The laws of nubuwwah are not subject to change because the make-up and quality of man isn’t subject to change. Thus Muhammad (saw) is the final Nabi.
There is no verse indicating risalah has come to an end however, which is also the underlying belief of the Mahdi-Rasul concept.
Wilayah is essentially the manifestation of the Name al-Wali from amongst the endless qualities comprising the Domain of Names, pertaining to Allah.
Wilayah is eternal, nubuwwah on the other hand is limited to the life of this world.
The rank of being a Rasul is the peak of wilayah.
Wilayah can be divided into two groups:
- General wilayah: Formed through the purification attained by duly fulfilling the necessities of nubuwwah (as manifest on external scholars)
- Special wilayah: Formed as a result of having faith in the realities revealed from the source of risalah and thereby attaining yakeen (the state of certainty; to be in complete submission as a result of an absolute comprehension) and qurbiyyah (the state of divine closeness).
If we think of humanity as a pyramid, those at the tip of the pyramid are the Rasuls. Their function, in every time and age, is to teach people of their essential reality.
The waves of reality that spread to the world via the Rasuls reach us all, and each of us evaluate and utilize them according to our brain capacity. While I for example approach it from a Sufi perspective, a scientist may evaluate the same truth from a scientific viewpoint and express it in scientific language, and so on… Eventually, it is always the same single truth being articulated; the reality of man and the ways to best experience it.
The majority of people have an imitative faith in the knowledge of risalah, without really understanding it. They then try to practice the requirements of nubuwwah with this inadequate and imitative faith. Hence the warning, ‘They say “We have believed”... Say, “You did not believe! Say ‘We have submitted (become Muslims)’! For faith is not yet clarified and established in your consciousness!’[1]
This is why “mu’min” (believer; one who has faith) is a totally different dynamic to a “muslim” (one who has submitted).
Now reconsider the realities being swept under the carpet with the word “prophet”! Think about the extent of ignorance and denial hidden behind words like “Almighty God, beloved prophet, supreme saint…” etc.
To have faith in the teachings revealed through risalah is to be like Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and Hadhrat Ali (ra) the door of Knowledge. All such eminent beings have embarked their journey with an unshakeable faith in the realities revealed by the Rasul of Allah (saw) and experienced its direct result as manifesting the divine quality of wilayah in their lives.
Some reach this experience at a young age, some reach it in the last part of their lives, and some spend their lives with an imitative faith and an imitative practice of nubuwwah and change dimensions in this state.
Whatever the case, the truth of the mechanics of the system, the sunnatullah does not change: those who part this world as blind (to the reality) will forever remain blind!
Let us remember that the majority of the people of paradise are said to be naive!
Imagine the life awaiting those who squander their lives with gossip and idle works…
May Allah enable us to be of those for whom having faith in the realities disclosed by the Rasul of Allah (saw) has been made easy.
17 July 2007