Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 498
498 HAQIQATUL-WAḤI—THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIVINE REVELATION designated a Prophet; that is to say, he will be so honoured with such plentiful converse and discourse [with God] and so plentifully will the news of the unseen be disclosed to him as cannot be manifested to any- one except a Prophet as is said by the Almighty Allah: فَلَا يُظْهِرُ عَلَى غَيْبِةٍ أَحَدًا إِلَّا مَنِ ارْتَضَى مِنْ رَّسُولٍ : Meaning that, God does not grant anyone complete authority and mastery over His domain of the unseen, that can be achieved in abun- dance and clarity, except the one who is His chosen Messenger. And this is an established fact that the degree to which God Almighty has conversed and addressed me and the degree to which He has disclosed matters of the unseen to me, is a bounty that has not been granted to anyone except me in the last 1,300 years of Hijrah up to this very day. Should anyone challenge this, the onus of proof lies upon him. In short, I am the only one of this ummah to be honoured with so great a share of divine revelation and knowledge of the unseen, and such a great share of this bounty has not been bestowed upon any of the auliyā' and abdāl and aqṭāb² among the Muslims who have passed before me. Therefore, for this reason I alone have been distinguished for the title of Prophet. None of the others deserve this title because the plenitude of revelation and news of the unseen is the prerequisite for it and that prerequisite was not found in them. It was indeed necessary for it to occur so that the prophecy by the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, be fulfilled with clarity. Had the other righteous ones who passed before me partaken of the converse with the Divine and knowledge of the unseen to the same measure, they too would have deserved to be 1. Surah al-Jinn, 72:27-28 [Publisher] 2. These terms are used to honour the auliya'ullah. [Publisher]