2. TEN DEGREES OF GUIDANCE (1)

2. TEN DEGREES OF GUIDANCE (1)

          The classical Muslim scholar Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawzillah (691-751/1292-1350) in his book Madārik al-Sālikīn (Mental Faculties of Followers of Spiritual Path) mentions ten degrees of guidance    (مَرَاتِبُ الْهِداَيَة)  endowed by Allah to His servants. The first degree of guidance which is the highest degree is Allah’s direct talking to His servant in his wakefulness but behind a veil, like His direct talking to Prophet Moses a.s. Allah said:

... وَكَلَّمَ اللَّهُ مُوسَى تَكْلِيمًا (النساء:164)

… and to Mūsā (Moses) Allah spoke directly. (Q. 4:164)

The use of maṣdar (verbal noun) تَكْلِيمًا (lit. "speaking") indicates that the speaking is not as a figure of speech or metaphorical, but real speaking. It happened to the Prophet in his mi‘rāj (ascension to heaven).

                 The second degree of guidance is Allah’s waḥy (revelation), “in the form of true dreams which came true like bright daylight”, whereas the third degree is the sending of an angel to them, namely, Gabriel (Jibrīl or Jibrā’īl) a.s. either in the form of a human being or as his own appearance, and reveals to them what Allah wants to reveal to them. These three degrees of guidance are only for prophets and messengers. Allah mentions in the Qur’an as follows:                

وَمَا كَانَ لِبَشَرٍ أَنْ يُكَلِّمَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَّا وَحْيًا أَوْ مِنْ وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ أَوْ يُرْسِلَ

 رَسُولًا فَيُوحِيَ بِإِذْنِهِ مَا يَشَاءُ إِنَّهُ عَلِيٌّ حَكِيمٌ (الشورى:51)

(Q. 42:51)

It is not given to any human being that Allah should

speak to him unless (it be) by Revelation, or from behind

 a veil, or (that) He sends a Messenger to reveal what

He wills by His Leave. Verily, He is the Most

High, Most Wise. (Q./42:51)

          When the Prophet was asked by al-Ḥarith ibn Hishām how revelation came to him, he replied:

Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell, this

 form of Inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state

 passes off after I have grasped what is inspired. Sometimes

the angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me and

I grasp whatever he says. ‘Ā’ishah r.a. added: Verily, I saw

 the Prophet s.a.w. being inspired (divinely) and (noticed)

the sweat dropping from his forehead on a very cold

 day as he Inspiration was over.

 (Reported by Bukhārī)

The fourth degree of guidance is through taḥdīth (talking), and the person who is endowed with this privilege of being told something is called muḥaddath. Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah cites a ḥadīth narrated by Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet s.a.w said:  

لَقَدْ كَانَ فِيمَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ رِجَالٌ يُكَلَّمُونَ مِنْ غَيْر أَنْ

 يَكُونُوا أَنْبِيَاءَ فَإِنْ يَكُنْ مِنْ أُمَّتِي مِنْهُمْ أَحَدٌ فَعُمَرُ (رواه البخاري)

Among the nation of Bani Israel who lived before you,

 there were man who used to be inspired with guidance

though they were not Prophets, and if there is any of

 such persons among my followers, it is ‘Umar

 (Reported by Bukhārī)

           Ibn Taymiyyah’s commentary on the above ḥadīth is that since the message and the prophethood of this nation have been completed, there would be no need for having a muḥaddath. The Prophet said that if there is which means it does not happen, he would be ‘Umar. A muḥaddath is a person who is told something through his inmost and heart, and then it happens as it has been told. The upright person (al-Ṣiddīq, which is also the epithet of Abū Bakr) is in higher position than the muḥaddath, because he does not need any taḥdīth, inspiration, vision, or kashf (unveiling, illumination), because he has surrendered his whole heart and his whole life to the message of the Prophet. Moreover, a muḥaddath has to refer what he receives to the teachings of the Prophet: if it agrees with it he accepts it; otherwise, if it does not agree with it, he has to reject it.

Ibn al-Qayyim said further that among ignorant people one would claim that his heart has spoken to him from his Lord. He said that if it is true that his heart has spoken to him, from whom? From his Lord or from Satan? If he said it was from his Lord, there would be nobody who would know whether it really came from his Lord, and that would be a lie. A muḥaddath never claimed to be so in the past, because he was not sure of it, whether it was really from Allah or not. ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, when he became caliph, his secretary wrote for him:

هَذاَ مَا أَرَى اللَّهُ أَمِيْرَ الْمُؤْمِنِيْن عُمَرَ بْنَ الْخَطَّاب

This is what Allah has shown to the Prince of the Believers,

 he asked him to erase it and to write instead,

هَذاَ مَا رَأَى عُمَرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ, فَإنْ كاَنَ صَوَابًا فَمِنَ اللّهِ,

 ؤَإنْ كَانَ خَطَأً فَمِنْ عُمَر, وَاللَّهُ وَ رَسُوْلُهُ مِنْهُ بَرِئ

This is the opinion of ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, if it is right

it is from Allah, and if it is wrong it is from ‘Umar,

 and Allah and His Messenger are free from it

        In another occasion ‘Umar r.a. gave his opinion about the kalālah (the man who has neither descendants nor ascendants) and then said,

أَقُوْلُ فِيْهَا بِرَأْيِي. فَإنْ يَكُنْ صَوَابًا فَمِنَ اللّهِ, ؤَإنْ كَانَ خَطَأً فَمِنِّي وَ مِنَ الشَّيْطَان

I say it with my personal opinion; if it is

 right it is from Allah, and if it is wrong,

then it is from me and from Satan.

  Abū ‘Abdullah al-Shaybānī says that there are twenty-one matters where ‘Umar agrees with his Lord in the Qur’an although some of them are not authentic.  Among sound ḥadīths are as follows:

‘Umar r.a. said, “I agree with my Lord (or my Lord

agreed with me) in three matters. I said, ‘O Messenger

 of Allah! I wish you take the Maqām of Ibrāhīm a place

 for prayer.’ Then it was revealed وَاتَّخِذُوا مِنْ مَقَامِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ مُصَلًّى

“And take you (people) the Maqām (place) of Ibrāhīm

a place for prayer”[Q. 2:125] . I also said, ‘O Messenger

 of Allah! The righteous and the wicked enter your house.

 I wish you would command the Mothers of the believers

 (the Prophet’s wives) to wear Ḥijāb. Allah sent down the

verse that required Ḥijāb. And when I knew the Prophet

was angry with some of his wives, I came to them and said,

“Either you stop what you are doing, or Allah will endow

 His Messenger with better women than you are.” I advised

one of his wives and she said to me, ”O ‘Umar! Does the

 Messenger of Allah not know to advise his wives, so that

 you have to do the job instead of him?” The Allah revealed

 عَسَى رَبُّهُ إِنْ طَلَّقَكُنَّ أَنْ يُبَدِّلَهُ أَزْوَاجًا خَيْرًا مِنْكُنَّ… “It may be if he

 divorced you (all) that his Lord will give him instead

 of you, wives better than you….[Q. 66:5]

The verse that required Ḥijāb in the above ḥadīth is as follows:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لِأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ

ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَنْ يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا (الأحزاب:59) 

O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters, as well as

all [other] believing women, that they should draw over

 themselves some of their outer garment [when in public]:

this swill be more conducive to their being recognized

 [as decent women] and not annoyed.  But [withal,]

 God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace.

(Q. 33:59, Muhammad Asad’s translation).[1]

                In a ḥadīth narrated by Ibn ‘Umar the Prophet s.a.w. insisted to pray funeral prayer for ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Ubayy, the leader of the hypocrites in Madinah, at the request of his son ‘Abdullah, who was one of his companions. ‘Umar reminded him not to do so, as he was a hypocrite. Revelation came later in support of ‘Umar’s view, as follows:

 وَلَا تُصَلِّ عَلَى أَحَدٍ مِنْهُمْ مَاتَ أَبَدًا وَلَا تَقُمْ عَلَى قَبْرِهِ إِنَّهُمْ

كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ (التوبة:84)

And never (O Muhammad) pray (funeral prayer) to any

 of them (hypocrites) who dies, nor stand at his grave.

 Certainly they disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger,

and died while they were rebellious (Q. 9:84)

(Reported by Muslim)

          When the following verse was revealed:

وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ مِنْ سُلَالَةٍ مِنْ طِينٍ. ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاهُ نُطْفَةً فِي قَرَارٍ مَكِينٍ .

ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا النُّطْفَةَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقْنَا الْعَلَقَةَ مُضْغَةً فَخَلَقْنَا الْمُضْغَةَ عِظَامًا

 فَكَسَوْنَا الْعِظَامَ لَحْمًا ثُمَّ أَنْشَأْنَاهُ خَلْقًا آخَر...(المؤمنون:12-14)

And indeed We created man (Adam) out of an extract

of clay (water and earth). Thereafter We made him (the offspring of Adam as a Nutfah (mixed drops of male and

female sexual discharge and lodged it) in a safe lodging

 (womb of the woman). Then We made the Nutfah into

a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood), then We made

out of that little lump of flesh bones, then We clothed

the bones with flesh, and then We brought it forth

 as another creation… (Q.23:12-14)

‘Umar said فَتَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ   “So blessed is Allah, the Best of creators”, and the verse ended like what he had said.

          After the battle of Badr the Prophet asked the opinion of his companion what to do with the captives. ‘Umar said that they should be executed. Abū Bakr said they should pay ransom, or teach the Muslims reading and writing. The Prophet took Abū Bakr’s opinion, and therefore, some of their relatives who were forced to join the enemy in the battlefield, like the Prophet’s uncle al-‘Abbās were saved. Later on, revelation came agreeing with ‘Umar’s opinion, as follows:

مَا كَانَ لِنَبِيٍّ أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُ أَسْرَى حَتَّى يُثْخِنَ فِي الأَرْضِ تُرِيدُونَ

عَرَضَ الدُّنْيَا وَاللهُ يُرِيدُ الآَخِرَةَ وَاللهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ) الأنفال: 67(

It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war

 (and free them with ransom) until he had made a great

 slaughter (among his enemies) in the land. You desire the

 good of this world (i.e., the money of ransom for freeing

 the captives), but Allah desires (for you) the Hereafter.

 And Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise (Q. 8:67)

          These are some examples where revelation came agreeing what ‘Umar had said. He had reached the level of a muḥaddath, but he did not claim it, as there is no longer any muḥaddath among the followers of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., who said that if there was any muḥaddath, he would have been ‘Umar. Based on the above statement of the Prophet any person who claimes to be a muḥaddath among Muslims, let alone to be a prophet, his claim should not be accepted.

                   (CIVIC, 15 January, 2016)

المراجع:

المكتبة الشاملة

تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ(

تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ(

تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774 هـ(

Muhsin Khan, Dr. Muhammad. Summarized Sahih Al-Bukhari. Riyadh: Darussalam, 1996

Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’an. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus, 1984.

http://www.alzakera.eu/music/Turas/Turas-0127.htm

http://al-ershaad.net/vb4/showthread.php?t=1343

http://fatwa.islamweb.net/fatwa/index.php?page=showfatwa&Option=FatwaId&Id=62984

http://www.traidnt.net/vb/traidnt1012266/    

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[1] Muhammad Asad’s commentary on this verse is as follows: “The specific, time-bound formulation of the above verse (evident in the reference to the wives and daughters of the Prophet), as well as the deliberate vagueness of the recommendation that women ‘should draw upon themselves some of their outer garments (min jalābibihinna)’ when in public, makes it clear that the verse was not meant to be an injunction (ḥukm) in the general, timeless sense of this term but, rather, a moral guideline to be observed against the ever-changing background of time and social environment. This finding is reinforced by the concluding referenced of God’s forgiveness and grace.” Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Qur’an, p.  651, n. 75.