Khilafat-e-Rashidah — Page 201
KHILAFAT-E-R A SHIDAH 201 ignorant person may say that my statement about the Prophets is derogatory, but there is actually no element of humiliation in it. When it comes to the question of Prophethood, we’ll say that Abu Bakr ra was not a prophet nor was Umar ra , or Usman ra , or Ali ra. But when there is a question of the establishment of religion, we’ll say that in this matter, the Khulaf a ’ who succeeded the Holy Prophet sa are surely greater than the previous Prophets. The fact is this that since Prophets who were raised before the Holy Prophet sa did not bring complete sharia, either Prophets were raised or kings were appointed after them. When there was the need of revelation for the reformation of the public, a Prophet was raised, and he got the status of Prophethood directly. When there was a problem in the system, a king was appointed. The people had not yet reached the maturity to manage their own affairs. Therefore, Allah, the Almighty directly assigned not only the status of Prophethood but also of kingship. It is said in the Holy Quran: [Allah has appointed for you Tal u t as a king (Al-Baqarah, 2:248) ]. The people were still not capable of electing their king nor was the sharia so perfect so as to enable one of its followers the acquisition of Prophethood. On the other hand, the Holy Prophet sa brought a complete code of life, so it resulted in a distinctive status for both types of Khulaf a ’. The Khulaf a ’ of the previous Prophets were Prophets though they were