How can the intercession of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, for his uncle Abu Talib be reconciled with the Quranic verses that state the unacceptability of ransom or the ineffectiveness of intercession for disbelievers, such as His saying, the Almighty: "Indeed, those who disbelieved and died while they were disbelievers - never will there be accepted from one of them an amount of gold filling the earth, even if he were to offer it in ransom. For those there will be a painful punishment, and they will have no helpers" and His saying: "So no intercession of intercessors will benefit them"?

Al-Bukhari and Muslim reported that Al-Abbas asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, "What have you availed for your uncle, Abu Talib?" He replied, "He is in a shallow puddle of fire, and were it not for me, he would have been in the lowest depth of the Fire." The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, mentioned that Abu Talib would have the lightest punishment among the people of Hellfire, and his intercession would benefit him on the Day of Judgment.

There is no contradiction between the verses that state that no ransom will be accepted from disbelievers and that their torment will not be lightened, and the hadiths that speak of Abu Talib. The verses about ransom pertain to the Hereafter, not to the disbeliever's deeds in this world. The verses indicate that once a disbeliever sees the torment and enters Hellfire, his punishment will not be lightened.

Some scholars have opined that the support a disbeliever provides to Muslims in this world may be a reason for a lighter torment, but this does not mean their removal from Hellfire or their entry into Paradise.

Al-Bayhaqi said that lightening the punishment for disbelievers is possible for their crimes other than disbelief, due to the good deeds they performed. Others, however, believe that the lightening of Abu Talib’s punishment is a unique case, and that Allah may lighten the punishment for some disbelievers due to their sins, to please the intercessor, not as a reward for the disbeliever.