The Reality of Khilafah — Page 21
C H AP T E R ON E—K HIL C H AP T E R ON E—K HIL A A FAH FAH 21 who is known as Dhun-N u rain [the Possessor of Two Lights; i. e. ‘Uthm a n], the gates of Islam and the foremost amongst the army of Khairul-An a m [the Best of Mankind]. Whosoever rejects their status, and disregards the proof of their greatness, and attempts to disgrace them instead of honouring them, and insults and curses them, I fear for him a tragic end and the loss of his faith. Those who insult and curse the Khulaf a’ and utter calumnies against them grow hard-hearted and become the target of Divine wrath. I have seen this happen on numerous occasions and I declare openly that bearing hatred towards these Chiefs [of faith] is a sure way of depriving oneself of divine blessings. Whoever harbours animosity towards them shuts upon himself the gates of mercy and forgiveness. The doors of knowledge and Divine reali- sation will not be open to him. Allah will leave him abandoned in the temptations of the world and its carnal passions. He will fall into the whims of the self and its pitfalls and Allah will include him among the outcast and the rejected. Indeed, they [the rightly guided Khulaf a’ ] were persecuted in the same way as the Prophets were, and insulted in the same way as the Messengers, and thus they truly became the heirs of the Prophets. They deserve the reward of being the Imams of all Muslims on the Day of Judgement. This is because if a true believer is cursed and denounced as if he were a disbeliever, for no fault of his own, and is subjected to unjustified abuse and insult, he takes on the likeness of the Prophets and the elects of God. He is rewarded as the Prophets were rewarded and receives compensation as the Messengers did. There is no doubt that they [the Khulaf a’ ] were the foremost in following Khairul- Anbiy a ’ [the Best of Prophets]. Allah, the Almighty, the High, has praised them as the ‘Exalted Nation’. He aided them with the Holy