Surah 40. Ghafir, Ayah 18

Regarding the problem of "intercession" (shafaah) and its meaning in the Qur an, see note [7] on 10:3 .

Hearts will come right up to the Throats to choke them: an idiom implying that the whole of their life-functions will be choked up with terror. But a more subtle meaning emerges from further analysis. The heart (or the breast) is the seat of affection, emotion, and every kind of feeling, such as terror, pain, despair, etc. These things will as it were overflow right up to the throat and choke it. The throat is the vehicle for the voice; their voice will be choked, and they will be able to say nothing. The throat is the channel for food, which goes to the stomach and maintains a healthy functioning of life; the choking means that the healthy functioning will stop, and there will be nothing but woe.

In that enforcement of personal responsibility, what sympathy or intercession can the wrong-doers get?