The Guiding Light — Page 355
S u rah al-Baqarah, Verse 255-258 355 There is no helper nor ﺷﻔ ﻴ ﻊ shaf i ‘ ) intercession for you accept All a h; will you not then ponder? (32:5) Now as God alone is the real ﺷﻔ ﻴ ﻊ shaf i ‘ ) i. e. He is the One connection with Whom really matters, the Prophets of God become ﺷﻔ ﻴ ﻊ shaf i ‘ ) in a secondary way only. Whosoever among the Prophets represents God on earth at a particular time and in a particular place becomes a ﺷﻔ ﻴ ﻊ shaf i ‘ ) for the people of that time and that place. From this it follows that the Prophets of God who passed before Islam were ﺷﻔ ﻴ ﻊ shaf i ‘ ) for their own followers and in their own time only; with the advent of Islam the period of their ﺷﻔﺎﻋﺔ ( shaf a ‘a h ) came to an end. Now the Prophet of Islam is the only ﺷﻔ ﻴ ﻊ shaf i ‘ ) for all times and all peoples. Being a perfect image of God he is (1) the perfect ﺷﻔ ﻴ ﻊ shaf i ‘ ) and, having a universal mission he is (2) the universal ﺷﻔ ﻴ ﻊ shaf i ‘ ); and, having cancelled all previous connections he is now (3) the only ﺷﻔ ﻴ ﻊ shaf i ‘ ) (peace and blessings of God be on him!). For proof of the fact that the Holy Prophet sa has