Fama tanfaAAuhum shafaAAatu ashshafiAAeen (surah Muddathir: 48)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(74:48) The intercession of the intercessors shall then be of no avail to them. *36

Famaa tanfa`uhum shafaa`atush shaafi`een

*36) That is, "Even if an intercessor interceded for a person who persisted in this way of life till death, he would not be forgiven." The question of intercession has been so fully explained at so many places in the Qur'an that no one can have any difficulty in nowing and understanding as to who can intercede and who cannot, when one can intercede and when one cannot, for whom one can intercede and for whom one cannot, and for whom intercession is beneficial and for whom it is not. As one of the major causes of the people's deviation in the world, is their false concept about intercession, it has been explained at such length in the Qur'an as to leave no room for any doubt and ambiguity. For example, see Al-Baqarah; 255, Al-An`am: 94, Al-A`raf: 53. Yunus: 3-18, Maryam: 87, Ta Ha: 109, Al-Anbiya': 28, Saba: 23, Az-Zumar: 43-44, Al-Mu'min: 18, Ad-Dukhan: 86, An-Najm: 26, An-Naba: 37-38.