Taha · Makki · ayah 109 of 135

Taha 20:109

يَوْمَئِذٍ لَّا تَنفَعُ ٱلشَّفَـٰعَةُ إِلَّا مَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ وَرَضِىَ لَهُۥ قَوْلًا

“That Day, no intercession will benefit except [that of] one to whom the Most Merciful has given permission and has accepted his word.”

Saheeh International

Essence

On that Day nobody walks in on a connection; even the best of creation falls down first, and waits for permission to speak.

A reflection

The man who asks permission before he asks

Sahih al-Bukhari preserves a long walk that will happen on that Day. People, worn down by the waiting, decide to look for someone to speak to their Lord for them. They go to Adam: you are the father of humanity, Allah made you with His hand. He says, I am not the one for it, and he remembers his lapse, and is ashamed. They go to Noah, then Abraham, then Moses, then Jesus. Each one sends them on.

Then they come to the Prophet ﷺ. And notice what he does not do. He does not stride up with their case. He says: I go until I ask permission of my Lord, and permission is given to me. When I see my Lord, I fall down in prostration. Only after a time is he told to raise his head, to ask and be given, to intercede and be heard. Even then, the hadith adds, a limit is set for him.

That is this ayah, acted out by the most honoured of creation: illā man adhina lahu al-raḥmān, except the one the Most Merciful permits.

Now set beside it the way pride talks. I know someone at the council. Leave it with me, I'll make a call. Most of us carry a small, flattering picture of ourselves as people who can get things done, whose word opens doors. Some of that is useful in this world. But the ayah walks us into a court where no door opens from the outside. Where the noblest human being who ever lived arrives as a servant, and his first act is to put his face on the ground.

If he asks permission, what exactly was I planning to say for myself? The ego that rehearses its own importance has nothing to rehearse here. There is a relief in that. You do not have to arrive impressive. You have to arrive as someone the Most Merciful is pleased with, which is a different thing entirely, and open to anyone.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.