Hudhur said a while ago he had mentioned the erroneous practices by some Muslims to visit shrines of Pirs and ascetics as well as some saints and ask in a manner that one asks God. Due to lack of education, a large majority in India and Pakistan assume that Pirs can fulfil their wishes and some exceed in this wrong practice to the extent of prostrating before graves of Pirs and saints and women maintain that they have been blessed with child through the help of a dead saint. While the teaching of Islam focuses on the Oneness of God and demands of its adherents to be believers in it, unfortunately many are embroiled in shirk (associating partners with God). At times the extent of their involvement in shirk makes them closer to idolaters.

 

It was God’s great favour on us that He sent the true and ardent devotee of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) so that he could guide us away from the deteriorated state of the teaching. He was the Hakm (Judge) and the Adl (Arbiter) of the age and as such in order to rid us of the infestation of shirk, he guided us precisely in light of the teaching of the Quran, which had established the Oneness of God and which tells us about the true teachings of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) as well as Islam’s superiority over other world religions.

 

Christianity claims that through the atoning death of Jesus (on whom be peace) his followers are ‘reconciled’ to God. Some saints are also thought to be means of intercession. It has been recently said about the previous Pope, John Paul II that owing to a miracle healing of a woman he had reached the station of intercession with God, while in Paradise. Hudhur said, these are their viewpoints, whereas the reality is that their teaching is contrary to the teaching of Jesus and is based on shirk.

 

The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) informs us: ‘Remember, it is wholly calumnious to ascribe divinity to Jesus (on whom be peace). He certainly did not make any such claim. Whatever he said as regards himself did not go beyond intercession. As such, who can deny the intercession of Prophets? Many times Israelites were saved from raging torment because of the intercession of Moses (on whom be peace) And I have experience of this myself. Many esteemed people of my Community know very well that due to my intercession some embroiled in problems and illnesses were relieved of their grief and they had been informed of this beforehand. For Jesus to be crucified for his followers and for the sins of his followers to be imputed to him is a meaningless creed that is far-removed from reason. It is beyond the Divine attributes of fairness and justice that the punishment of the sin of someone should be given to another. In short, this creed is a collection of errors’.

 

Explaining the requisites of intercession, the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) wrote: ‘Firstly, it is essential that an intercessor has a perfect connection with God, so that he can attain beneficence from God. And [he] also has an intense connection with mankind so that he can take to mankind the beneficence and the good that he attains from God. Unless both these connections are not intense, one cannot be an intercessor…unless these two models are not to be seen, there can be no beneficial outcome’.