Saba (Sheba)

23. “And intercession will not avail with Him except for him to whom He gives permission; till, when terror is lifted from their hearts, they will say: ‘What is it that your Lord said?’ They will say: ‘The truth’; and He is the Most High, the Great’.”

In Hereafter, there is the possibility of intercession, but by the permission of Allah.

Therefore, in this verse the Qur’an implies that there are some intercessors in the Court of Allah who can intercede only by His permission and command, since; the verse says:

“And intercession will not avail with Him except for him to whom He gives permission…”

Therefore, the pretext of the idolaters for worshipping their idols that they said:

“…these are our intercessors with Allah’…”1

will be ceased by this statement, because Allah has never given any permission to them for any intercession.

That whether the sentence:

“…except for him to whom He gives permission…”

refers to the intercessors or to the interceded ones, commentators have offered two probabilities; but in relation to the fact that in this verse the words are about idols and those people consider the idols as their intercessors, it is appropriate that it refers to ‘intercessors’.

Is the purpose of the word ‘intercession’ mentioned here the intercession in the world or in the Hereafter? Both of them are probable, but the subsequent sentence shows that it is meant the intercession in the Hereafter.

So, after this sentence, it implicitly says that in that Day there will be such an anxiety and horror upon the hearts that both the intercessor and the one who is interceded will be full of anxiety, and they expect to see to whom Allah gives permission to intercede, and for whom.

This state of anxiety will continue until when it will be removed from the hearts and the command from the side of Allah will be issued.

The verse says:

“…till, when terror is lifted from their hearts…”

However, on that Day there is a surprising tumult. Those who expect to be interceded look worriedly at the intercessor and by non-verbal language or by their own tongues, they eagerly ask them for intercession.

But the intercessors also have waited for the command of Allah to see how and about whom He gives permission for intercession. This common and general anxiety will continue until when the command of intercession about those who are eligible for it will be issued from the side of Allah, the Wise.

It is in this circumstance that the both groups turn their faces to each other and ask each other (or the guilty ask the intercessors) as follows:

“…they will say: ‘What is it that your Lord said?’…” “…They will say: ‘The truth’…”

And ‘the truth’ is not anything save the permission of intercession about those who had not entirely ceased their relation with Allah, not the polluted ones who had broken all the links and means of communication, and who had wholly become alien with Allah, the Prophet (S) and his friends.

At the end of the verse, the Qur’an adds:

“…and He is the Most High, the Great’.”

This sentence is the continuation of the statement of the intercessors and its complement. Indeed, they say that since Allah is the Most High and the Great, whatever command He issues is the exact truth, and any truth adapts His command.

Whatever was said in the above is the nearest commentary that is consistent to the sentences of the verse.

In this regard, commentators have also cited some other commentaries, and it is wonderful that in some of them the relation and dependence of the beginning and the end of the verse, and its before and after, have never been considered at all.