The Honour of Prophets — Page 15
15 mankind, due to his equal nearness to both, he became, as it were, a chord between two bows. Therefore, the con ditions that are necessary for intercession were present in him. This is the reason that in His Word, God put forth testimony that he stood between mankind and God just as a common chord between two arches. In another instance, describing the nearness of the Holy Prophet to God, the Holy Quran says: 8 َ ِ رَبِّ الْعٰلَمِيْن ِ ﷲ ْ قُلْ اِنَّ صَلَاتِيْ وَ نُسُكِيْ وَ مَحْيَايَ وَ مَمَاتِي In other words, announce to the people that my con dition is such that I have become lost to myself and all my worship is dedicated wholly to God. This alludes to the fact that until a person attains to perfection, they cannot purely worship God. A portion of his worship is devoted to God while a portion of it springs from selfish motives, because such a one seeks greatness and grandeur for their own self just as one ought to desire greatness and grandeur for God, this being the essence of worship. Similarly, a certain extent of his worship is for the sake of people because the majesty, greatness, power and authority which ought to be reserved for God alone, he ascribes in part to God’s creation as well. Therefore, he worships God just as he worships his own 8 Say, ‘My Prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds. ’ ( al-An’am, 6:163)