The Quran

اللَّهُ الَّذي خَلَقَ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضَ وَما بَينَهُما في سِتَّةِ أَيّامٍ ثُمَّ استَوىٰ عَلَى العَرشِ ۖ ما لَكُم مِن دونِهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلا شَفيعٍ ۚ أَفَلا تَتَذَكَّرونَ

Ali Unal

God is He Who has created the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six days, then established Himself on the Supreme Throne.¹ You have, apart from Him, no guardian (to whom you might refer the ultimate meaning and outcome of your affairs), nor any intermediary (who, without His leave, can cause anything of use to reach you).² Will you not reflect and be mindful?

On the creation of the heavens and the earth in six days and God’s establishing Himself on the Supreme Throne, see 2: 29, note, 28; 7: 54, note 11.
Shafī’ (translated as intermediary) means one who intercedes, and it is usually taken to mean one who pleads with God on behalf of people. However, it is clear in this verse that this phrase is only concerned with worldly affairs. It is also clear that the pagans who did not believe in the Hereafter would never think of intercession in connection with the afterlife. Therefore, this phrase here means any intermediary agent or principle that acts between humankind and the origin of anything that is of use to them. Humans had adopted some of their so-called deities to act as intermediaries between God and themselves for their worldly affairs. The verse categorically rejects such a belief as this, as well as the creative effect of any material or immaterial cause in the creation or government of the universe. The material causes and what we call “natural forces and laws” are only titles we give to the executions of His orders by God, or the works of His Names. It is God Who creates, administers, maintains, and provides.