Al-Razi, the Ash'ari scholar of the 6th and early 7th centuries, affirmed:
a) That
shafaa'ah (
intercession) belongs to none but Allaah alone, and
intercession can never take place except with Allah's permission - (
see this article),
b) That
du'a (
supplication) is the loftiest of the stations of al-ubudiyyah (servitude, worship), is the most excellent of the types of
worship, and the reality of
du'a is such that incorporates other forms of
worship such as humility (dhull), servitude (uboodiyyah), incapacity (inkisaar), poverty, need (maskanah) - (
see this article),
c) That none of the pagans ever intended to
worship the statues or idols, rather the acts of
worship they performed were directed to those in the graves, and their reason was that they were intending to solicit their
intercession - (see
this article and
this article),
d) That many were found in the time of al-Razi who flocked to the graves and venerated them with the desire of soliciting the
intercession of the righteous dead - (
see here),
e) That no nation in history ever believed in
Ruboobiyyah for other than Allaah (with an exception for the Dualists) and that none of those who
worship other than Allaah believe that what they
worship has any independent power or control. And that what actually led people to
worship things were certain philosophical and other reasons and from them were the soliciting of the
intercession of the pious, righteous dead. And further, that whatever they took as focal points of
worship (pictures, idols, statues, graves, tombs) were never intended for
worship at all, rather they were simply focal points to allow the direction of
worship to the righteous dead - (
see here),
f) finally, that seeking
intercession from other than Allaah is something which deprives a person from receiving
intercession at all (
see here).