The body has an age, but consciousness doesn’t! The age of consciousness is its age of knowledge! One’s age of knowledge depends on a healthy life and contemplation… So, I guess the smart thing to do is increase our age of knowledge as much as we can before we leave this world… As Rumi said, “The past has passed, my dear, today is a new day!”

They asked me yesterday about the intercession of the Rasul of Allah (saw) and why it is said to be upon the ‘committers of great sin’.

Who are the committers of great sin?

I said two things need to be understood first.

People think ‘intercession’ is going to take place by someone grabbing hold of your arm and dragging you somewhere! Do you really think someone is going to hold you and take you somewhere?

There is intercession in this world, in the life to come, in the place of gathering and in hell…

There is the intercession of Rasulullah (saw), and that of the saints and scholars.

What is intercession? What is its purpose? Is it only to save people from hell?

What is the greatest of sins?

The verse says, “Assuredly, duality is a great wrongdoing!”[1]

That is, to reduce Allah to the concept of a god! This is duality!

The Rasul (saw) says “After me, my people will not openly engage in external duality, what I fear on behalf of them is the hidden type of duality.”

Then, to worship a god is the biggest of mistakes and the root cause of all other misdoings!

Hidden duality or belief in a deity-god lies at the root of all sins.

The verse “O believers, believe in Allah” came to the companions who believed in Muhammad (saw) and the Quran, but who had not yet forgone the concept of godhood. If the companions who saw the Rasul of Allah were like this, what about us?

The way to believe in Allah and be saved from hell and hidden duality depends on our eligibility to intercession.

“Who can intercede in His sight except by the permission of Allah?”[2]

If we take this as “Who can intercede except by the permission of god” our hellfire will not be extinguished very easily! We’ll continue to burn and suffer!

What is the difference between the sentence, “Who can intercede except by the permission of God” and “Who can intercede except by the permission of Allah?”

Let us rephrase the latter:

“Who can intercede in His sight except by the forces that manifest from the Names in one’s essence?”

To give a parable, can a treasure hidden in your house be found in another building?

How can intercession reach us when we are constantly repelling it?

So long as the curtain that’s veiling our insight is pulled over us, we cannot attain intercession.

How can intercession reach us while we still believe in a deity-god and His ‘Ambassador’ and the Arabic book of commands sent by a god who speaks Arabic!

How can we expect intercession while wishfully thinking the saints of god are going to magically save us from hell with their magic wands?

If Allah (the forces that manifest from the Names in our essence) does not accept intercession, who can intercede? How will the curtain veiling our insight be removed and allow us to reach intercession? And thus, how can we be cleansed from hidden duality and truly believe in Allah, the essential reality of our being and all things, and duly READ the Quran? Is it not stated that those who are not cleansed from duality should not touch the Quran?...