Truth Prevails — Page 9
( 9 ) Promised Messiah wrote: “You must take care always to bear in mind, for this Ummat there is a standing promise from Allah that it would receive those selfsame blessings, in its own place, which fell to the share of the earlier Prophets, and Siddiqs. Included in those blessings, are the tidings and prophecies according to which the earlier prophets were called prophets. However, except, in the case of the Prophets, and the Divine Messengers, the Holy Quran closes the door of the Unseen and Unknown, as it is obvious from the verse “La yuzhiro ‘ala ghaibihi ahadan illa manirtaza min rasulin ”. Thus we find that for obtaining pure and clear knowledge of the Unseen and Unknown, it is necessary that one should be a Prophet: and we find that the Quranic verse namely “ an’amta alaihim ” bears witness to it, that this Ummat has not been barred from this clear and pure knowledge and awareness of the Unseen and the Unknown as mentioned in the above verse, but it calls for a Prophethood and Apostleship, to which any direct, independent access is not now possible for any mortal man. We have, therefore, to hold that for the grant and conferment the door is open through buruziat , zilliyat and Fana firrosul (to render these terms into rough and ready equivalents in English, through becoming an Image of the Holy Prophet Mohammad, his perfect representation and reproduction in respect of all qualities, and by merging one’s own mind into the mind of the master, the Holy Prophet Mohammad. )” ( Ek ghalati ka izala, footnote vii) In the light of this statement of the Promised Messiah, the common content between all the Prophets of God, the content which qualifies them for bearing this title, is revealment of portions, fragments, or pieces, of the Unseen, Unknown, a revealment from the the Lord-God, plentiful and frequent, to which the door remains open for the Ummat of the Holy Prophet Mohammad. It also becomes clear from this reference that the conferment of zilli Prophethood on the Promised Messiah as well, was a case of conferment alone, without any question of right or merit to win it. Therefore, the only difference between the Prophethood of the earlier periods, and that of the Promised Messiah, lies in the manner of this conferment, not in the Nabuwwat itself. Therefore Mr. Faruqi is not correct when he says where a man’s purification of the mind has been earned by him, or brought about; on the basis of his devotion and obedience to another man, he cannot be called a Prophet; since his attainment of this elevation carries a vein of an earnest endeavour on his part, to win this position, he cannot be regarded as a Prophet, Prophethood being a position always conferred, as a pure grant,