect by His permission. It is He who grants the power for a creature’s act to take place, whether it be the movement of an electron or of a galaxy.
16. Every fruit that a gardener outwardly brings to fruition has God as its true cultivator. Every physician who outwardly treats a patient has God as the true healer. The intercession of every intercessor whose intercession is accepted is, in reality, God’s intercession. Every kindness we receive from an Infallible is bestowed by God.
17. The fulfilment of all our needs, in this world and the next, comes through God’s help. If people who help one another in their daily affairs do not truly regard God as the One who aids them, they are polytheists. The same is true of tawassul.
18. There is no such thing as ordinary and extraordinary aid: honour and power belong to God alone. Every matter, great or small, comes to pass by His permission and will; it is only by His will that the manner in which His will is realized and His power manifested is determined. Whether He builds the dome of existence without an intermediary or, through His will, enables ʿAlī, peace be upon him, to open the gate of Khaybar, in either case it is God’s power that is manifested.
19. In tawassul, we regard the means and instruments as God’s creatures and attribute to them no share in divinity, power or ability. To regard anyone as possessing lordship—even to a small degree, however disparagingly—whether an ordinary person or one of the Infallibles, is outright polytheism.
20. When we ask the Infallibles to pray for us, we make them intermediaries through whom we present our needs to God. In effect, we regard them as our envoys in our relationship with the Lord. Yet we believe that God already knows our needs before we present them to the Infallibles. Presenting our needs in this way serves only to strengthen and refine the relationship of servitude bestowed upon the servant; God has no need of any relationship.
21. Tawassul is not worship; rather, like other acts of devotion, it is itself a means of worshipping God.
22. In matters that may seem ordinary, such as buying and selling, work and endeavour, treatment and so on, every kind of help and support comes from God alone.
23. We regard the Infallibles, peace be upon them, as God’s Most Beautiful Names, and address His incomparable Essence through His Names. We regard the name of God as created by God, and do not consider the Names identical with His Essence. Whoever worships a Name is a polytheist.
Were it not for the Divine Names, our essential poverty would make a loving relationship between servant and Creator impossible. Seeking tawassul through the Infallibles brings sweetness to our relationship with God.
24. We regard the Infallibles as the Gate of God, the Rope of God and so on: through them, we turn toward God.