subhan Allah brother Chishti! The most inspiring and beautiful post ever on Sunniport imho and yes the booklet recommended by brother Aqib is a masterpiece too.
Salam. I would recommend reading of Ala hazrat's book - 40 Ahadeeth on the Interecession of the Holy Prophet. File is attached & also is available here www.ahlesunnat.biz/intercession.pdf
this is quick translation extracted from haqiqat-e-bay’at by the Imam. One: The idea of salvation Even though salvation would in certain circumstances be after punishment, yet, the belief in this concept is part of the faith of the Ahlus Sunnah wa Al-Jama‘ah and is considered necessary for every Muslim to believe in. This is not subject to a person having a Spiritual Master or not having one. What is sufficient is for the person to accept that his guide is the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him. In this aspect, we must realize that those individuals who lived in far flung remote areas and to whom the message of a Prophet did not reach, then - for them, if they believe in the existence of One Creator, meaning the Oneness of Allah, then they would eventually also achieve salvation. The proof for this: In the Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, Sayyiduna Anas narrates that the Mercy for the Universe, the Holy Prophet, Sayyiduna Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him- has explained that, “The people will present themselves to me on the day of Judgement after becoming despondent with the (reply) of the other Prophets. I will reply, “I am for it” (meaning I am the one who would intercede for you). I would then seek the permission of the Almighty and I would receive permission. I would then fall into prostration. The Almighty would reply, ‘O Muhammad, raise your head: say and it will be listened to; ask and it will be granted; intercede and intercession would be accepted.’ I will plead, ‘O my Lord! My Umma, My Umma My Lord would reply, ‘Whoever has Iman, (faith), as small as a barley seed in his heart, remove him from Hell.’ I would then return to My Lord and make the same supplication, again I would be told, ‘O Muhammad, raise your head: say and it will be listened to; ask and it will be granted; intercede and intercession would be accepted.’ I will say, ‘O my Lord! My Umma, My Umma My Lord would reply, “Whoever has even a slightest amount of faith, remove him from Hell” I will then approach my Lord a third time. The third time I will be told: ‘O Muhammad, raise your head: say and it will be listened to; ask and it will be granted; intercede and intercession would be accepted.’ Again I will say, ‘O my Lord! My Umma, My Umma I will be told, “Remove him from Hell who has even less than the smallest amount of Iman” I will then approach my Lord a fourth time and I will be told, ‘O Muhammad, raise your head: say and it will be listened to; ask and it will be granted; intercede and intercession would be accepted.’ I will then ask my Lord, “O Allah! Give me permission to remove those who accepted Your Oneness.” I will be told, “That is not because of you but by My Honour, Glory, Greatness and Majesty, I will remove everyone who accepted my Oneness” I say: This cannot be construed as a rejection of the Holy Prophet’s - blessings and peace be upon him - intercession. After all, it was because of the request of the Holy Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - that they were removed in the first place from Hell. What can be understood is that they never had the opportunity of being interceded through the station of Prophethood. They merely possessed knowledge as per their requirement and had limited knowledge in the Oneness of Allah, but they still believed in the Oneness of Allah. I again maintain that the above mentioned set of circumstances cannot be understood to mean that it contradicts the authentic hadith in which the Holy Prophet, Sayyiduna Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - has declared that, “I will continue to approach my Lord. For whomsoever, intercession would be asked for, it would be accepted. Finally my Lord will say, ‘Among all the creation whosoever is among your followers and they passed away in Tawhid, (meaning that they accepted Allah as One), let them enter Paradise.” This has been reported in the Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal with a chain of authentic narrators from Sayyiduna Anas. The reason that this cannot be considered as a contradiction of the previously mentioned episode which would transpire on the day of Judgement is that by this incident, the Muslims are being described by the article of faith “La ilaha illal lahu hu” which means “There is none worthy of worship but Allah” and is meant to be the complete article of faith. This means that they also accepted the Prophethood of the Holy Messenger, Sayyiduna Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him. This has been mentioned through Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah as found in the Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Sahih Ibn Haban in which the Holy Prophet, Sayyiduna Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - has stated that, “My intercession is for everyone of those who sincerely testified to the Oneness of Allah and my Prophethood and whose tongue was in accordance with his heart and his heart was in accordance with his tongue.” “O Allah! Bear witness and Your Divine Testimony is sufficient that I testify with both heart and tongue that there is none worthy of worship but You and that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. I have refrained from all misled groups declaring myself a sincere Muslim and I am not among the idol worshippers.” Secondly, there is the issue of complete salvation. This entails entering paradise without having to be punished. There are two facets to this. Actual occurrence, (meaning the act of entering Paradise). This is the belief of the Ahlus Sunnah wa Al-Jama‘ah that the Almighty if He so wishes would allow a person to enter Paradise even though he possesses countless minor sins, and would make a person enter Hell because of one single sin, even though he may possess countless good. This first act is considered as His Divine Mercy and the second act is considered as His Divine Justice. There will be many such sinners who have committed such major sins who will also be pardoned through the intercession of the Holy Prophet, Sayyiduna Muhammad – blessings and peace be upon him. After all, the Holy Prophet, Nabi Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - has stated that, “My intercession is for the major sinners among my Umma”. This has been recorded in the Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Ibn Haban, Hakim, Baihaqi from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik and Imam Baihaqi has also mentioned that this is a sahih hadith, meaning an authenthic hadith. Imam Tirmidhi, Ibn Haban and Hakim have recorded this from Sayyiduna Jabir ibn Abdullah. Imam al-Tabarani in his al-Mu'jam al-Kabir from Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas. Khatib from Ka’ab bin Hajrah and from Abdullah ibn Umar. The Holy Prophet, Sayyiduna Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - has stated that, “My Lord gave me the opportunity of either intercession or accepting half my Umma entering Paradise without punishment. I have chosen intercession because it is more general and more complete. Do you think that (this intercession) is for the pure Muslims? No, it is for those immersed in sins and are major sinners.” We sincerely give thanks to Allah for this. This hadith has been recorded by Imam Ahmad with a confirmed chain of narrators by Imam al-Tabarani in his al-Mu'jam al-Kabir from Abdullah ibn Umar and by Ibn Majah from Abu-Musa al-Ash'ari. Imam Ahmad has recorded this from Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Umar and Ibn Majah from Sayyiduna Abu-Musa al-Ash'ari. There will also be those fortunate souls whose sins would be turned to good. The Almighty declares, “The Almighty would change their sins to good and Allah is Forgiving, Most Merciful”. Proof for this. In the hadith it is stated that on the day of Judgement, a person would be presented. (The Angels would be commanded) to present all his minor sins and not to present his major sins. He will be asked whether he had committed such and such a sin on a certain day. He will agree to this. He will be in fear waiting to listen to his major sins. The Almighty will declare, “Replace every sin of his with good”. The person would then ask, “O Allah! I have many other sins, I did not hear about them?” It is stated that when the Holy Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - mentioned this, he smiled to such an extent that his blessed teeth became clearly visible. This hadith has been mentioned by Imam Tirmidhi from Sayyiduna Abu Dharr. In brief, the “Actual occurrence”, (meaning the act of entering Paradise) is totally dependent on having accepted Islam and is based on the Mercy of Allah and His beloved Prophet, Sayyiduna Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him. The second type is hope. In other words, the person must have such deeds, actions, words and conditions that he must have this hope that if he dies in the state of faith, then he must have hope that he would enter Paradise through the Infinite Mercy of the Almighty. This has been explained in the Holy Quran where the Almighty has declared that, “Hasten towards the Mercy of your Lord and Paradise whose expanse encompasses the heavens and earth.” please note that the translation is quick and has not been edited so if there are any errors please let me know.
