The Children of ISIS

Muhammad's Intercession is Useless

Some time ago I posted a hadith about Muhammad being an intercessor on the Day of Judgment.

But here is another hadith wherein he clearly says that such intercession is useless:

When Allah revealed the Verse: "Warn your nearest kinsmen," Allah's Apostle got up and said, 

"O people of Quraish (or said similar words)! Buy (i.e. save) yourselves (from the Hellfire) as I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment; O Bani Abd Manaf! I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment, O Safiya, the Aunt of Allah's Apostle! I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment; O Fatima bint Muhammad! Ask me anything from my wealth, but I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment."

Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 51, Number 16

All in all the topic of the intercession of the Prophet is ambiguous and very unclear. Did Muslims impose on Muhammad sayings about him being a savior later in order to exalt him above Jesus? This strikes me as likely.

Worry about conversions to Christianity spreading

This article is about a member of the royal Kuwaiti family who recently converted to Christianity. There are some questions as to his identity, but the story has spread.

What caught my attention though was at the end of the article:

After Heidar Moslehi, the Iranian intelligence minister, asked Muslim seminaries to become proactive in stopping the spread of Christianity, a high-ranking cleric declared that Evangelical Christianity is the most horrifying intelligence and security organisation in the world. This statement seems to have appeared on press agencies close to the Revolutionary Guard. In a conference on “New Age cults” held in Varamin, a district south of Teheran, Akhond Mohsen Alizadeh declared: “We should not allow these cults to question Islamic jurisprudence under the cover of mysticism.” He went on to add: “They tell the youth that God is wrathful and horrible in Islam but is love in Christianity. Also, Christian preachers answer the questions and doubts of youth in their own interest and try to attract them.” Nevertheless a whole series of signs seem to indicate that non-traditional Christianity – there are Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Iran as well as a large Armenian community – is spreading. The regime’s press recently spoke of them with concern and the number of cases of repression and condemnation following conversions is growing.

I think these two paragraphs communicate to us two things: 1) the authorities don't understand evangelicalism at all, and 2) they are worried.

In any case, let's pray that we would continue to see these conversions. And let's also pray for the traditional churches that they would be more active in welcoming in converts from Islam.