Tafsir of As-Sajdah 32:4

(Allah is the One Who created the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them in six days; then He established Himself upon the Throne.) Its explanation has passed previously according to the schools of the predecessors (Salaf) and the successors (Khalaf).

(You have, besides Him, no protector and no intercessor.) That is: You have, while bypassing Allah—Mighty and Majestic is He—meaning, bypassing His pleasure and obedience, no protector and no intercessor. This means that neither of these two created beings can avail you anything before Him, Glorified be His Majesty, without His pleasure.

The phrase "besides Him" (min dunihi) is a state (hal) from the prepositional phrase "for you" (lakum), and the operative agent is the preposition or that to which it relates. According to this, there is no evidence in the address that He, Exalted is He, is an intercessor for someone else, which would lead to the question: "How can that be, when He is too Exalted in status to be an intercessor?" Suffice it to refute that is the response of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to the Bedouin when he said: "We seek Allah’s intercession with you."

It may be said that what is prohibited is applying the term "intercessor" to Him—Exalted is He—in its literal sense. As for applying it to Him—Glorified be He—in the sense of "helper" metaphorically, it is not prohibited. It is permissible to consider that here; in which case, "besides Him" may be a state (hal) from what follows it, having been brought forward because it is indefinite, with dun meaning "other than." The meaning would be: You have no protector and no helper other than Allah—Mighty and Majestic is He.

It is also permissible for it to be a state from the prepositional phrase (lakum), as in the previous view, and the meaning would be: If you bypass His guardianship and His help—Glorified and Exalted is He—you have no protector and no helper.

It appears to me that the expression "intercessor" here is by way of hypothetical assimilation (mushakalah), because the warned polytheists often used to say regarding their gods: "These are our intercessors," and they claimed that each one of them was an intercessor for them.

(Will you not then take heed?) That is: Do you not hear these admonitions and thus take heed by them? Or: Do you hear them and yet not take heed? In the first case, the denial is directed at both the lack of hearing and the lack of heed; in the second, it is directed at the lack of heed despite the occurrence of what necessitates it, namely, hearing.