Treasure of Knowledge Part II - Solution of a Question
Solution of a Question
Tags: Hazrat Ibrahim, infallible, pure, nafs-i kull, nisti, world of command
It is presented that indeed the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) was pure and infallible by birth. In order to substantiate this there are many proofs available in the holy Qur'an, in the ahadith, intellect and tradition, some of which follow:
1. It is mentioned in surah-yi Ibrahim (14:35) that Hazrat Ibrahim (May peace be through him) prayed to Almighty God to protect him and his progeny (i.e., present and future children) from idolatry because not only is it deviation (14:36) but impurity (22:30) as well. This prayer mentions both external and internal idolatry. In short, in this prayer of Hazrat Ibrahim (May peace be through him) he supplicates to remain pure and innocent by refraining from all types of sins. The holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) said: “I am the fruit of the prayer of my forefather Ibrahim (May peace be through him)”. Thus it is evident that all the Prophets and Imams from the progeny of Ibrahim (May peace be through him) are pure and infallible by birth.
2. It is evident from the wisdom of God's sacred farman: “la`amruka” (by your life, 15:72) that the entire life of the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) was the bearer of purity and infallibility. Had this not been true, the Lord of the worlds would not have sworn by His beloved's life, since oaths are [always] sworn by pure things.
3. The holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) was pure and infallible which is why it is said in his honour: “And most surely you conform to sublime morality” (68:4). It is obvious that honesty, piety, infallibility and purity do not lie outside the meanings of sublime morality (khuluq-i `azim).
4. Moreover according to the verse: “Surely the most honourable of you in the sight of Allah is the one most righteous of you” (49:13), the attribute of piety applies firstly and on the highest rank to the best of humankind (khayru'l-bashar). Thus another name for piety is infallibility.
5. Now the question remains regarding “wa wajadaka zallan fahada” (And He found you unaware of spirituality and He guided you, 93:7). Had this statement been about a common man, its meaning would depend on all the conditions of his life, that perhaps he was not on the path of religion so God showed him the path of religion or that he was ignorant, so God made him a scholar, etc. However, here this verse is regarding the Chief of the Messengers (sardar-i rusul) and the Guide of the paths (hadi-yi subul) whose purity and infallibility is mentioned by Almighty God as “Ta-ha” (20:1) i.e., “O the purified and the infallible!” Therefore, the purport of the above-mentioned verse should be based on all those Qur'anic attributes of the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny): that in the beginning the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) was unaware of spirituality, revelation and prophethood (kar-i nubuwwat) and then revelation was sent [on him] and after passing through different stages of guidance he became the guide (hadi). This is because “fa-hada” addresses the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) thus it mentions the absolute guidance (hidayat-i kamilah), which is the rank of the [spiritual] guide and leader. It is with respect to this final and sublime guidance and in view of the exalted standard of revelation that the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) was called “zallan” in the beginning, namely that at that time the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) was not aware of it. Another example of this reality is that there is an ultimate height and an ultimate lowness and between them there are many stages. Thus at each stage if observed from below it appears high if observed from above it appears low. This in reality is the state of guidance as well.
6. The Qur'an describes the complete life of the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny), from the beginning till the end, as the best model (uswah-yi hasanah, 33:21), hence it is evident that the word “zallan” is not at all according to the standard of [common] humanity and the path of religion, rather it is with respect to the angelic path (rah-i malakut) and the ascent to the higher world (mi`raj-i `alam-i bala).
7. These realities pertain to the physical life of the Chief of the Messengers (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) (sarwar-i anmbiya'), whilst his luminous life as the Universal Intellect (`aql-i kulli) is eternal and everlasting. An example of the holy Prophet's life can be given from water. The existence of water is in two ranks: first the water which is called ocean and the second is the one which separates from the ocean and exists in the form of vapours, snow, rain, rivulet, river etc. and then returns to the ocean. Thus the saying “Inna li'llahi wa inna ilayhi raji`un” (i.e., to Allah we belong, and to Him is our return, 2:156) presents this very concept to all humans, however this example is applicable first to the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) and the Imam (May peace be through him).
8. In connection with the concept of the creation of the universe it is said that according to “And everything rotates in a circle” (21:33), existence and non-existence are revolving on a circle like day and night such that it has neither a start nor an end. It means that this great universe always undergoes construction and destruction as Mawlana Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah (May peace be through him) says in his Memoirs under the title “Islam, the religion of my ancestors”. Pir Nasir-i Khusraw(q) too, has said that this world will transform [from physical to spiritual] when the Universal Soul (nafs-i kulli) completes its objective. This means that all the conditions and states will change as mentioned in Wajh-i din. Furthermore, he has said that non-existence (nisti) is actually ibda` i.e., the world of command (`alam-i amr) which is parallel to the world of creation (`alam-i khalq). Thus non-existence (nisti) is not as people consider it; hence absolute non-existence (`adam-i mahz) is impossible.
9. It can also be concluded from the overall wisdom of Hazrat Pir(q) that when the current nafs-i kull will reach the rank of `aql-i kull then the next-ranked soul will again start the same action as the previous nafs-i kull. Such allusions are also found in the wise Qur'an.
10. In short, in the light of Qur'anic wisdom, the universe does not appear to end at any moment in time, except that the process of transformation [from physical to spiritual and vice versa] always continues in this great universe. Further, it is also possible that this universe continues to undergo innumerable transformations [from physical to spiritual and vice versa] and numerous years may be fixed for each such process. In this process too, the same transformation will continue from the world of creation to the world of command and vice versa so that there will not be absolute non-existence (ma`dumiyyat), but the more correct idea is that the world of creation and the world of command or existence and nonexistence continue in parallel.
Wa's-salam!
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