Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani
al-Shafaa - ضمن "Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dār ʿĀlam al-Fawāʾid lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ
al-Shafaa (Arabic: رسالة في الشفاعة, lit. 'Treatise on Intercession') is a short theological treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1313–1386 AH / 1895–1966 CE) addressing the concept, conditions, and categories of intercession (shafaʿah), as well as rulings connected to supplication (duʿa).
Manuscript and Publication
The treatise was left incomplete by the author, who drafted it in pencil across 18 pages. Its manuscript was preserved in Maktabat al-Haram al-Makki (MS 4785), appended to a notebook containing the second part of al-Muallimi's commentary on Abd al-Hamid al-Farahi's exegesis of Surat al-Fil. It was published as the eighth treatise in the theological compilation volume (volume 6) of Athar al-Shaykh al-Allamah Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Muallimi al-Yamani, edited by a team of scholars under the scientific direction of Ali ibn Muhammad al-Umran.
Content and Themes
Al-Muallimi opens the treatise with a brief overview of divergent human opinions regarding intercession, critiquing preachers and popular storytellers who facilitated or justified invalid forms of it. He then explores several linguistic and conceptual dimensions of the topic, noting:
- The linguistic definition of shafaʿah.
- That neither the ultimate acceptance of an intercession nor that it proceed strictly from an inferior to a superior is an inherent condition of its definition.
- The requirement that the intercessor must not be the possessor or dispenser of the need being interceded for.
- The categories of intercession before God.
The work also examines various legal and practical aspects of supplication (duʿa), including the ruling and significance of requesting prayers, leaving the choice of answer to God, the dislike of supplicating on behalf of a person who is persistent in major sins upon their request, and the specific circumstances in which asking others for supplication is recommended.
Answer updated