# Muhammad’s Intercession and Blessings > Intercession belongs to Allah and avails only by his permission. Believers ask God to bless Muhammad. The Gospel names one mediator, Christ Jesus. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/islam/muhammads-intercession-and-blessings - Religions: Islam - Denominations: none - Beliefs: none - Tags: islam, muhammad, quran, hadith - Updated: 2026-10-13 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul)) The Qur’an says intercession belongs entirely to Allah and helps only when he permits it. A Sunni hadith has the people sent from prophet to prophet until Muhammad is allowed to ask. Believers are told to ask God to bless Muhammad. That request is not prayer to Muhammad as God. The Gospel says there is one mediator, the man Christ Jesus. ## Key Points - [Qur’an 39:44](https://quran.com/39/44) [(1)](#ref-1) says, “To Allāh belongs [the right to allow] intercession entirely.” [Qur’an 2:255](https://quran.com/al-baqarah/255) asks who can intercede with him except by his permission. [Qur’an 10:3](https://quran.com/10/3) says there is no intercessor except after his permission. - [Qur’an 20:109](https://quran.com/20/109) says no intercession will benefit except that of one to whom the Most Merciful has given permission and whose word he has accepted. [Qur’an 53:26](https://quran.com/53/26), [Qur’an 34:23](https://quran.com/34/23), [Qur’an 2:48](https://quran.com/2/48), and [Qur’an 2:254](https://quran.com/2/254) keep the same limit. - [Sahih al-Bukhari 4476](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4476) [(2)](#ref-2), a Sunni hadith, has Jesus send the people to Muhammad, “the Slave of Allah whose past and future sins were forgiven by Allah,” and has Muhammad fall in prostration until he is told to intercede. - [Qur’an 33:56](https://quran.com/33/56) tells believers to ask Allah to confer blessing on the Prophet and to ask Allah to grant him peace. [Sahih Muslim 408](https://sunnah.com/muslim:408) [(3)](#ref-3) says that whoever blesses Muhammad once, Allah blesses that person ten times. - [Qur’an 4:64](https://quran.com/an-nisa/64) is addressed to Muhammad in his lifetime: if they had come to him, asked Allah for forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah accepting of repentance. - [1 Timothy 2:5](/bible/1-timothy/2/5) [(4)](#ref-4) says there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. [Hebrews 7:25](/bible/hebrews/7/25) says he always lives to intercede. [John 14:6](/bible/john/14/6) says no one comes to the Father except through him. ## Intercession Only by Permission [Qur’an 39:44](https://quran.com/39/44), Saheeh International: > Say, "To Allāh belongs [the right to allow] intercession entirely. To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. Then to Him you will be returned." The brackets mark “the right to allow,” which the translators supply. What the verse states is that intercession belongs to Allah entirely, with the dominion of the heavens and the earth. People return to him. [Qur’an 2:255](https://quran.com/al-baqarah/255), the Throne Verse, asks, “Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission?” [Qur’an 10:3](https://quran.com/10/3): “There is no intercessor except after His permission.” [Qur’an 20:109](https://quran.com/20/109): “That Day, no intercession will benefit except [that of] one to whom the Most Merciful has given permission and has accepted his word.” [Qur’an 53:26](https://quran.com/53/26) says the intercession of angels in the heavens will not avail at all except after Allah has permitted it to whom he wills and approves. [Qur’an 34:23](https://quran.com/34/23): “And intercession does not benefit with Him except for one whom He permits.” [Qur’an 2:48](https://quran.com/2/48) warns of a Day when no soul will suffice for another, “nor will intercession be accepted from it.” [Qur’an 2:254](https://quran.com/2/254) speaks of a Day with no exchange, no friendship, and no intercession. The Qur’an both denies that intercession can be bought or assumed, and allows it when Allah permits the word. Permission is his. [Who Is Allah?](/islam/who-is-allah) is that claim about God. [Do Muslims Believe in Heaven?](/islam/do-muslims-believe-in-heaven) is the Last Day those verses are pointing toward. ## On the Last Day [Sahih al-Bukhari 4476](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4476), Muhammad Muhsin Khan, is a long report. The turn that names Jesus and Muhammad is this: > Go to Jesus, Allah's Slave, His Apostle and Allah's Word and a Spirit coming from Him. Jesus will say, 'I am not fit for this undertaking, go to Muhammad the Slave of Allah whose past and future sins were forgiven by Allah.' Earlier in the same report, Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses each say they are not fit and remember a sin. Jesus is called Allah’s slave, apostle, word, and a spirit from him, and he says he is not fit, then sends them on. Muhammad is described as the one whose past and future sins were forgiven. He falls in prostration, and he is told to raise his head: ask, and it will be granted; intercede, and the intercession will be accepted. A limit is fixed for whom he admits to Paradise. The report ends by saying that those the Qur’an has imprisoned in Hell remain. That is the hadith’s own contrast. Other prophets are pictured remembering deeds. Jesus is called not fit for this undertaking and is given the titles word and spirit. Muhammad is the one who receives the permission to ask. [Which Muslims Accept Which Hadith?](/islam/which-muslims-accept-which-hadith) says Sunni collections such as Bukhari carry this weight for Sunni readers, and a Shia reader is not bound by the same books. The Qur’an verses above are the shared text: intercession still waits on Allah’s permission. The same Sunni collection records Muhammad asking forgiveness. [Sahih al-Bukhari 6307](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6307): “By Allah! I ask for forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times a day.” [Qur’an 19:19](https://quran.com/19/19) calls the child promised to Mary “a pure boy.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 3431](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3431) excepts Mary and her child from the touch it attributes to Satan at birth. Those are the words. They do not add up to a doctrine invented on this page. Beside 4476, the forgiveness of “past and future sins” is the hadith’s phrase for Muhammad, and 6307 is his own request for forgiveness. [Who Was Muhammad?](/islam/who-was-muhammad) is the life those reports sit in. [Jesus in the Qur’an and the Gospels](/islam/jesus-in-the-quran-and-the-gospels) is the Gospel account of the one 4476 calls Allah’s Word. ## Blessings Asked of God [Qur’an 33:56](https://quran.com/33/56): “Indeed, Allāh confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [Allāh to confer] blessing upon him and ask [Allāh to grant him] peace.” The brackets say what the translators think the verb means: ask Allah to confer blessing, and ask Allah to grant peace. The command is addressed to believers. The one who blesses is Allah. The angels ask him to do so. Believers are told to ask him as well. That is salawat: a request that God bless Muhammad. It is not a prayer directed to Muhammad as if he were God. [Sahih Muslim 408](https://sunnah.com/muslim:408), Abdul Hamid Siddiqui: “He who blesses me once, Allah would bless him ten times.” The blessing runs from the believer, through the request, to Allah, and back as Allah’s blessing on the believer. [Qur’an 33:21](https://quran.com/33/21) calls Muhammad an excellent pattern. [What Do Christians Believe About Muhammad?](/islam/what-do-christians-believe-about-muhammad) is that pattern beside the Gospel. ## Coming to the Messenger [Qur’an 4:64](https://quran.com/an-nisa/64), Saheeh International: > And We did not send any messenger except to be obeyed by permission of Allāh. And if, when they wronged themselves, they had come to you, [O Muḥammad], and asked forgiveness of Allāh and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allāh Accepting of Repentance and Merciful. The sentence is “if … they had come to you.” It describes people in Muhammad’s hearing, coming to him, asking Allah for forgiveness, while the Messenger also asks. The forgiveness they find is Allah’s. The verse does not say that after his death the way to forgiveness is to address Muhammad. [How Did Muhammad Die?](/islam/how-did-muhammad-die) is the death in 632. A practice of asking a dead prophet for what belongs to God is a different claim from 33:56, which tells the living to ask God to bless him. ## One Mediator [1 Timothy 2:5](/bible/1-timothy/2/5), King James Version: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The mediator is a man, and he is one. [Hebrews 7:25](/bible/hebrews/7/25) says he is able to save completely those who come to God by him, “seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” The intercession is the living Christ’s, and it does not lapse. [John 14:6](/bible/john/14/6): “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The Qur’an is right that no one bargains with God or carries an intercession he did not permit. The Gospel’s claim is that the permission and the mediator are the Son, who is God and who became the man who stands between. [Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven?](/christianity/is-jesus-the-only-way-to-heaven) follows John 14:6. [Did Jesus Die on the Cross?](/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross) is the death Hebrews ties to that priesthood. Christians ask God the Father in the name of Jesus. They do not replace 33:56 with a denial that Muslims ask God to bless Muhammad. They do say the one who brings a person to the Father is Christ. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What Does Salawat Mean? In [Qur’an 33:56](https://quran.com/33/56), Saheeh International renders it as asking Allah to confer blessing on the Prophet and to grant him peace. Allah is the one who blesses. Believers ask him to do it. [Sahih Muslim 408](https://sunnah.com/muslim:408) attaches a tenfold blessing from Allah to the person who blesses Muhammad once. The request is aimed at God. ### Does Qur’an 4:64 Tell People to Pray to Muhammad? [Qur’an 4:64](https://quran.com/an-nisa/64) says that if they had come to Muhammad, asked forgiveness of Allah, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah merciful. Coming to him is in his lifetime, in the “if … they had come” of the verse. Asking Allah remains the forgiveness. The verse does not rename Muhammad as the one who is prayed to. ### Who Intercedes on the Last Day? [Qur’an 39:44](https://quran.com/39/44) says intercession belongs entirely to Allah. [Qur’an 20:109](https://quran.com/20/109) limits any benefit to the one he permits. [Sahih al-Bukhari 4476](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4476) pictures that permission landing on Muhammad after others, including Jesus, say they are not fit. [1 Timothy 2:5](/bible/1-timothy/2/5) and [Hebrews 7:25](/bible/hebrews/7/25) name one mediator who lives to intercede: the man Christ Jesus. [What Does the Bible Say About Salvation?](/christianity/what-does-the-bible-say-about-salvation) ## Keep Reading - [Who Was Muhammad?](/islam/who-was-muhammad) - [What Do Christians Believe About Muhammad?](/islam/what-do-christians-believe-about-muhammad) - [Which Muslims Accept Which Hadith?](/islam/which-muslims-accept-which-hadith) - [What Are Hadith and Sira?](/islam/what-are-hadith-and-sira) - [Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven?](/christianity/is-jesus-the-only-way-to-heaven) - [Did Jesus Die on the Cross?](/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross) ## Passages Quoted on This Page ### Qur’an 2:255 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/2/255) > Allāh - there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Sustaining. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, and they encompass not a thing of His knowledge except for what He wills. His Kursī extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation tires Him not. And He is the Most High, the Most Great. ### Qur’an 10:3 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/10/3) > Indeed, your Lord is Allāh, who created the heavens and the earth in six days and then established Himself above the Throne, arranging the matter [of His creation]. There is no intercessor except after His permission. That is Allāh, your Lord, so worship Him. Then will you not remember? ### Qur’an 53:26 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/53/26) > And how many angels there are in the heavens whose intercession will not avail at all except [only] after Allāh has permitted [it] to whom He wills and approves. ### Qur’an 34:23 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/34/23) > And intercession does not benefit with Him except for one whom He permits. [And those wait] until, when terror is removed from their hearts, they will say [to one another], "What has your Lord said?" They will say, "The truth." And He is the Most High, the Grand. ### Qur’an 2:48 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/2/48) > And fear a Day when no soul will suffice for another soul at all, nor will intercession be accepted from it, nor will compensation be taken from it, nor will they be aided. ### Qur’an 2:254 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/2/254) > O you who have believed, spend from that which We have provided for you before there comes a Day in which there is no exchange [i.e., ransom] and no friendship and no intercession. And the disbelievers - they are the wrongdoers. ### Sahih al-Bukhari 4476 Muhammad Muhsin Khan. [Open on sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4476) > Narrated Anas: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "On the Day of Resurrection the Believers will assemble and say, 'Let us ask somebody to intercede for us with our Lord.' So they will go to Adam and say, 'You are the father of all the people, and Allah created you with His Own Hands, and ordered the angels to prostrate to you, and taught you the names of all things; so please intercede for us with your Lord, so that He may relieve us from this place of ours.' Adam will say, 'I am not fit for this (i.e. intercession for you).' Then Adam will remember his sin and feel ashamed thereof. He will say, 'Go to Noah, for he was the first Apostle, Allah sent to the inhabitants of the earth.' They will go to him and Noah will say, 'I am not fit for this undertaking.' He will remember his appeal to his Lord to do what he had no knowledge of, then he will feel ashamed thereof and will say, 'Go to the Khalil--r-Rahman (i.e. Abraham).' They will go to him and he will say, 'I am not fit for this undertaking. Go to Moses, the slave to whom Allah spoke (directly) and gave him the Torah.' So they will go to him and he will say, 'I am not fit for this undertaking.' and he will mention (his) killing a person who was not a killer, and so he will feel ashamed thereof before his Lord, and he will say, 'Go to Jesus, Allah's Slave, His Apostle and Allah's Word and a Spirit coming from Him. Jesus will say, 'I am not fit for this undertaking, go to Muhammad the Slave of Allah whose past and future sins were forgiven by Allah.' So they will come to me and I will proceed till I will ask my Lord's Permission and I will be given permission. When I see my Lord, I will fall down in Prostration and He will let me remain in that state as long as He wishes and then I will be addressed.' (Muhammad!) Raise your head. Ask, and your request will be granted; say, and your saying will be listened to; intercede, and your intercession will be accepted.' I will raise my head and praise Allah with a saying (i.e. invocation) He will teach me, and then I will intercede. He will fix a limit for me (to intercede for) whom I will admit into Paradise. Then I will come back again to Allah, and when I see my Lord, the same thing will happen to me. And then I will intercede and Allah will fix a limit for me to intercede whom I will let into Paradise, then I will come back for the third time; and then I will come back for the fourth time, and will say, 'None remains in Hell but those whom the Qur'an has imprisoned (in Hell) and who have been destined to an eternal stay in Hell.' " (The compiler) Abu `Abdullah said: 'But those whom the Qur'an has imprisoned in Hell,' refers to the Statement of Allah: "They will dwell therein forever." (16.29) ### Sahih Muslim 408 Abdul Hamid Siddiqui. [Open on sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/muslim:408) > Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: He who blesses me once, Allah would bless him ten times. ### 1 Timothy 2:5 King James Version. > For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; ### Hebrews 7:25 King James Version. > Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. ### John 14:6 King James Version. > Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ### Sahih al-Bukhari 6307 Muhammad Muhsin Khan. [Open on sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6307) > Narrated Abu Huraira: I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying." By Allah! I ask for forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times a day." ### Qur’an 19:19 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/19/19) > He said, "I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you [news of] a pure boy [i.e., son]." ### Sahih al-Bukhari 3431 Muhammad Muhsin Khan. [Open on sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3431) > Narrated Sa`id bin Al-Musaiyab: Abu Huraira said, "I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying, 'There is none born among the off-spring of Adam, but Satan touches it. A child therefore, cries loudly at the time of birth because of the touch of Satan, except Mary and her child." Then Abu Huraira recited: "And I seek refuge with You for her and for her offspring from the outcast Satan" (3.36) ### Qur’an 33:21 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/33/21) > There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allāh an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allāh and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allāh often. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Qur'an, 39:44; 2:255; 10:3; 20:109; 53:26; 34:23; 2:48; 2:254; 33:56; 4:64; 19:19](https://quran.com/39/44) (Saheeh International, as published on Quran.com. Words in square brackets are part of that translation.) 2. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 4476; 6307; 3431](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4476) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan. Sunni hadith. The link is 4476.) 3. [Sahih Muslim, 408](https://sunnah.com/muslim:408) (English translation by Abdul Hamid Siddiqui. Sunni hadith.) 4. [First Letter to Timothy, 2:5](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/1-timothy/2/5). King James Version 5. [Letter to the Hebrews, 7:25](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/hebrews/7/25). King James Version 6. [Gospel of John, 14:6](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/john/14/6). King James Version ## See Also - [How Old Was Aisha When She Married Muhammad?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/how-old-was-aisha) — In Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, Aisha says she was married at six and that the marriage was consummated at nine. Those reports also say she remained with him nine years, until his death at sixty-three. - [Jesus and Muhammad Compared](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/jesus-and-muhammad-compared) — The Qur’an calls both messengers, and calls Jesus the Messiah, born of Mary. The Gospels say the Word was God, crucified and raised. - [Was Muhammad Illiterate?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/was-muhammad-illiterate) — The Qur’an calls Muhammad the unlettered prophet, and a Sunni hadith says he answered the angel, “I do not know how to read.” The same Arabic word is also rendered “unlearned.” A treaty report says he wrote or had the line written. - [What Are Hadith and Sira?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/what-are-hadith-and-sira) — A hadith is a report of what Muhammad said or did. The sira is the biographical tradition of his life. Sunni and Shia Muslims do not treat the same hadith books as their canon. - [What Was Muhammad’s First Revelation?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/muhammads-first-revelation) — Sahih al-Bukhari says Muhammad’s first revelation came in the cave of Hira, when an angel pressed him and told him to recite. The words are Qur’an 96:1–5. Encyclopaedia Britannica dates the call to about 610.