Some People object to the
verses of al-Burda by Imam al-Busiri:
Verse 52. wa kullu ayin ata al-rusulu al-kiramu biha /
fa innama ittasalat min nurihi bihimi
And every single sign
brought by the noble Prophets was theirs only in connection to his light,
Verse 53. fa innahu shamsu fadlin hum kawakibuha /
yuzhirna anwaraha li al-nasi fi al-zulami
For verily he is a sun of perfection of which they are the moons bringing its light to people in the midst of darkness.
Their objection is based on
their known abhorrence of referring to the Prophet as "Light,"
although Allah Himself refers to him as "light" three times in the
Glorious Qur’an:
·
"From
Allah has come to you a Light and a Book manifest." (5:15)
·
"The
likeness of His light is as a niche wherein is a Lamp (the lamp in a glass, the
glass as it were a glittering star) kindled from a Blessed Tree, an olive that
is neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil well-nigh would shine, even
if no fire touched it; Light upon Light." (24:35)
·
"O
Prophet! Truly We have sent you as a Witness, a Bearer of glad tidings, and a
Warner, and as one who invites to Allah by His leave, and as a Lamp spreading
Light." (33:45-46)
Thus Allah Himself calls the
Prophet explicitly: a Lamp, a Lamp inside a niche, a Light, and again a Lamp
spreading light (sirajan muniran).
This specific knowledge that the Prophet is the spring-well of all other light
in the world is by no means new, rather it is inherited from the Sahabas
themselves as established by the following lines of the poet, Hassan ibn
Thabit, as quoted by Ibn Hisham on the last page of his Sirat Rasulillah:
He was the light and the brilliance we followed. He was sight and
hearing second only to Allah....
By Allah, no woman has conceived and given birth. To one like the
Apostle, the Prophet and guide of his people.
Nor has Allah created among his creatures, One more faithful to his
sojourner or his promise than he who
was the source of our light.[1][95]
`Ali al-Qari said in his Sharh al-Shifa (1:505) in commenting
upon the Prophet's title "as a Lamp spreading Light" (33: 46):
“Muhammad... is a tremendous
light and the source of all lights, he is also a book that gathers up and makes
clear all the secrets... sirajan muniran
means a luminous sun, because of His saying: "He hath placed therein a
great lamp and a moon giving light" (25:61). There is in this verse an indication that the sun is the highest
of the material lights and that other lights are outpourings from it: similarly
the Prophet is the highest of the spiritual lights and other lights are derived
from him by virtue of his mediating connection and pivotal rank in the overall
sphere of creation. This is also inferred from the tradition: "The first
thing Allah created is my light."”
Commenting upon the same
verse al-Khazin says in his Tafsir:
“Allah extended [amadda] the light of discernment [basira] through the light of Muhammad's
prophethood just as He extends the light of eyesight [basar] through the light of the sun; Allah called him a lamp and
not a sun, because it is impossible to take anything directly from the light of
the sun, but it is possible to take many lights from the lamp.”
Allah therefore caused this madad or light of discernment to issue
from the Prophet and extend to all.
Al-Qastallani (d. 923) in
his al-Mawahib al-laduniyya (ed. al-Shami,
2:583), quoted Ibn Marzuq commenting on Busiri's lines:
“He [al-Busiri] means that
every miracle that every messenger has brought, surely was only because it was
an extension to each one of them of the light of Muhammad, may Allah bless him
and give him peace. How beautiful is his saying "surely was theirs only in
connection to his light" for it suggests that his light, may Allah bless
him and give him peace, always remained unchanged in him, and nothing of it was
decreased. Had he said, "surely it was part of his light", then it
could have been imagined that he distributed it to them, and that perhaps
nothing of it remained for him. All the signs given each one of them was only
theirs through his light, may Allah bless him and give him peace, because he is
a sun of excellence, and they are the planets of that sun which convey its
lights to humankind in the darkness. The planets are not shining by themselves,
but they receive light from the sun, so that when the sun is absent they show
the light of the sun. Similarly, the Prophets before his existence used to show
his excellence, so that whatever lights appeared at the hands of the messengers
other than him, it was only from his outpouring light and vast extension (madad), without decreasing anything of
it.”
`Irbad
ibn Sarya relates that the Prophet said:
"Verily
I was written in Allah's Presence as the Seal of Prophets while verily Adam was
still kneaded in his clay." (Narrated by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, and al-Hakim in his Mustadrak.)
The
Prophet also said:
“I was
a Prophet while Adam was still between the spirit and the body.” Tirmidhi
narrated it and said it hasan sahih,
and it is authenticated by al-Hakim 2:609 as sahih, and also narrated by Ibn Abi Shayba in his Musannaf 14:292, and al-Bukhari in his Tarikh 7:374.
Imam
Taj ad-Din Subki said:
“It
has been said that Allah created the spirits before the bodies, and the
Prophet's reference to his prophecy in the hadith, "I was a Prophet while
Adam was still between the spirit and the body” may be a reference to his
blessed spirit and to the Reality of Realities (haqiqat al-haqa'iq). Our minds fall short of knowing such a
Reality, but its Creator knows it, and also those to whom He extends a madad of light from Him [man amaddahu bi nurin ilahi]. Allah
brings to existence whichever of these realities that He likes in the time that
He pleases. As for the reality of the Prophet, it is most likely that it was
before the creation of Adam, and Allah gave it its prophetic attribute upon its
creation; therefore already at that time, he was the Prophet.” (Quoted by
Suyuti in Hawi li al-Fatawi, and by
Qastallani at the beginning of his Mawahib
al-laduniyya 1:31-32.)
There is a further
confirmation of the relation of the light of the Prophet to that of the rest of
creation in the ahadith comparing Prophetic knowledge to the light of the stars
in the darkness of night. Ana relates that the Prophet said: "The simile
of the scholars of knowledge (al-`ulama')
on the earth is the stars in the sky by which one is guided in the darkness of
the land and the sea. When the stars are clouded over, the guides are about to
be lost." Ahmad narrated it in his Musnad
(3:157 #12606) with a chain containing Rishdin ibn Sa`d who is weak. However,
it is confirmed by the hadith in Muslim and Ahmad narrated by Abu Musa
al-Ash`ari whereby the Prophet said:
“The stars are trust-keepers
for the heaven, and when the stars wane, the heaven is brought what was
promised (i.e. of the corruption of the world and the coming of the Day of
Judgment); and I am a trust-keeper for my Companions, so when I go my
Companions will be brought what was promised them (i.e. of fitna and division); and my Companions are trust-keepers for my
Community, so when they go my Community will be brought what was promised to
you (i.e. following hawa and vying
for dunya).”
Explanation of the Prophet's
name "light" (nur):
There are three verses in
the Qur'an which mention the Prophet as a light.
·
Allah
said: "From Allah has come to you a Light and a Book manifest."
(5:15)
Qadi `Iyad said:
“He [the Prophet] was named a Light because of the clarity of his case
and the fact that his Prophecy was made manifest, and also because of the
illumination of the hearts of the believers and the knowers of Allah with what
he brought.”
Suyuti in Tafsir al-Jalalayn, Fayruzabadi in the Tafsir Ibn `Abbas entitled Tanwir al-miqbas (p. 72), Shaykh
al-Islam Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, the Mujaddid of the sixth century, in his Tafsir al-kabir (11:189), Qadi Baydawi
in his Tafsir entitled Anwar al-tanzil, al-Baghawi in his Tafsir entitled Ma`alim al-tanzil (2:23), Imam al-Shirbini in his Tafsir entitled al-Siraj al-munir (p. 360), the author of Tafsir Abi Sa`ud (4:36), and Thana'ullah Pani Patti in his Tafsir al-mazhari, (3:67) said:
“What is meant by a Light is: Muhammad, Blessings and
peace upon him.”
Ibn Jarir al-Tabari in his Tafsir jami` al-bayan (6:92) said:
“There has come to you a Light from Allah: He means by the Light:
Muhammad, Blessings and peace upon him, by means of whom Allah has illuminated
the truth, brought forth Islam, and obliterated idolatry. Therefore he (the
Prophet) is a light for those who have been enlightened by him and by his
exposition of truth.”
Al-Khazin in his Tafsir (2:28) similarly says:
“There has come to you a Light from Allah means: Muhammad, Blessings
and peace upon him. Allah called him a light for no other reason than that one is
guided by him (Muhammad) in the same way that one is guided by light in
darkness.”
Al-Nasafi in his commentary
entitled Tafsir al-Madarik (1:276)
and al-Qasimi in his Mahasin al-ta'wil
(6:1921) similarly say:
“There has come to you a Light from Allah: this is the light of
Muhammad, Blessings and peace upon him, because one is guided by him. Similarly
he has been called a lamp (siraj).”
Imam Ahmad al-Sawi similarly
said in his super-commentary on Tafsir
al-Jalalayn (1:258):
“There has come to you a Light from Allah: that Light is the
Prophet, Blessings and peace upon him. He was named a light because he
enlightens the sight and guides it to the correct path; and also because he is
the root of every light whether material or spiritual.”
We will return to the latter
statement below insha Allah.
Sayyid Mahmud al-Alusi in
his commentary entitled Tafsir Ruh
al-Ma`ani (6:97) similarly says:
“There has come to you a Light from Allah: that is, an immense light
which is the Light of Lights and the Elect among all Prophets, Blessings and
peace upon him.”
Isma`il al-Haqqi in his
supercommentary on Alusi entitled Tafsir
ruh al-bayan (2:370) similarly said:
“There has come to you a Light from Allah and a Book that makes all
things manifest: It is said that the meaning of the former is the
Messenger, Blessings and peace upon him, and the latter is the Qur'an... The
Messenger is called a Light because the first thing which Allah brought forth
from the darkness of oblivion with the light of His power was the light of
Muhammad, Blessings and peace upon him, as he (the Prophet) said: The first
thing Allah created is my light.” This narration is addressed below.
Of particular note is the
fact that the Mu`tazilis insisted that the Light in verse 5:15 referred only to
the Qur'an and not to the Prophet. Alusi said in the continuation of the
passage quoted above: “Abu `Ali al-Jubba'i said that the light concerns the
Qur'an because the Qur'an discloses and brings forth the paths of guidance and
certitude. al-Zamakhshari [in al-Kashshaf
1:601] also contented himself with this explanation.” Further elaboration on
these two sources is given by Shah `Abd al-`Aziz al-Multani in his al-Nabras (p. 28-29): “al-Kashshaf proclaims itself Father of
the Mu`tazila... Abu `Ali al-Jubba'i is the Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab of the
Mu`tazila of Basra." The similarity of the Mu`tazila with the Wahhabis and
"Salafis" of modern times is pointed out by Imam Kawthari in many
places in his Maqalat, where he shows
that as in the case of the Mu`tazila, the Wahhabis' denial of the
characteristics of the awliya'
camouflages a denial of those of the Prophets.
There is a notable
explanation among Ahl al-Sunna which
ascribes the meaning of the Prophet to both the Light and the Book. Al-Sayyid
al-Alusi said in Ruh al-ma`ani
(6:97):
“I do not consider it
far-fetched that what is meant by both the Light and the Manifest Book is the
Prophet, the conjunction being in the same way as what was said by al-Jubba'i
[in that that both the Light and the Book were the Qur'an]. There is no doubt
that all can be said to refer to the Prophet. Perhaps you will be reluctant to
accept this from the viewpoint of expression (`ibara); then let it be from the viewpoint of subtle allusion (ishara).”
Al-Qari said in Sharh al-shifa' (1:505, Mecca ed.):
“It has also been said that both the Light and the Book refer to
Muhammad, because just as he is a tremendous light and the source of all
lights, he is also a book that gathers up and makes clear all the secrets.” He
also said (1:114, Madina ed.): “And what objection is there to predicate both
nouns to the Prophet, since he is in truth an immense Light due to the
perfection of his appearance among all light, and he is a Manifest Book since
he gathers up the totality of secrets and he makes evident all laws,
situations, and alternatives.”
·
Allah
said: “The likeness of His light is as a niche wherein is a Lamp (the lamp in a
glass, the glass as it were a glittering star) kindled from a Blessed Tree, an
olive that is neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil wellnigh would
shine, even if no fire touched it; Light upon Light.” (24:35)
Suyuti said in al-Riyad al-aniqa:
Ibn Jubayr and Ka`b al-Ahbar said: "What is meant by the second
light is the Prophet because he is the Messenger and the Expositor and the
Conveyor from Allah of what is enlightening and manifest." Ka`b said:
"Its oil wellnigh would shine because the Prophet wellnigh would be known
to the people even if he did not say that he was a Prophet, just as that oil
would send forth light without a fire."
Ibn Kathir comments on this
verse in his Tafsir by citing the
report through Ibn `Atiyya whereby Ka`b al-Ahbar explained Allah's words: yakadu zaytuha yudi'u wa law lam tamsashu
nar as meaning: "Muhammad is nearly manifest as a Prophet to people,
even if he did not declare it."
Qadi `Iyad said in al-Shifa' (English p. 135):
Niftawayh said regarding the
words of Allah: "Its oil almost gives light when no fire has touched
it" (24:35): "This is the likeness that Allah has made of His
Prophet. He said that the meaning of the ayat
was that this face almost indicated his Prophethood even before he had received
the Qur'an, as Ibn Rawaha said:
Even if there had not been
clear signs among us, His face would have told you the news."
Among those who said that
the meaning of mathalu nurihi -- the
likeness of His Light -- is the Prophet Muhammad, upon him blessings and peace:
Ibn Jarir al-Tabari in his Tafsir (18:95), Qadi `Iyad in al-Shifa', al-Baghawi in Ma`alim al-Tanzil (5:63) in the margin
of al-Khazin, from Sa`id ibn Hubayr and al-Dahhak, al-Khazin in his Tafsir (5:63) Suyuti in al-Durr al-manthur (5:49), Zarqani in Sharh al-mawahib (3:171), al-Khafaji in Nasim al-riyad (1:110, 2:449),
Al-Nisaburi in Ghara'ib al-Qur'an (18:93) said:
"The Prophet is a light and a light-giving lamp."
Al-Qari in Sharh al-shifa' said:
“The most apparent meaning
is to say that what is meant by the light is Muhammad.”
·
Allah
said: "O Prophet! Truly We have sent you as a Witness, a Bearer of glad
tidings, and a Warner, and as one who invites to Allah by His leave, and as a
Lamp spreading Light." (33:45-46)
Qadi al-Baydawi said in his Tafsir:
“It
is the sun due to His saying: We have made the sun a lamp; or, it could be
a lamp.”
Ibn Kathir states in his Tafsir:
“His saying: and a light-giving lamp, that is: your
status shows in the truth you have brought just as the sun shows in its rising
and illuminating, which none denies except the obdurate.”
Raghib al-Asfahani in al-Mufradat (1:147) said:
“The word [lamp] is used for everything that
illumines.”
Al-Zarqani in Sharh al-mawahib (3:171) said:
“He was named lamp because from the one lamp take
the many lamps, and its light is no wise diminished.
`Abd Allah ibn Rawaha al-Ansari -- the
great-grandson of the poet Imru' al-Qays -- said of the Prophet:
“law lam takun fihi ayatun mubina, lakana
manzaruhu yunabbi'uka bi al-khabari”
“Even if there were not,
concerning him, clear and evident, signs, yet the sight of him would have told
you the news.”
Ibn Hajar narrated it in al-Isaba (2:299) and said: "This is
the most beautiful verse of poetry by which the Prophet was ever praised."
Ibn Sayyid al-Nas said of him in Minah
al-madh (p. 166):
He was killed as a martyr on
the day of Mu'ta in Jumada 8 before the conquest of Mecca. On that day he was
one of the commanders. He was one of the poets who did good and who used to
fend off harm from Allah's Messenger. It was concerning him and his two friends
Hassan (ibn Thabit) and Ka`b (ibn Zuhayr) that was revealed the verse:
"Except those who believe and do good deeds and remember Allah
abundantly." (The Poets 26:227).
Hisham
ibn `Urwa narrated from his father that the latter said: I never saw anyone
more aggressive or faster in his poetry than `Abd Allah ibn Rawaha. I heard
Allah's Messenger say to him one day: "Recite some poetry appropriate to
the moment, while I look at you." He rose up then and there and said:
inni tafarrastu fika al-khayra a`rifuhu,
wallahu ya`lamu anna ma khanani al-basaru
anta al-nabiyyu wa man yuhramu shafa`atahu,
yawma al-hisabi laqad azra bihi al-qadaru
fa thabbat allahu ma ataka min hasanin,
tathbita musa wa nasran kalladhi nusiru
I foresee for you immense good, of this I am certain. Allah knows that my sight never betrayed me.
You
are the Prophet, and whoever is deprived of your intercession On the Day of
Reckoning, his destiny is disgrace.
May
Allah make firm all the good that He gave you, With a firmness like Musa's and
the same victory.
Upon
hearing this the Prophet said to him: "And you also, may Allah make you
firm, O Ibn Rawaha." Hisham ibn `Urwa continued: Allah indeed made him
firm with the staunchest firmness. He died as a martyr, and Paradise was opened
for him and he entered it.
Ibn Abi al-Dunya cited from Abu al-Darda' that he
used to say, after Ibn Rawaha's death:
"O Allah, I seek refuge
in You lest my maternal uncle `Abd Allah ibn Rawaha should loathe me when I
meet him." Suyuti mentioned it in Sharh
al-sudur (p. 265).
As an attribute of Allah it
is Dhu al-Nur which means the Creator
of light and the Illuminator of the heavens and the earth with His lights, as
well as the illuminator of the hearts of the believers with guidance. Nawawi
said in Sharh Sahih Muslim, in his
commentary on the Prophet's du`a which begins: "O Allah, you are the light
of the heavens and the earth and yours is all praise..." (Book of Salat al-musafirin #199):
The scholars said that the
meaning of "You are the light of the heavens and the earth" is: You
are the One who illuminates them and the Creator of their light. Abu `Ubayda
said: "Its meaning is that by Your light the dwellers of the heavens and
the earth obtain guidance." al-Khattabi said in his commentary on Allah's
name al-Nur: "It means the One
by Whose light the blind can see and the lost can be guided, whence Allah is
the light of the heavens and the earth, and it is possible that the meaning of al-Nur is: Dhu al-nur, and it is incorrect that al-Nur be an attribute of Allah's Essence, for it is only an
attribute of action (sifatu fi`l),
that is: He is the Creator of light." Others said: "The meaning of
the light of the heavens and the earth is: The disposer of their sun and moon
and stars."
Ibn
`Umar narrated that the Prophet said: "Allah the Exalted created creation
in a darkness (fi zulmatin); then He
cast upon them from His Light. Whoever was touched by that Light, he is guided,
and whoever was missed by it is misguided. Therefore I say that the Pen is dry
(and all is) in Allah's foreknowledge."
Narrated
by Tirmidhi with a good chain in the Sunan
(hasan), Ahmad in two places in his Musnad, Tabarani, al-Hakim in his Mustadrak, and Bayhaqi in the Sunan al-kubra. Ibn `Arabi al-Maliki in
his commentary on Tirmidhi entitled `Aridat
al-ahwadhi (10:108) confirmed the latter's grading and comments on the
hadith: "It is clear from it that each one receives of that Light to the
extent of what he has been granted out of the general and the specific... in
the heart and in the limbs."
The above hadith and its
explanation by Qadi Ibn al-`Arabi show that the characteristic of Believers is light,
and the Prophet is the first of the Believers and the one who can be more than
anybody else characterized as light -- including the angels who are formed of
light -- and only someone deficient in their belief would deny that he was
assuredly the first and the foremost of all creation to be touched by Allah's
light when He cast it, to an extent in which no angel, no Prophet, and no jinn rivals him.
The above brings to light
the pitfalls of the literalism of Ibn Taymiyya when he claimed in his essay on
tasawwuf in Majmu`at al-fatawa
(11:94, 18:366) that the Prophet could not possibly be made of light on the
grounds that human beings are created from earth into which the spirit is
blown, while angels alone are created from light. To support his view, he cites
the hadith from `A'isha in Muslim whereby the Prophet said:
"The angels were
created from light, the jinn from
smokeless fire, and Adam from what was described to you (i.e. in the
Qur'an)."
However, to deduce from the
above that a human being can never be characterized as a light is precisely
what Iblis presumed when he disobeyed Allah on the pretence that smokeless fire
is a nobler and higher element than earth. Furthermore, it contradicts the
authentic hadith of Ibn `Umar narrated by Tirmidhi instead of elucidating it as
would be required for a correct and comprehensive understanding of the subject.
The correct view is that
Prophets are a brand of human beings superior to the angels with respect to the
light and the other gifts bestowed on them by Allah, whether general or
particular, in their hearts or in their limbs, to use Ibn al-`Arabi al-Maliki's
language. This is explicated by Qadi `Iyad in al-Shifa' (English p. 277-278) with regard to the Prophets' angelic
inward qualities:
“Prophets and Messengers are
intermediaries between Allah and His creation. They convey His commands and
prohibitions, His warning and threat to His creatures and they acquaint them
with things they did not know regarding His command, creation, majesty, power
and His Malakut. Their outward form,
bodies and structure are characterized by the qualities of men as far as
non-essential matters such as illnesses, death and passing away are concerned
and they have human traits.
But their souls and inward
parts have the highest possible human qualities, associated with the Highest
Assembly, which are similar to angelic attributes, free of any possibility of
alteration or evil. Generally speaking the incapacity and weakness connected
with being human cannot be associated with them. If their inward parts had been
human in the same way as their outward, they would not have been able to
receive revelation from the angels, see them, mix and sit with them in the way
other mortals are unable to do.
If their bodies and outward
parts had been marked by angelic attributes as opposed to human attributes, the
mortals to whom they were sent would not have been able to speak with them as
Allah has already said. Thus they have the aspect of men as far as their bodies
and outward parts are concerned, and that of angels in respect of their souls
and inward parts.”
It is doubtful that Ibn
Taymiyya did not understand the aspects of the question elaborated by Qadi
`Iyad. In fact, after denying that Prophets are made of light like the angels,
Ibn Taymiyya goes to state the known position of Ahl al-Sunna that Prophets -- chief among them the Seal of Prophets
-- manifest a rank not reached by the angels:
Allah manifests some of His
Power and Wisdom through righteous human beings, saints and prophets, which He
does not manifest through the angels, for He combines in the former group
qualities which are scattered among other creation. Thus He creates the man's
body from the Earth and his spirit from the Highest Company, and this is why it
is said, "Man is a microcosm, and a copy of the greater Universe."
Muhammad is the Chief of the
Children of Adam, the Best of Creation, the noblest of them in the sight of
Allah. This is why some have said that "Allah created the Universe due to
him," or that "Were it not for him, He would have neither created a
Throne, nor a Footstool, nor a heaven, earth, sun or moon." However, this
is not a hadith on the authority of the Prophet... but it may be explained from
a correct aspect.
Ibn Taymiyya goes on to
elaborate his proofs for the truth of the saying that Allah created the
Universe due to the Prophet, and we have quoted the continuation of his
discourse above, in the chapter on the names Muhammad and Ahmad
(#1-2).
The Companion `Abd al-Rahman
ibn `Awf recited the following poetry about the Prophet:
ala anna khayra al-nasi fi al-ardi kullihimi,
nabiyyun jala `anna shukuka al-tarajjumi
nabiyyun ata wa al-nasu fi `unjuhiyyatin, wa
fi sadafin fi zulmati al-kufri mu`timi
fa aqsha`a bi al-nuri al-mudi'i zalamahu, wa
sa`adahu fi amrihi kullu muslimi
Verily,
the best of all humankind on the earth is a Prophet who removed from us the
doubts of scepticism,
A
Prophet who came while people were wrapped in haughtiness and in the
pitch-black darkness of the night of disbelief:
Whereupon
he dispelled this darkness with abundant light and in this matter he was helped
by each of those who submitted.
Ibn
Sayyid al-Nas narrated it in Minah
al-madh (p. 176).
The Prophet's uncle al-`Abbas ibn `Abd al-Muttalib said
to him: "O Messenger of Allah, I wish to praise you." The Prophet
replied: "Go ahead -- nay, may Allah adorn your mouth with silver!"
He said:
Before you came to this
world you were blessed in the shadows and in the repository (i.e. loins) in the
time when they (Adam and Eve) covered themselves with leaves.
Then you descended to the earth, neither as a human being, nor as a piece of flesh, nor as a clot, but as a drop that boarded the ark when the flood destroyed the eagle and the rest of the idols:
A drop
that progressed from the loins to the wombs in the succession of the worlds and
the heavens
Until
the Preserver of All made your immense honor issue in the highest summit of the
line of Khindif.
And then, when you were born, a light rose over the earth until it illuminated the horizon with its radiance.
We are in that illumination and that original light and those paths of guidance -- and thanks to them pierce through.
Ibn
Sayyid al-Nas narrated it with his isnad
through al-Tabarani and al-Bazzar in Minah
al-madh (p. 192-193), also Ibn Kathir in al-Sira al-nabawiyya (ed. Mustafa `Abd al-Wahid 4:51), and `Ali
al-Qari in his Sharh al-Shifa' (1:364)
says it is narrated by Abu Bakr al-Shafi`i and Tabarani, and cited by Ibn `Abd
al-Barr in al-Isti`ab and Ibn
al-Qayyim in Zad al-ma`ad.
The Companions many times
compared the Prophet to a light or a harbinger of light, particularly a sun and
a moon, chief among them his poet, Hassan ibn Thabit al-Ansari:
tarahhala `an qawmin faddalat `uqulahum
wa halla `ala qawmin bi nurin mujaddadi
and
he dawned on a people with a light made new.
mata
yabdu fi al-daji al-bahimi jabinuhu
yaluhu
mithla misbahi al-duja al-mutawaqqidi
Whenever
his forehead emerged in pitch-black darkness
it
would shine like the blazing luminary of dark night.
Bayhaqi narrated the two
verses in Dala'il al-nubuwwa (1:280,
302). The latter verse is also narrated Ibn `Abd al-Barr in al-Isti`ab (1:341) and al-Zarqani in Sharh al-mawahib (1:91). Hassan also
said, as we have already quoted above:
Nor has Allah created among his creatures
One more faithful to his sojourner or his
promise
Than he who was the source of our light.[2][96]
Abu `Ubayda ibn Muhammad ibn
`Ammar ibn Yasir said: I said to al-Rubayyi` bint Mu`awwadh:
"Describe
for me Allah's Messenger." She replied: "If you saw him you would
say: The sun is rising."
Bayhaqi narrates it with his
isnad in Dala'il al-nubuwwa (1:200), and Haythami in Majma` al-zawa'id (8:280) says that Tabarani narrates it in al-Mu`jam al-kabir and al-Awsat and that its narrators have
been declared trustworthy.
Ka`b ibn Malik said:
"I greeted the Prophet and there was lightning in his face. Whenever
the Prophet was happy, his face would be illuminated as if it were a piece of
the moon."
Bukhari and Muslim narrated
it, as well as Ahmad in his Musnad.
Bayhaqi in Dala'il al-nubuwwa (1:301)
relates these descriptions of the Prophet by the Companions and others:
When
the Prophet left Mecca and emigrated to Madina his aunt, `Atika bint `Abd
al-Muttalib, recited the following -- although, Bayhaqi said, she still
followed the religion of the Quraysh:
`aynayya juda bi al-dumu`i al-sawajimi,`ala
al-murtada kal-badri min ali Hashimi
My eyes have overflowed with streaming tears shed,
for the Uniquely Chosen One, the Full Moon of the House of Hashim.
Abu
Bakr al-Siddiq described the Prophet thus:
aminun mustafa li al-khayri yad`u, ka daw'i
al-badri zayalahu al-zalamu
A trustworthy one, chosen, calling to goodness, Resembling the light of the full moon set off from darkness.
While `Umar would recite the
following:
law kunta min shay'in siwa basharin, kunta
al-mudi'a li laylat al-badri
If
you were anything other than a human being, You would be the light in the night
of a full moon.
Bayhaqi narrated the above
in Dala'il al-nubuwwa (1:301-302) and
relates that `Umar added after saying the above: "The Prophet was like this,
and no one other than he was like this." See the complete text of `Atika
bint `Abd al-Muttalib's praise below (#545-550).
Jami` ibn Shaddad said: One
of our men was called Tariq. [al-Qari: "This is Ibn Shihab Abu `Abd Allah
al-Muharibi, a Companion who narrated from the Prophet.] He related that he had
seen the Prophet at Madina and the Prophet had asked: "Do you have
anything with you to sell?" We replied: "This camel." The
Prophet said: "How much?" We said: "So many wasqs [about 240 double-handed scoops] of date." He took its
rein and went to Madina. Tariq and his companion said: "We have sold to a
man and we do not even know who he is!" One of the women with us said:
"I will guarantee the price of the camel. I saw the face of a man like the
full moon. He will not cheat you." In the morning, a man brought us the
dates and said: "I am the messenger of the Messenger of Allah. He bids you
eat of these dates and weigh until you have full weight." We did so.
Qadi `Iyad narrates it in al-Shifa' (English p. 135). Suyuti in Manahil al-safa (p. 114 #515) and
al-Qari in Sharh al-shifa' (1:525)
refer it to al-Bayhaqi.
Ibn
`Abbas related that the Prophet said while in prostration: "O Allah, place
light in my heart, light in my hearing, light in my sight, light on my right,
light on my left, light in front of me, light behind me, light above me, light
below me, and make light for me," or he said: "Make me light."
Salama said: I met Kurayb and he reported Ibn Abbas as saying: "I was with
my mother's sister Maymuna when the Messenger of Allah came there, and then he
narrated the rest of the hadith as was narrated by Ghundar and said the words:
"Make me light," beyond any doubt.
Muslim narrates it in his Sahih, book of Salat al-musafirin. Imam Ahmad in his Musnad also narrates it with a strong chain, but with the reverse
order of the first narration cited above, resulting in the wording: "...
and make me light," or he said: "Make light for me." Ibn
Hajar in Fath al-bari (1989 ed.
11:142) mentions a narration in Ibn Abi `Asim's Kitab al-du`a which states: "And grant me light upon light"
(wa hab li nuran `ala nur). There are
many sound narrations of this hadith mentioning other parts of the Prophet's
person. Ibn Hajar states that Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi numbered the items for
which the Prophet supplicated for light in himself at twenty-five in the
totality of the sound narrations of that hadith. Among them are:
Light in the Prophet's
heart, Light in the Prophet's tongue, Light in the Prophet's hearing, Light in
the Prophet's eyesight, Light in the Prophet's six directions: right, left,
front, back, above, and below, Light in the Prophet's soul, Light in the
Prophet's chest, Light in the Prophet's sinew, Light in the Prophet's flesh,
Light in the Prophet's blood, Light in the Prophet's hair, Light in the
Prophet's skin, Light in the Prophet's bones, Light in the Prophet's grave,
"Enhance light for me.", "Give me abundant light.",
"Give me light upon light.", "Make me light."
The Prophet first appeared
to his mother in the form of a light that lit the world for her until she could
see the palaces of Syria from her place in Mecca:
`Irbad ibn Sariya and Abu
Imama said that the Prophet said: " I am the supplication of my father
Ibrahim, and the good tidings of my brother `Isa. The night I was delivered
my mother saw a light that lit the castles of Damascus so that she could
see them."
It is narrated by al-Hakim
in his Mustadrak (2:616-617), Ahmad
in his Musnad (4:184), and Bayhaqi in
Dala'il al-nubuwwa (1:110, 2:8). Ibn
al-Jawzi cites it in al-Wafa' (p. 91,
ch. 21 of Bidayat nabiyyina sallallahu
`alayhi wa sallam), and Ibn Kathir in Mawlid
rasul Allah and his Tafsir
(4:360). Haythami cites it in Majma`
al-zawa'id (8:221) and said Tabarani and Ahmad narrated it, and Ahmad's
chain is fair (hasan). See for
Ahmad's complete text Bisharatu `Isa
(#454).
Ibn Ishaq in his history of
the early Muslims narrates something similar in a longer form as related in Ibn
Hisham's epitome entitled Sirat Rasul
Allah (Dar al-wifaq ed. 1/2:166):
Ibn Ishaq said: Thawr ibn
Yazid related to me from one of the scholars, and I do not reckon it is other
than Khalid ibn Ma`dan al-Kala`i, that a small group of the Prophet's
Companions said to him:
"O Messenger of Allah,
tell us about yourself." He replied: "Yes. I am the supplication of
my father Ibrahim, and the good tidings of my brother `Isa, and my mother
saw, when she delivered me, that a great light issued from her and lit the
castles of Syria for her. I was nursed by the Banu Sa`d ibn Bakr. While I
was with a brother of mine besides our dwellings, feeding the sheep, two men
came to me wearing very white clothes and carrying a contained of gold filled
with snow. Then they took me and they opened my chest, removed my heart, opened
it, and removed from it a black clot which they threw away. Then they washed my
heart and my chest with the snow until they purified them. Then one of them
said to the other: Weigh him against ten of his Community. He did, and I
outweighed them. Then he said: Weigh him against a hundred of his Community. He
did, and I outweighed them. Then he said: Weigh him against a thousand of his
Community. He did, and I outweighed them. Then he said: Leave him, for by Allah
if you weighed him against all of his Community he would outweigh them. [Tabari
added:] Then they hugged me close to their chests and kissed my head between
the eyes and said: O Beloved, do not fear, verily if you knew the good that is
to take place through you, you would be pleased.
It is also related by Tabari
in his History. Thawr ibn Yazid and Khalid ibn Ma`dan are trustworthy narrators
from whom Bukhari and many others took hadith.
Qadi `Iyad said in his book al-Shifa', in the chapter on the
nobility of the Prophet's lineage:
Ibn `Abbas said that the
spirit of the Prophet was a light in front of Allah two thousand years before
he created Adam. That light glorified Him and the angels glorified by his
glorification. When Allah created Adam, he cast that light into his loins.
Suyuti said in Manahil al-safa (p. 53 #128): "Ibn
Abi `Umar al-`Adani relates it in his Musnad."
In Takhrij ahadith sharh al-mawaqif
(p. 32 #12) Suyuti cites it with the wording: "The Quraysh were a light in
front of Allah." Ibn al-Qattan in his Ahkam
(1:12) narrates it in the following form, although `Abd Allah al-Ghimari in Irshad al-talib rejects the latter as a
forgery:
`Ali ibn al-Husayn from his
father from his grandfather said that the Prophet said:
"I was a light in
front of my Lord for fourteen thousand years before He created Adam."
Something similar is
narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Fada'il
al-Sahaba (2:663 #1130), Dhahabi in Mizan
al-i`tidal (1:235), and al-Tabari in al-Riyad
al-nadira (2:164, 3:154). Related to the above are the following reports:
`Amr ibn `Abasa said that the Prophet said: "Verily, Allah created
the spirits of His servants two thousand years before He created His servants.
Then whichever among them recognized each other came close, and whichever did
not, stayed apart."
Suyuti in Takhrij ahadith sharh al-mawaqif (p. 31
#10) says that Ibn Mandah narrated it, while Haytami in his Fatawa hadithiyya says that it is
extremely weak.
Ibn `Abbas explained taqallubak -- "your
translation" -- in the verses "[Your Lord] Who sees you when you
stand, and your translation among those who prostrate themselves"
(26:218-219), as "your descent through the loins of your ancestors."
It is narrated from Ibn `Abbas by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (2:338) and is the explanation retained by Ibn
Mardawayh, al-Razi, Suyuti, and others.
Al-Shahrastani in his Kitab al-milal wa al-nihal (2:238) said:
"The light of Muhammad went from Ibrahim to Isma`il. Then that
light passed through all his children, until it arrived at `Abd al-Muttalib...
and with the blessing of this light Allah repelled Abraha's harm" (wa bibarakati dhalik al-nur dafa` allahu
ta`alaa sharra Abraha).
Suyuti cites the above in
several of his books, such as Masalik
al-hunafa' (p. 40-41) which we translated below under the attribute Karim al-tarafayn (#485), also his al-Duruj al-munifa (p. 16) and his al-Ta`zim wa al-minna (p. 55), all three
of which were written to show the bases
on which the Prophet's two parents are considered to be in Paradise by the
majority of the scholars.
Al-Zuhri
narrated:
`Abd Allah ibn `Abd
al-Muttalib was the most handsome man that had ever been seen among the
Quraysh. One day he went out and was seen by a an assembly of the women of
Quraysh. One of them said: "O women of the Quraysh, which among you will
marry this youth and catch thereby the light that is between his eyes?"
For verily there was a light between his eyes. Thereafter Amina bint
Wahb ibn `Abd Manaf ibn Zuhra married him, and after he joined her she carried
Allah's Messenger.
Al-Bayhaqi narrated it in Dala'il al-nubuwwa (1:87). Tabari in his
Tarikh (2:243), Ibn al-Jawzi in al-Wafa' (p. 82-83, ch. 16 of Abwab bidayati nabiyyina), and Ibn
Hisham narrated something similar but on the authenticity of which they raise
doubt (cf. Guillaume trans. p. 68-69):
It is alleged a woman of
Banu Asad who was the sister of Waraqa ibn Nawfal proposed to `Abd Allah, but
he married Amina bint Wahb instead and consummated his marriage. Then he left
her presence and met the woman who had proposed to him. He asked her why she
did not make the proposal that she made to him the day before; to which she
replied that the light that was in him the day before had left him, and
she no longer had need of him... She said: "When you passed me there
was a white blaze between your eyes and when I invited you refused me and went
to Amina, and she has taken it away."
It is
related that Jabir ibn `Abd Allah said to the Prophet:
"O Messenger of Allah,
may my father and mother be sacrificed for you, tell me of the first thing
Allah created before all things." He said: "O Jabir, the first
thing Allah created was the light of your Prophet from His light, and that light remained (lit. "turned")
in the midst of His Power for as long as He wished, and there was not, at that
time, a Tablet or a Pen or a Paradise or a Fire or an angel or a heaven or an
earth. And when Allah wished to create
creation, he divided that Light into four parts and from the first made the
Pen, from the second the Tablet, from the third the Throne, [and from the
fourth everything else]."
The judgments on this
narration vary greatly among the scholars. Their words are listed below under
the alphabetical listing of their names.
`Abd al-Haqq al-Dihlawi (d.
1052) the Indian hadith scholar cites it as evidence in Madarij al-nubuwwa (in Persian, 2:2 of the Maktaba al-nuriyya
edition in Sakhore) and says it is sahih (sound and authentic).
`Abd al-Hayy al-Lucknawi (d.
1304) the Indian hadith scholar cites it in his al-Athar al-marfu`a fi al-akhbar al-mawdu`a (p. 33-34 of the Lahore
edition) and says: "The primacy (awwaliyya)
of the Muhammadan light (al-nur
al-muhammadi) is established from the narration of `Abd al-Razzaq, as well
as its definite priority over all created things."
`Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211)
narrates it in his Musannaf according
to Qastallani in al-Mawahib al-laduniyya
(1:55) and Zarqani in his Sharh
al-mawahib (1:56 of the Matba`a al-`amira edition in Cairo). There is no
doubt as to the reliability of `Abd al-Razzaq as a narrator. Bukhari took 120
narrations from him, Muslim 400.
`Abidin (Ahmad al-Shami d.
1320), the son of the Hanafi scholar Ibn `Abidin, cites the hadith as evidence
in his commentary on Ibn Hajar al-Haytami's poem al-Ni`mat al-kubra `ala al-`alamin. Nabahani cites it in his Jawahir al-bihar (3:354).
`Ajluni (Isma`il ibn
Muhammad d. 1162) in his Kashf al-khafa'
(1:265 of the Maktabat al-Ghazali edition in Beirut) narrates the hadith in its
entirety from Qastallani in his Mawahib.
Alusi (al-Sayyid Mahmud) in
his commentary of Qur'an entitled Ruh
al-ma`ani (17:105 of the Beirut edition) said: "The Prophet's being a
mercy to all is linked to the fact that he is the intermediary of the divine
outpouring over all contingencies [i.e. all created things without exception],
from the very beginnings (wasitat al-fayd
al-ilahi `ala al-mumkinat `ala hasab al-qawabil), and that is why his light
was the first of all things created, as stated in the report that "The
first thing Allah created was the light of your Prophet, O Jabir," and
also cited is: "Allah is the Giver and I am the Distributor." [See al-Qasim #261.] The Sufis -- may Allah
sanctify their secrets -- have more to say on that chapter." Alusi also
cites the hadith of Jabir as evidence in another passage of Ruh al-ma`ani (8:71).
Bakri (Sayyid Abu al-Hasan
Ahmad ibn `Abd Allah, d. 3rd c.) in his book al-Anwar fi mawlid al-nabi Muhammad `alayhi al-salat wa al-salam
(p. 5 of the Najaf edition) cites the following hadith from `Ali: "Allah
was and there was nothing with Him, and the first thing which He created was
the light of His Beloved, before He created water, or the Throne, or the
Footstool, or the Tablet, or the Pen, or Paradise, or the Fire, or the Veils
and the Clouds, or Adam and Eve, by four thousand years."
Bayhaqi (d. 458) narrates it
with a different wording in Dala'il
al-nubuwwa according to Zarqani in his Sharh
al-mawahib (1:56 of the Matba`a al-`amira in Cairo) and Diyarbakri in Tarikh al-khamis (1:20).
Diyarbakri (Husayn ibn Muhammad
d. 966): He begins his 1,000-page history entitled Tarikh al-khamis fi ahwal
anfasi nafis with the words: "Praise be to Allah Who created the Light
of His Prophet before everything else," which is enough to disprove
al-Ghumari's exaggerated claim that "anyone who reads it will be convinced
that the hadith is a lie." Then Diyarbakri cites the hadith as evidence
(1:19 of the Mu'assasat Sha`ban edition in Beirut).
Fasi (Muhammad ibn Ahmad d.
1052) cites it as evidence in Matali`
al-masarrat (p. 210, 221 of the Matba`a al-taziyya edition) and says:
"These narrations indicate his primacy (awwaliyya)
and priority over all other creations, and also the fact that he is their cause
(sabab)."
Ghumari (`Abd Allah) in his Irshad al-talib al-najib ila ma fi al-mawlid
al-nabawi min al-akadhib (p. 9-12 of the Dar al-furqan edition), commenting
on Suyuti's words (quoted below) whereby the hadith has no reliable chain:
"This shows great laxity on the part of Suyuti, which I thought him to be
above. First, the hadith is not present in `Abd al-Razzaq's Musannaf, nor in any of the books of
hadith. Secondly : the hadith has no chain of transmission to begin with.
Thirdly: he has not mentioned the rest of the hadith. It is mentioned in
Diyarbakri's Tarikh, and anyone who
reads it will be convinced that the hadith is a lie about the Messenger of
Allah." This exaggerated conclusion is disproved by the fact that
Diyarbarkri himself does not consider it a lie since he cites the hadith in the
first words of his book.
Gilani (Shaykh `Abd
al-Qadir, d. 561) in his book Sirr
al-asrar fi ma yahtaju ilayh al-abrar (p. 12-14 of the Lahore edition)
said: "Know that since Allah first created the soul of Muhammad sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam from the
light of His beauty, as He said: I created Muhammad from the light of My Face,
and as the Prophet said: The first thing Allah created is my soul, and the
first thing Allah created is the Pen, and the first thing Allah created is the
intellect -- what is meant by all this is one and the same thing, and that is
the haqiqa muhammadiyya. However, it
was named a light because it is completely purified from darkness, as Allah
said: There has come to you from Allah a Light and a manifest Book. It was also
named an intellect because it is the cause for the transmission of knowledge,
and the pen is its medium in the world of letters. The Muhammadan soul (al-ruh al-muhammadiyya) is therefore
the quintessence of all created things and the first of them and their origin,
as the Prophet said: I am from Allah and the believers are from me, and Allah
created all souls from me in the spiritual world and He did so in the best
form. It is the name of the totality of mankind in that primordial world, and
after its creation by four thousand years, Allah created the Throne from the
light of Muhammad himself sallallahu
`alayhi wa sallam, and from it the rest of creation." This book has
now been translated by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi as The Secret of Secrets (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1994).
Halabi (`Ali ibn Burhan
al-Din, d. 1044) cites it as evidence in his Sira (1:31 of the Maktaba Islamiyya edition in Beirut) and then
states: "It provides evidence that he is the root of everything that
exists (in creation) and Allah knows best."
Haqqi (Isma`il, d. 1137)
cites it as evidence in his Tafsir
entitled Ruh al-bayan and says:
"Know, O person of understanding, that the first thing Allah created is
the light of your Prophet... and he is the cause for the existence of
everything that was brought to existence, and the mercy from Allah upon all
creatures... and without him the higher and the lower worlds would not have
been created." Yusuf al-Nabahani mentions it in his Jawahir al-bihar (p. 1125).
Haytami (Ahmad ibn Hajar d.
974) states in his Fatawa hadithiyya (p.
247 of the Baba edition in Cairo) that `Abd al-Razzaq narrated it, and cites it
in his poem on the Prophet's birth entitled al-Ni`mat
al-kubra `ala al-`alamin (p. 3).
Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari
(Muhammad ibn Muhammad d. 736) in his book al-Madkhal
(2:34 of the Dar al-kitab al-`arabi in Beirut) cites it from al-Khatib Abu
al-Rabi` Muhammad ibn al-Layth's book Shifa'
al-sudur in which the latter says: "The first thing Allah created is
the light of Muhammad, blessings and peace upon him, and that light came and
prostrated before Allah. Allah divided it into four parts and created from the
first part the Throne, from the second the Pen, from the third the Tablet, and
then similarly He subdivided the fourth part into parts and created the rest of
creation. Therefore the light of the Throne is from the light of the Prophet,
the light of the Pen is from the light of the Prophet, the light of the Tablet
is from the light of the Prophet, the light of day, the light of knowledge, the
light of the sun and the moon, and the light of vision and sight are all from
the light of the Prophet."
Isma`il al-Dihlawi (Shah
Muhammad, d. 1246), one of the leaders of the Wahhabi-influenced Deobandi
school in the Indo-Pakistani Subcontinent in one of his booklets entitled Yek rawzah (p. 11 of the Maltan edition)
says: "As indicated by the narration: The
first thing Allah created was my Light."
Jamal (Sulayman d. 1204)
cites it as evidence in his commentary on Busiri entitled al-Futuhat al-ahmadiyya bi al-minah al-muhammadiyya (p. 6 of the
Hijazi edition in Cairo).
Gangowhi (Rashid Ahmad) a
leader of the Wahhabi-influenced Deobandi school of India and Pakistan in his Fatawa rashidiyya (p. 157 of the Karachi
edition) said that the hadith was "not found in the authentic collections,
but Shaykh `Abd al-Haqq (al-Dihlawi) cited it on the basis that it had some
grounding of authenticity." Actually Shaykh `Abd al-Haqq not only cited it
but he said it was sound (sahih).
Jili (`Abd al-Karim, b. 766)
in his Namus al-a`zam wa al-qamus al-aqdam
fi ma`rifat qadar al-bani sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam cites it as
evidence. Nabahani relates it in his Jawahir
al-bihar (see below).
Kharputi (`Umar ibn Ahmad,
d. 1299) in his commentary on Busiri entitled Sharh qasidat al-burda (p. 73 of the Karachi edition).
Maliki al-Hasani (Muhammad
ibn `Alawi) in his commentary on `Ali al-Qari's book of the Mawlid entitled Hashiyat al-Mawrid al-rawi fi al-mawlid
al-nabawi (p. 40) said: "The chain of Jabir is sound without contest,
but the scholars have differed concerning the text of the hadith due to its
peculiarity. Bayhaqi also narrated the hadith with some differences." Then
he quoted several narrations establishing the light of the Prophet.
Nabahani (Yusuf ibn Isma`il)
cites it as evidence in al-Anwar al-muhammadiyya
(p. 13), in his Jawahir al-bihar (p.
1125 or 4:220 of the Baba edition in Cairo), and in his Hujjat Allah `ala al-`alamin (p. 28).
Nabulusi (`Abd al-Ghani d.
1143) says in his Hadiqa al-nadiyya
(2:375 of the Maktaba al-nuriyya edition in Faysalabad): "The Prophet is
the universal leader of all, and how could he not be when all things were
created out of his light as has been stated in the sound hadith."
Nisaburi (Nizamuddin ibn
Hasan, d. 728) cites it as evidence in elucidation of the verse: "And I
was ordered to be the first of the Muslims" (39:12) in his Tafsir entitled Ghara'ib al-Qur'an (8:66 of the Baba edition in Cairo).
Qari (Mulla `Ali ibn Sultan,
d. 1014) cites it in full in his book al-Mawlid
al-rawi fi al-mawlid al-nabawi (p. 40), edited by Sayyid Muhammad `Alawi
al-Maliki. He also said in his Sharh
al-Shifa, in commenting upon the Prophet's title "as a Lamp spreading
Light" (33: 46): "Muhammad... is a tremendous light and the source of
all lights, he is also a book that gathers up and makes clear all the
secrets... sirajan muniran means a
luminous sun, because of His saying: "He hath placed therein a great lamp
and a moon giving light" (25:61).
There is in this verse an indication that the sun is the highest of the
material lights and that other lights are outpourings from it: similarly the
Prophet is the highest of the spiritual lights and other lights are derived
from him by virtue of his mediating connection and pivotal rank in the overall
sphere of creation. This is also inferred from the tradition: "The first
thing Allah created is my light."" (Sharh al-Shifa 1:505)
Qastallani (Ahmad ibn
Muhammad, d. 923) narrates it in his al-Mawahib
al-laduniyya (1:55 of the edition accompanied by Zarqani's commentary).
Rifa`i (Yusuf al-Sayyid
Hashim) cites it as evidence in Adillat
Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama`a al-musamma al-radd al-muhkam al-mani` (p. 22):
`Abd al-Razzaq narrated it.
Suyuti in al-Hawi li al-fatawi, in the explanation
of Sura al-Muddaththir: "It has
no reliable chain"; and in Takhrij
ahadith sharh al-mawaqif: "I did not find it in that wording."
Thanwi (Ashraf `Ali), a
leader of the Wahhabi-influenced Deobandi school in the Indian Subcontinent, in
his book Nashr al-tib (in Urdu, p. 6
and 215 of the Lahore edition) cites it as evidence on the authority of `Abd
al-Razzaq, and relies upon it.
Zarqani in Sharh al-mawahib cites it (1:56 of the
Matba`a al-`amira edition in Cairo) and refers it to `Abd al-Razzaq's narration
in his Musannaf.
Zahir (Ihsan Ilahi), a
leader of the Wahhabi-influenced Deobandi school and declared enemy of the
Barelwi school of Ahl al-Sunna in
Lahore, India, in his book Hadiyyat
al-mahdi (p. 56 of the Sialkut edition) says: "Allah began His
creation with the Muhammadan light (al-nur
al-muhammadi), then He created the Throne over the water, then He created
the wind, then He created the Nun and the Pen and the Tablet, then He created
the Intellect. The Muhammadan Light is therefore a primary substance for the
creation of the heavens and the earth and what is in them... As for what has
come to us in the hadith: The first thing which Allah created is the Pen; and:
The first thing which Allah created is the Intellect: what is meant by it is a
relative primacy."
Anas relates that the
Prophet said:
"The simile of the
scholars of knowledge (al-`ulama') on
the earth is the stars in the sky by which one is guided in the darkness of the
land and the sea. When the stars are clouded over, the guides are about to be
lost."
Ahmad narrated it in his Musnad (3:157 #12606) with a chain
containing Rishdin ibn Sa`d who is weak. However, it is confirmed by the hadith
in Muslim and Ahmad narrated by Abu Musa al-Ash`ari whereby the Prophet said:
"The stars are trust-keepers for the heaven, and when the stars wane, the
heaven is brought what was promised (i.e. of the corruption of the world and
the coming of the Day of Judgment); and I am a trust-keeper for my Companions,
so when I go my Companions will be brought what was promised them (i.e. of fitna and division); and my Companions
are trustkeepers for my Community, so when they go my Community will be brought
what was promised to you (i.e. following hawa
and vying for dunya)."