Hundred Questions - The Prophet Sulayman (may peace be through him)
The Prophet Sulayman (may peace be through him)
Q84 It is said that Hazrat-i Sulayman (May peace be through him) was given a miraculous ring, by which he used to rule over men, jinns, beasts and birds and his throne was flying in the air. How far are such statements correct?
A84
- All these sayings are true, but in the esoteric (ta'wili) sense. The esoteric sense of "ring" is ism-i a`zam, which was given not only to Hazrat-i Sulayman (May peace be through him) but also to every Prophet and Imam. His rule over men and jinns etc. and the flying of his throne in the air was in spirituality, not in the external world. The spirituality of all Prophets and Imams is full of such wonders and marvels.
- The Qur'anic verse (2:285) alludes that there is no difference in the spirituality of the great Prophets and Imams. Their spirituality is common. Had it not been so, they would have been unaware of each other's status and ma`rifat would have been portioned into parts and nobody's ma`rifat and spirituality would have been perfect.
- Prophets and Imams are the kings of spirituality, and no wise person can doubt their perfect and complete spirituality. Here we will mention only the spirituality of a real mu'min, who is neither a Prophet nor an Imam, but only a traveller along the straight path. This mu'min has attained perfect ma`rifat as it is also dedicated to mu'mins after the Prophets and Imams. Now assess for yourself, what is the meaning of the perfect and complete ma`rifat of this mu'min? Ma`rifat means recognition and recognition is the result of observations. Again the question is: What is the domain of the ma`rifat of that `arif and which ma`rifat is included and which is left out of this domain? It is obvious that if this ma`rifat is perfect then no ma`rifat is left out of it.
- This explanation indicates that the spirituality of the Prophets and Imams is nowhere else but on the sirat-i mustaqim. Therefore, those mu'mins who follow them perfectly can see with the eye of their heart all those spiritual events, which are related to their status. This is the meaning of perfect ma`rifat.
This principle should be kept in mind that spirituality in its comprehensiveness is in reality only one, however as wisdom requires, in order to make the same miracles of the Prophets prominent, different explanations are given. Owing to that, apparently it seems that they had separate and different miracles, such as it was only Adam (May peace be through him) to whom the angels prostrated, the Ark belonged only to Noah (May peace be through him), the fire was turned into a garden only for Abraham (May peace be through him); the miraculous rod was given only to Musa (May peace be through him), none could raise the dead except `Isa (May peace be through him) and mi`raj belonged only to the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny), whereas it is not so. Spirituality, in fact, is a common thing and all miracles in reality are one, but their interpretations are different.
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