Malfuzat – Volume II — Page 63
63 of Allah. A major factor behind the misfortune of the Jews and their incurring the wrath of God was due to the fact that they continuously rejected the divinely commissioned ones of God Almighty and His Messengers, and continued to par- take in opposing them and causing them grief. Ultimately, this resulted in the wrath of Allah Almighty descending upon them. Another Aspect of the Holy Prophet sa Being the Seal of the Prophets I return to my earlier discussion and state that another aspect of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, as the Seal of the Prophets is also that Allah the Exalted, merely by His grace, has instilled this community with extraor- dinary and exceptional abilities. This is to such an extent that it is also stated in a Hadith: َ َاَنْبِیَآء ِ بَنِی ْ اِسْرَائِیْل ك ْ عُلَمَآء ُ اُمَّتِی The scholars of my community are like the Prophets of the Children of Israel. Though the scholars of Hadith may have their reservations, the light of my heart testifies to the truth of this Hadith, and I accept its authenticity without any questions or objections whatsoever. No saint has rejected this Hadith by way of anything disclosed to them in visions; in fact, if anything, they have confirmed it. The meaning of this Hadith is that, ‘The scholars of my community are like the Prophets from among the Children of Israel. ’ However, one should not be mislead by the word ‘scholars’. Some people are stuck on a word and are unable to grasp the underlying meaning. This is why such people are unable to progress in understanding the commentary of the Holy Quran. The Definition of a Godly Scholar A godly scholar is not one who is unmatched in Arabic morphology, syntax and logic. In fact, a godly scholar is one who constantly remains in fear of Allah the Exalted and whose tongue does not engage in vain speech. However, today we are passing through an era when even those whose profession it is to wash corpses before burial call themselves scholars and have taken this title for themselves. 1 Therefore, this word has lost its value immensely and has now taken on a mean- 1 It was customary in the subcontinent to employ people to wash the dead before burial. The reference made here is that even those who washed dead corpses by profession fancied themselves scholars on account of the scant knowledge they possessed of Islamic burial rites. [Publisher]