Reality of man (Haqiqat-e-insaani)

Man is a microcosm of the Universe, and his relationship to the universe is as the soul to the body.

To see oneself in the mirror is different to observing oneself directly. When God Almighty wished to review His Own Beauty in a mirror, which had the capacity to reflect all His Beautiful Attributes, He created the universe, and made Prophet Adam His vicegerent. It is God’s way of doing things; the body is set right and embellished with the soul only when it is fit to receive it, as He has said in the Quran:

When I shall have fashioned him

And breathed of My spirit into

Him. (Al-hijr, 15:29) (Saad, 38:72)

First the body is put in order to receive the soul, then the soul is breathed in. As the universe is likened to the body, and when it was ready to receive the soul, Prophet Adam was created as the soul of the universe, and when Adam was fit to receive the soul, God Almighty breathed His Soul into him. Blowing His Soul into man means, that God cast a reflection of His Essence and Attributes (Zaat and Sifaat) onto Adam who had been prepared to receive it. Thus he, (Adam) became capable of bearing the great Divine trust (ammanat-i-Ilahi), Nothing in the universe possessed the ability to bear God’s trust. This is how man became recipient of all the Divine Attributes. Maghribi, a great Gnostic of Islam, has beautifully described the position of the perfect man as vicegerent of God.

We are the mirror reflecting Divine Essence,

We are the manifestation of Divine Attributes,

We are the book of Divine Names,

We are the treasure of the mysteries of the universe;

We are in exact similarity with the necessary Being,

We are synonymous with the contingent being;

We are above space and in space,

We are beyond directions and within directions;

We are the microcosm of this and the next world,

We are the macrocosm of all beings. (Maghribi)

Man possesses all the Divine Attributes except the Attribute of Eternal Being (Wajood-i-Zaati). Allah is Living (Hye), Hearing (Sami), Seeing (Baseer). So is man. The difference is that God does not depend on any one, while man is dependent upon God for his life, seeing and hearing. God is an Eternal Being (Waajib) and we are contingent beings (haadis). As God’s Attributes prevail in both manifest (zaahir) and hidden (baatin) realms, so are man’s attributes to be found in manifest and hidden forms. While God has the Attributes of Mercy and Wrath, so is man qualified with the qualities of fear and hope (khauf-o-jija). As God qualified Himself with the Qualities of Beauty and Majesty (Jammal and Jalaal), so is man kept in the states of love (uns) and fear (baibat). The same is the case with all the other Attributes. This juxtaposition of the two opposite Attributes has been termed by god in the Quran as “two hands” in the following ayah:-

“what hindereth thee from falling

Prostrate before that which I have

Created with both My hands?”

(Saad, 38:75)

Apart from the fact that the phenomenon of opposite Names found expression in Adam, the reference to “two hands” also signifies the dual nature of man which became apparent in him by the combination of Immortality (Surat-e-Haq) and mortality (surat-i-insaan). Since man’s outwardness falls in the realm of creation and his inwardness in the realm of Divinity, it is the combination or dual nature (jaanial) which made man worthy of the title of vicegerency (khilafat). Every particle of the universe is the manifestation of one or the other Attribute of God, and everything came into existence with this process; man being the most perfect from of manifestation. Man is the only creation who has been graced with most of the Divine Attributes in the entire universe. Says God Almighty:-

And He taught Adam the names

of all things. (Al-Baqara, 2:31)

This means that when God Almighty flashed His Names and Attributes across Adam’s soul, Adam became qualified with Divine Qualities. This is what made him superior to the angels, who were commanded by the Almighty to prostrate themselves before him. As the Name Allah combines all Divine Names, so is the word insaan (man) a combination of all Divine Attributes. The reality of man (haqiqat-i-insaani) is the manifestation of the Name, Allah. When the universe is the manifestation of all the Divine Names combined in the word Allah, then all the realities of the universe (haqaiq-i-aalam) are manifestations of the reality of man. In other words the universe is the manifestation of man’s reality (haqiqat-i-insaani), says Rumi:-

The wine got intozicated through us; not we through wine;

The body came into life through us; not we through the body.

For this reason, the universe is called “insaan-i-kabeer” (macrocosm) and man is called aalam-i-sagheer (microcosm). The universe is the major manifestation of the reality of man (haqiqat-i-insaani), and man is the minor manifestation of the universe (aalam). Or one can say, the universe is man in detail (tafsil), and man is the universe in summary (ijmaal). Man contains in summary what exists in detail in the universe.

Do not refer me to any other book;

For I myself am a perfect book

(Maghribi)

Reality of Muhammad

Man’s reality (haqiqat-i-insaan) is in fact Muhammad’s reality (Haqiqat-i-Muhammadiyah). The First Descent (Tanazzul) or the First Determination from the Indeterminate Being, which God made, was Muhammad’s reality (Haqiqat-i-Muhammadiyah), as said by the Holy Prophet:-

The first thing which Allah created was my noor (light).

He has also said:-

I was a Prophet when Adam was still just water And mud

The Holy Prophet is the first from the viewpoint of creation and the last from the point of view of appearance. That is to say, he is the first and the most perfect being in the whole of creation. From the viewpoint of reality (haqiqat) he is the first, and from the point of appearance he is the last. In reality he is the first creation (khalq-e-anwal), the first determination (ta’ayyun-e-awwal), the greatest buffer (barzakh) and link between the two domains, manifest (zaahir) and hidden (baatin). He is the Light (Noor) of God, which appeared first of all, and out of which the entire creation came into being. He is the root (asl) of the whole universe and the real microcosm (khulasa-i-maujudaat). He is the soul (Spirit) of the universe, and a summary (ijmaal) of all the Divine Names and Attributes of which the universe is the manifestation (zabur). He is the First Intellect (Aql-i-Awwal). He is the light of Prophethood (nabuwwat), the reality of Adam and the reality of all the prophets. He is the culmination of human perfection, as Adam is the culmination of creation. Prophet Muhammad is that Light (Noor) of God Almighty, which came into being even before the manifestation of Divine Names and Attributes, as well as before time and space came into being. God placed that Light (Noor) in the First Intellect (Aql-i-Awwal), as a concept of a building first forms in the mind of the architect. The creation of spiritual realities, (Aql-i-Awwal) is like the architect who conceives the sketch of a building and collects necessary materials in accordance with his sketch. In short, all the details of the bulding from its beginning to its culmination are strictly within the confines of the sketch in the mind of the architect. When god Almighty wished to create the spiritual and physical worlds, He reproduced the same sketch of noor-i-nabuwwat (Reality of prophethood) from His ‘Mind’, as an architect reproduces the sketch of the building from his imagination onto paper. It is through this Noor that the sun and the moon were illuminated, the arsh (throne), the kursi (footstool), the pen (qalam) and the preserved Tablet (Laub-i-Mahfooz) archieved stability, the skies were decorated with the stars and the earth and other planets were inhabited. It is this Noor (Divine Light) which entered the heart (qalb) of Adam as the trust (amaanat) and after evolution finally appeared from the womb of the exalted Amina in the shape of Muhammad, the Holy Prophet.

O God! Bless our master Muhammad and his descendants as much as his

Beauty (busn) and perfection (Jamaal).

In His ‘Mind’, God created the physical universe out of the Noor, He also created the spiritual world from that Noor, as the sketch in the architect’s mind; until that Noor appeared in the form of the last brick, which completes the construction of the building. When this Noor appeared in its physical form, it was like that last brick which mixes with other bricks to complete the construction of a building Says God: (to Muhammad)

Say: In sooth I am only a man like

You. (Al-Kahf, 18:110)

When the Holy Prophet appeared in the shape of a man, like other men, it was as though the sun was was covered with clouds and it became easy to see it. What actually happened was that all the Divine names and Attributes were contained in one comprehensive (jaamia) name, ‘Allah’ and which took the shape of a human being. Thus it became easy for the seekers to behold the Unseen in the visible being and achieve Divine nearness and union. But it is only possible when the seekers keep both the spiritual and physical (Divine and human) aspects of his life in view. He, who looks at one aspect of the Holy Prophet and remains blind to the other is the target of the Divine warming:-

Thou seest them look towards thee,

But they do not see! (Al-A’raf, 7:1998)

It is while looking at the Holy Prophet from the spiritual point of view that Allah Almighty swore:

I swear by the life.

(Al-hijr, 15:72)

He has also said:-

Undoubtedly thou guidest on the

Right path. (Al-shura, 42-52)

God has also said:-

Muhammad is not the father of any one

Of your people (Al-Ahzab, 33:40)

The Holy Prophet said about himself:-

I am not like any one of you. I live with

My Lord who feeds me. (Bukhari)

The Holy Prophet has also said:

At times I enjoy such extreme

Nearness with Allah that neither

The nearest angel not any

Prophet can reach Him.

It is the human aspect (jihat-i-bashri) of the Holy Prophet that god Almighty addresses:-

Say: In sooth I am only a man like

You. (Al-Kbaf, 18:110)

God has also said:

Thou truly shall die, O Muhammad,

And they too shall die. (Al-zumar, 39:30)

God has also said:

Thou truly canst not guide

Whom thou desirest. (Al-Qatas, 28:56)

When the Holy Prophet felt sad or defeated, this referred to his human aspect and not his divine aspect. The Holy Prophet’s saying to the companions that they knew the affairs of the world better than himself was also due to his human aspect. His humility, poverty, indigence and the possibilities of going wrong were the result of his human self at the time of his descent into the constraints of the physical world of time and space. He gained comprehension of the physical world by virtue of his human perfection, and comprehension of the spiritual world by dint of his spiritual self. That is why the Prophet is the combination of two oceans, that is, the manifestation of both the realm of spirituality and the realm of phenomena. Thus his descent to the lower physical world speaks as much of his excellence (kamala) as his ascendance to the highest spiritual world bears testimony to his excellence in the highest regions during the Night of Ascension (meiraj):

Our beloved has as much of inner beauty

As he has the charms of external beauty

Appearance of Haqiqat-i-Muhammadiyah through ages.

When God Almighty decided to appoint His vicegerent (khalifah) on earth, it became necessary to send a vicegerent for every age, with some similarity (munasibat) with the people of that time so that people could gain spiritual perfection through him and he could discharge his duties appropriately. Since the condition of each era is not alike, and since the people of each age did not possess the same capability to be guided by identical codes of conduct, it was not possible for Muhammad’s reality (haqiqat-i-Muhammadjiyah) in all its perfection, to appear in these ages. That is the reason why that reality appeared in various forms in various ages with a variety of splendor, gremess and spiritual status, commensurating with conditions of each period. These forms are the reality of Muhammad, appearing as prophets in various ages.

In the garb of Adam, I was saluted by angels; In the form of

Muhammad I became both bamid and mahmood (praiser and praised)

Then as Idris, as Seth, as Noah, as Yunus;

As Yusuf, as Yaqub, as Hud

I appeared as Salih, as Ibrahim, as Ishaq, as Yahya;

Then as Isa, as Musa, and as Daud

For the lovers I became Paradise just now;

For others I became the promised Day of Judgement

And for the divers in the ocean of Divinity;

I became the desired jewel in every age, and era. (Niaz)

When you look upon these determinations (ta’ayyunaat) and personalities, (tashakhosaat) you become a believer in othermess or separateness (ghairiyat) from Haqiqat-i-Muhammadiyah. But when moved by the ecstatic state of Oneness (Wahdat0, you regard all of them as expressions of the same reality, you will be forced from the depth of the heart to believe in the truth of the ayah:

We make no distinction between any

Of His Apostles. (Al-Baqara, 2:285)

In fact the pivot (qutb) on which rests the whole universe, and which is the centre of the entire circle of Being (Wujood) from the beginning to the end (azal-ta-abad), is the reality of Muhammad (Haqiqat-i-Muhammadiyah). It appeared in multiple forms (prophets) only from the point of view of multiplicity (kasrat), not reality.

Hierarchy of Vicegerency

On the termination of prophethood, that pivotal responsibility was transferred to the auliya-Allah (friends of God), and it will continue till the appearance of the last of the auliya (Khaitm-al-auliya). That era too, will come to an end and will be followed by the era of accountability, of Paradise and Hellfire.

It is these auliya-Allah, who have achieved the status of the perfect men (insaan-i-kaamil) under the shadow (zill) of the Holy Prophet by following and loving him, and have been deputed as vicegerents of god and of the Holy Prophet. They will continue to appear in various ages, till the appearance of Imam aakhir-uz-zamaan.

These are the auliya-Allah who are the vicegerents of god indirectly by virtue of the vicegerency of the Holy Prophet. They are deputies (qaim maqaam) of God on earth and heirs to the Holy Prophet. They derive the power of supernatural deeds (quwwat-i-tasamif) from God Himself by virtue of being attributed with His Names and Attributes. For this purpose they are in need of knowing God (maarifat-i-Illahi). Human excellence depends on man’s knowledge of God and His Greatness as much as the individual capacity can achieve. This brings us to the conclusion that the degree of his knowledge of God (maarifat). The seeker struggles hard to cross the desert of separation. He has to cut across the valley of multiplicity. He is successful in getting rid of human attributes, and reaches the stage of union with God (wisaal). He becomes the manifestation (mazhar) of Divine Names and Attributes (Isma-o-Sifaat) by reaching the state of Oneness (fatta) with the Absolute Essence (Tajalli Zaati). He is then crowned as the vicegerent of God on earth, and returns from Oneness to the realm of multiplicity (or duality) and guides others to the same destination.

In other words, he descends from the state of kingship to slavehood and assumes the state of humility and abudiyyat always in surrender to the Lord. He diligently does full justice to all the states (haqqqiq). He thus becomes a moving image of Divine Attributes on earth. Not only that, he is a source of blessing for the entire world (rahmat). In his admiration God says:

And for whom We have ordained

A light whereby he may walk

Among men. (Al-An’am, 6:122)

The Magnificence of Allah descended on earth

The Attribute of Godliness in the dress of a man

Man is a microcosm of the Universe, and his relationship to the universe is as the soul to the body.

To see oneself in the mirror is different to observing oneself directly. When God Almighty wished to review His Own Beauty in a mirror, which had the capacity to reflect all His Beautiful Attributes, He created the universe, and made Prophet Adam His vicegerent. It is God’s way of doing things; the body is set right and embellished with the soul only when it is fit to receive it, as He has said in the Quran:

When I shall have fashioned him

And breathed of My spirit into

Him. (Al-hijr, 15:29) (Saad, 38:72)

First the body is put in order to receive the soul, then the soul is breathed in. As the universe is likened to the body, and when it was ready to receive the soul, Prophet Adam was created as the soul of the universe, and when Adam was fit to receive the soul, God Almighty breathed His Soul into him. Blowing His Soul into man means, that God cast a reflection of His Essence and Attributes (Zaat and Sifaat) onto Adam who had been prepared to receive it. Thus he, (Adam) became capable of bearing the great Divine trust (ammanat-i-Ilahi), Nothing in the universe possessed the ability to bear God’s trust. This is how man became recipient of all the Divine Attributes. Maghribi, a great Gnostic of Islam, has beautifully described the position of the perfect man as vicegerent of God.

We are the mirror reflecting Divine Essence,

We are the manifestation of Divine Attributes,

We are the book of Divine Names,

We are the treasure of the mysteries of the universe;

We are in exact similarity with the necessary Being,

We are synonymous with the contingent being;

We are above space and in space,

We are beyond directions and within directions;

We are the microcosm of this and the next world,

We are the macrocosm of all beings. (Maghribi)

Man possesses all the Divine Attributes except the Attribute of Eternal Being (Wajood-i-Zaati). Allah is Living (Hye), Hearing (Sami), Seeing (Baseer). So is man. The difference is that God does not depend on any one, while man is dependent upon God for his life, seeing and hearing. God is an Eternal Being (Waajib) and we are contingent beings (haadis). As God’s Attributes prevail in both manifest (zaahir) and hidden (baatin) realms, so are man’s attributes to be found in manifest and hidden forms. While God has the Attributes of Mercy and Wrath, so is man qualified with the qualities of fear and hope (khauf-o-jija). As God qualified Himself with the Qualities of Beauty and Majesty (Jammal and Jalaal), so is man kept in the states of love (uns) and fear (baibat). The same is the case with all the other Attributes. This juxtaposition of the two opposite Attributes has been termed by god in the Quran as “two hands” in the following ayah:-

“what hindereth thee from falling

Prostrate before that which I have

Created with both My hands?”

(Saad, 38:75)

Apart from the fact that the phenomenon of opposite Names found expression in Adam, the reference to “two hands” also signifies the dual nature of man which became apparent in him by the combination of Immortality (Surat-e-Haq) and mortality (surat-i-insaan). Since man’s outwardness falls in the realm of creation and his inwardness in the realm of Divinity, it is the combination or dual nature (jaanial) which made man worthy of the title of vicegerency (khilafat). Every particle of the universe is the manifestation of one or the other Attribute of God, and everything came into existence with this process; man being the most perfect from of manifestation. Man is the only creation who has been graced with most of the Divine Attributes in the entire universe. Says God Almighty:-

And He taught Adam the names

of all things. (Al-Baqara, 2:31)

This means that when God Almighty flashed His Names and Attributes across Adam’s soul, Adam became qualified with Divine Qualities. This is what made him superior to the angels, who were commanded by the Almighty to prostrate themselves before him. As the Name Allah combines all Divine Names, so is the word insaan (man) a combination of all Divine Attributes. The reality of man (haqiqat-i-insaani) is the manifestation of the Name, Allah. When the universe is the manifestation of all the Divine Names combined in the word Allah, then all the realities of the universe (haqaiq-i-aalam) are manifestations of the reality of man. In other words the universe is the manifestation of man’s reality (haqiqat-i-insaani), says Rumi:-

The wine got intozicated through us; not we through wine;

The body came into life through us; not we through the body.

For this reason, the universe is called “insaan-i-kabeer” (macrocosm) and man is called aalam-i-sagheer (microcosm). The universe is the major manifestation of the reality of man (haqiqat-i-insaani), and man is the minor manifestation of the universe (aalam). Or one can say, the universe is man in detail (tafsil), and man is the universe in summary (ijmaal). Man contains in summary what exists in detail in the universe.

Do not refer me to any other book;

For I myself am a perfect book

(Maghribi)

Reality of Muhammad

Man’s reality (haqiqat-i-insaan) is in fact Muhammad’s reality (Haqiqat-i-Muhammadiyah). The First Descent (Tanazzul) or the First Determination from the Indeterminate Being, which God made, was Muhammad’s reality (Haqiqat-i-Muhammadiyah), as said by the Holy Prophet:-

The first thing which Allah created was my noor (light).

He has also said:-

I was a Prophet when Adam was still just water And mud

The Holy Prophet is the first from the viewpoint of creation and the last from the point of view of appearance. That is to say, he is the first and the most perfect being in the whole of creation. From the viewpoint of reality (haqiqat) he is the first, and from the point of appearance he is the last. In reality he is the first creation (khalq-e-anwal), the first determination (ta’ayyun-e-awwal), the greatest buffer (barzakh) and link between the two domains, manifest (zaahir) and hidden (baatin). He is the Light (Noor) of God, which appeared first of all, and out of which the entire creation came into being. He is the root (asl) of the whole universe and the real microcosm (khulasa-i-maujudaat). He is the soul (Spirit) of the universe, and a summary (ijmaal) of all the Divine Names and Attributes of which the universe is the manifestation (zabur). He is the First Intellect (Aql-i-Awwal). He is the light of Prophethood (nabuwwat), the reality of Adam and the reality of all the prophets. He is the culmination of human perfection, as Adam is the culmination of creation. Prophet Muhammad is that Light (Noor) of God Almighty, which came into being even before the manifestation of Divine Names and Attributes, as well as before time and space came into being. God placed that Light (Noor) in the First Intellect (Aql-i-Awwal), as a concept of a building first forms in the mind of the architect. The creation of spiritual realities, (Aql-i-Awwal) is like the architect who conceives the sketch of a building and collects necessary materials in accordance with his sketch. In short, all the details of the bulding from its beginning to its culmination are strictly within the confines of the sketch in the mind of the architect. When god Almighty wished to create the spiritual and physical worlds, He reproduced the same sketch of noor-i-nabuwwat (Reality of prophethood) from His ‘Mind’, as an architect reproduces the sketch of the building from his imagination onto paper. It is through this Noor that the sun and the moon were illuminated, the arsh (throne), the kursi (footstool), the pen (qalam) and the preserved Tablet (Laub-i-Mahfooz) archieved stability, the skies were decorated with the stars and the earth and other planets were inhabited. It is this Noor (Divine Light) which entered the heart (qalb) of Adam as the trust (amaanat) and after evolution finally appeared from the womb of the exalted Amina in the shape of Muhammad, the Holy Prophet.

O God! Bless our master Muhammad and his descendants as much as his

Beauty (busn) and perfection (Jamaal).

In His ‘Mind’, God created the physical universe out of the Noor, He also created the spiritual world from that Noor, as the sketch in the architect’s mind; until that Noor appeared in the form of the last brick, which completes the construction of the building. When this Noor appeared in its physical form, it was like that last brick which mixes with other bricks to complete the construction of a building Says God: (to Muhammad)

Say: In sooth I am only a man like

You. (Al-Kahf, 18:110)

When the Holy Prophet appeared in the shape of a man, like other men, it was as though the sun was was covered with clouds and it became easy to see it. What actually happened was that all the Divine names and Attributes were contained in one comprehensive (jaamia) name, ‘Allah’ and which took the shape of a human being. Thus it became easy for the seekers to behold the Unseen in the visible being and achieve Divine nearness and union. But it is only possible when the seekers keep both the spiritual and physical (Divine and human) aspects of his life in view. He, who looks at one aspect of the Holy Prophet and remains blind to the other is the target of the Divine warming:-

Thou seest them look towards thee,

But they do not see! (Al-A’raf, 7:1998)

It is while looking at the Holy Prophet from the spiritual point of view that Allah Almighty swore:

I swear by the life.

(Al-hijr, 15:72)

He has also said:-

Undoubtedly thou guidest on the

Right path. (Al-shura, 42-52)

God has also said:-

Muhammad is not the father of any one

Of your people (Al-Ahzab, 33:40)

The Holy Prophet said about himself:-

I am not like any one of you. I live with

My Lord who feeds me. (Bukhari)

The Holy Prophet has also said:

At times I enjoy such extreme

Nearness with Allah that neither

The nearest angel not any

Prophet can reach Him.

It is the human aspect (jihat-i-bashri) of the Holy Prophet that god Almighty addresses:-

Say: In sooth I am only a man like

You. (Al-Kbaf, 18:110)

God has also said:

Thou truly shall die, O Muhammad,

And they too shall die. (Al-zumar, 39:30)

God has also said:

Thou truly canst not guide

Whom thou desirest. (Al-Qatas, 28:56)

When the Holy Prophet felt sad or defeated, this referred to his human aspect and not his divine aspect. The Holy Prophet’s saying to the companions that they knew the affairs of the world better than himself was also due to his human aspect. His humility, poverty, indigence and the possibilities of going wrong were the result of his human self at the time of his descent into the constraints of the physical world of time and space. He gained comprehension of the physical world by virtue of his human perfection, and comprehension of the spiritual world by dint of his spiritual self. That is why the Prophet is the combination of two oceans, that is, the manifestation of both the realm of spirituality and the realm of phenomena. Thus his descent to the lower physical world speaks as much of his excellence (kamala) as his ascendance to the highest spiritual world bears testimony to his excellence in the highest regions during the Night of Ascension (meiraj):

Our beloved has as much of inner beauty

As he has the charms of external beauty

Appearance of Haqiqat-i-Muhammadiyah through ages.

When God Almighty decided to appoint His vicegerent (khalifah) on earth, it became necessary to send a vicegerent for every age, with some similarity (munasibat) with the people of that time so that people could gain spiritual perfection through him and he could discharge his duties appropriately. Since the condition of each era is not alike, and since the people of each age did not possess the same capability to be guided by identical codes of conduct, it was not possible for Muhammad’s reality (haqiqat-i-Muhammadjiyah) in all its perfection, to appear in these ages. That is the reason why that reality appeared in various forms in various ages with a variety of splendor, gremess and spiritual status, commensurating with conditions of each period. These forms are the reality of Muhammad, appearing as prophets in various ages.

In the garb of Adam, I was saluted by angels; In the form of

Muhammad I became both bamid and mahmood (praiser and praised)

Then as Idris, as Seth, as Noah, as Yunus;

As Yusuf, as Yaqub, as Hud

I appeared as Salih, as Ibrahim, as Ishaq, as Yahya;

Then as Isa, as Musa, and as Daud

For the lovers I became Paradise just now;

For others I became the promised Day of Judgement

And for the divers in the ocean of Divinity;

I became the desired jewel in every age, and era. (Niaz)

When you look upon these determinations (ta’ayyunaat) and personalities, (tashakhosaat) you become a believer in othermess or separateness (ghairiyat) from Haqiqat-i-Muhammadiyah. But when moved by the ecstatic state of Oneness (Wahdat0, you regard all of them as expressions of the same reality, you will be forced from the depth of the heart to believe in the truth of the ayah:

We make no distinction between any

Of His Apostles. (Al-Baqara, 2:285)

In fact the pivot (qutb) on which rests the whole universe, and which is the centre of the entire circle of Being (Wujood) from the beginning to the end (azal-ta-abad), is the reality of Muhammad (Haqiqat-i-Muhammadiyah). It appeared in multiple forms (prophets) only from the point of view of multiplicity (kasrat), not reality.

Hierarchy of Vicegerency

On the termination of prophethood, that pivotal responsibility was transferred to the auliya-Allah (friends of God), and it will continue till the appearance of the last of the auliya (Khaitm-al-auliya). That era too, will come to an end and will be followed by the era of accountability, of Paradise and Hellfire.

It is these auliya-Allah, who have achieved the status of the perfect men (insaan-i-kaamil) under the shadow (zill) of the Holy Prophet by following and loving him, and have been deputed as vicegerents of god and of the Holy Prophet. They will continue to appear in various ages, till the appearance of Imam aakhir-uz-zamaan.

These are the auliya-Allah who are the vicegerents of god indirectly by virtue of the vicegerency of the Holy Prophet. They are deputies (qaim maqaam) of God on earth and heirs to the Holy Prophet. They derive the power of supernatural deeds (quwwat-i-tasamif) from God Himself by virtue of being attributed with His Names and Attributes. For this purpose they are in need of knowing God (maarifat-i-Illahi). Human excellence depends on man’s knowledge of God and His Greatness as much as the individual capacity can achieve. This brings us to the conclusion that the degree of his knowledge of God (maarifat). The seeker struggles hard to cross the desert of separation. He has to cut across the valley of multiplicity. He is successful in getting rid of human attributes, and reaches the stage of union with God (wisaal). He becomes the manifestation (mazhar) of Divine Names and Attributes (Isma-o-Sifaat) by reaching the state of Oneness (fatta) with the Absolute Essence (Tajalli Zaati). He is then crowned as the vicegerent of God on earth, and returns from Oneness to the realm of multiplicity (or duality) and guides others to the same destination.

In other words, he descends from the state of kingship to slavehood and assumes the state of humility and abudiyyat always in surrender to the Lord. He diligently does full justice to all the states (haqqqiq). He thus becomes a moving image of Divine Attributes on earth. Not only that, he is a source of blessing for the entire world (rahmat). In his admiration God says:

And for whom We have ordained

A light whereby he may walk

Among men. (Al-An’am, 6:122)

The Magnificence of Allah descended on earth

The Attribute of Godliness in the dress of a man