Author: Mufti Muhammad Manzoor Hussain

Everything in the universe, whether manifest to human beings or hidden from them, is known to Allah Almighty, for He alone is the Knower of the unseen and the seen (‘ālim ul-ghayb wa al-shahādah) (Qur’an, 6:73). He knows everything that is concealed and everything apparent. Not even the secrets concealed within human hearts are hidden from Him, as Allah Almighty Himself declares:

“Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing of what is in the breasts.” (Qur’an, 3:119)

A comprehensive study of the Glorious Qur’an reveals two distinct categories of verses concerning knowledge of the unseen (‘ilm ul-ghayb). The first comprises those verses in which Allah Almighty has reserved this knowledge exclusively for Himself. Allah Almighty declares:

“Say: ‘No one in the heavens and the earth knows the Unseen (of his own accord) except Allah. ” (Qur’an, 27:65)

The second category comprises those verses in which the knowledge of the unseen granted to the Prophets (A.S.) is specifically mentioned:

“And (O people!) Allah will not inform you of the Unseen, but Allah chooses from His messengers whom He pleases (to receive the knowledge of the Unseen).” (Qur’an, 3:179)

One distinction must be kept firmly in mind. In the first verse, knowledge of the unseen refers to Allah Almighty’s Self-attribute. In the second, what is granted to the Prophets (A.S.) is a knowledge that flows from Allah Almighty’s special bestowal and favour, not from any inherent or independent capacity.

Let us have a look on the word ‘ghayb’. The Arabic word for the unseen (ghāyib) is a verbal noun derived from ghāba yaghību, denoting anything hidden from the eye. Imam Ibn Manzur al-Afriqi writes in Lisān al-‘Arab under this entry:

“Everything that is hidden from you is unseen (ghāyib). Imam Abu Ishaq, in his commentary on the phrase ‘they believe in the unseen’ (yu’minūna bil-ghayb), explained that the unseen is that which was concealed from the God-fearing and of which the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) informed them, such as resurrection after death, Paradise, Hell and every other matter hidden from them of which the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) gave them knowledge.”[i]

Imam Zubaidi records the same understanding in Tāj al-‘Arūs, adding:

“Knowledge of the unseen is a defining quality of prophethood. Without it, the concept of prophethood cannot be complete, because the very meaning of the word prophet (nabī) brings tidings of what is hidden.”[ii]

He further writes while explaining the term nabī:

“The Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) conveys tidings regarding Dhat of Allah Almighty. Indeed, Allah Almighty made him aware of His divine Oneness (tawḥīd) and apprised him of the unseen.”[iii]

Various terms are used in relation to awareness of hidden realities: knowledge (‘ilm), the unseen (ghāyib), spiritual unveiling (kashf) and spiritual witnessing (mushāhadah). From the Sufi perspective, access to what is hidden belongs entirely to the spiritual dimension. No physical eye has ever seen Allah Almighty, no ear has heard His speech, no hand has touched Him, for He is wholly exalted and free from all such comparisons.

The same spiritual reality applies to the Glorious Qur’an. It was transferred from the Preserved Tablet to the Guarded Tablet (Lawḥ-e-Maḥfūẓ). Who saw the original Tablet? Who read the Guarded Tablet? Who beheld the form of Honourable Jibril (A.S.), or witnessed the sacred heart upon which the revelation descended? The entire matter, from beginning to end, belongs to the realm of the inwardly unseen.

This is precisely why the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) said to Honourable Aisha Siddiqa (R.A.):

“O Aisha! Verily my eyes sleep, but my heart does not sleep.”[iv]

Honourable Mu’adh ibn Jabal (R.A.) narrates in Sunan al-Tirmidhi:

“One day the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) arrived for the dawn prayer (ṣalāt al-fajr) near the time of sunrise and led it quickly. He then said: ‘Today, after the night vigil prayer (ṣalāt al-tahajjud), I fell into a deep sleep and saw my Lord in the most beautiful form. Allah Almighty said: O Muhammad (ﷺ)! I replied: Here I am, O my Lord! He asked: What are the exalted assembly of angels (al-malā’ al-a’lā) disputing about? I said: I do not know.’ He repeated this three times. Then:

‘I saw my Lord. He placed His hand of power between my two shoulders, and I felt its coolness in my chest. Everything in the universe became illumined for me, and I came to recognize all things’.”[v]

Mulla Ali Qari comments on this blessed tradition:

“Until I felt the coolness, meaning the effect, of Allah Almighty’s sacred hand within my chest, that is, in my pure heart. Then everything became illumined, meaning everything became unveiled and manifest to me, including whatever matters Allah Almighty willed to make known to me, whether the higher sciences or the lower sciences, and in particular the degrees and expiations of the elevated angelic assembly (al-malā’ al-a’lā),’ which are: walking to the mosque for congregational prayer, remaining for remembrance of Allah (dhikr) after prayer, perfecting the ablution (wuḍū’), feeding others, speaking with gentleness, offering night prayer when others are at rest, excelling in acts of goodness, abandoning what is forbidden, and loving the poor.”[vi]

Note: In Sunan al-Tirmidhi, these matters are mentioned as those concerning which the elevated angelic assembly was disputing regarding their degrees and expiations.

Imam Ibn Hajar states that this means:

“I recognised every single thing with complete clarity. Nothing whatsoever remained hidden or concealed from me.”[vii]

Several significant realities emerge from this blessed tradition:

• Knowledge of the unseen, spiritual unveiling (kashf) and spiritual witnessing (mushāhadah) are entirely divine gifts.
• Allah Almighty granted knowledge of the unseen to all the Prophets (A.S.), but placing His hand of power between the blessed shoulders of the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) and thereby apprising him of all hidden matters is something exclusive and specific to the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ).
• The act of making the prophetic heart the receptacle of this knowledge indicates that illumination of the heart (tanwīr-e-qalbī) and expansion of the breast (inshirāḥ-e-ṣadr) are attained through one’s living connection with Allah Almighty, and it is through this connection that the disclosure and witnessing of hidden matters becomes possible.
• Access to the true depth and inner reality of all matters is likewise only possible through the divine connection.
• Recognition of Allah Almighty (ma’rifat-e-Ilāhī) and His intimacy are the one and only path through which eternal salvation, success in both worlds, steadfastness in faith, divine illuminations and spiritual witnessing are granted.

Through this path, not only are the present realities unveiled, but awareness of past and future conditions is also attained.

This is precisely why the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) did not only describe the circumstances of his own era. He also conveyed advance knowledge of what lay beyond the veil, including events behind walls, the affairs of yesterday and the conditions of tomorrow, the events preceding the creation of Honourable Adam (A.S.), the conditions of his own age, the signs of the Day of Judgement, the events of the Day of Resurrection, and even the state of the first and last person to enter Paradise and the first and last person to enter the Hell. The Glorious Qur’an confirms this across numerous verses, as Allah Almighty commands:

“Thus (O Muslims!) We have made you a just and moderate nation so that you may be witnesses for humankind and that the Messenger (Muhammad [blessings and peace be upon him]) may be a witness for you.” (Qur’an, 2:143)

The great majority of Qur’anic commentators explain regarding this verse:

“On the Day of Judgement, the community of the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) will be brought forward as witness over all previous communities. When those communities deny the testimony of this community, saying that this community was the last to be sent and how therefore can it bear witness, the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) himself will be brought as a witness to confirm and seal the testimony of the community of the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ).”

See: Tafsīr Maẓharī, Tafsīr Qurṭubī, Tafsīr Ḥāshiyah Ṣāwī ‘Alā al-Jalālayn, Tafsīr Khāzin, Tafsīr Bayḍāwī, Tafsīr Rūḥ al-Bayān and others.

Allama Ibn al-‘Arabi in his Tafsīr Ibn al-‘Arabī states that the meaning of the testimony and witnessing of the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) is:

“His being apprised of the conditions of all communities is by virtue of the illumination of divine oneness (nūr-e-tawḥīd), for the revealed paths of all the Prophets (A.S.) are true, and he possesses complete recognition (ma’rifat) of the truth and sincerity of every person of faith as well as complete recognition of those upon falsehood and distant from truth.”

The reason for this is the light of divine oneness and lordship (nūr-e-tawḥīd-e-rubūbiyyat), through which all veils were lifted and the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) witnessed the states of all communities. Shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi further states:

“Thus the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) recognises the sins of all preceding communities, the states of their faith, their deeds, their virtues, their vices, their sincerity, their hypocrisy and all their other conditions, by virtue of the light of Truth, meaning the illumination of recognition of Allah Almighty. And the community of the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) recognises all communities and their conditions by virtue of the light of the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ).”[viii]

Human actions fall into two categories:

Obedience (ṭā’at): Some acts of obedience are performed individually, such as the remembrance of Allah (dhikr), recitations of glorification and praise (tasbīḥ wa taḥlīl), prostrating before Allah Almighty in the solitude of the night and giving charity in secret. Others are performed collectively, such as the congregational prayer and the rites of pilgrimage (ḥajj).

Disobedience (ma’ṣiyyat): Acts of disobedience are mostly committed in concealment so that no one may see them.

The Sufi perspective, which is drawn directly from the Glorious Qur’an and the Sunnah, establishes that the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) recognises all conditions, whether manifest or hidden, by the gift of Allah Almighty, whether they relate to obedience or to disobedience.

The station of the light of divine recognition (nūr-e-ma’rifat) granted to the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) was never granted to anyone else. He is the illuminating lamp (sirāj Munīr), acquainted with the very particles hidden in the depths of the earth and with the count and movements of every star shining in the heavens. All of this flows from the light of the recognition of divine oneness and lordship, a light that acquaints one even with the secrets hidden within hearts. This is confirmed and attested to by the authentic traditions gathered in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim as well as by the Imams of the six authentic collections (Ṣiḥāḥ al-Sittah) and the Imams of the books of Sunan and Masānīd, all of whom dedicated complete chapters in their collections to the knowledge of the unseen of the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ). These chapters record the names of those destined for Paradise and for Hell, the names of their fathers and their tribes, the books they possess and the record of their deeds, the treasures concealed beneath the earth, the equal capacity to see before and behind, the states of faith and of hypocrisy within hearts, and all manifest and hidden conditions and actions.

The great Sufis hold a definitive and certain view on this matter. Ruzbahan Baqli al-Shirazi writes in Tafsīr ‘Arā’is al-Bayān while commenting on the verse “and He taught you what you did not know (wa ‘allamaka mā lam takun ta’lam)”:

“All knowledge of the ultimate destiny of creation was bestowed upon him, encompassing everything that has already occurred and everything yet to come.”[ix]

Allama Ala al-Din al-Baghdadi states in Tafsīr Khāzin under the same verse:

“The meaning is that he was granted knowledge of all hidden matters and was apprised of the secrets concealed within hearts.”[x]

Imam Ibn ‘Ajibah al-Hasani, having concluded his research in Tafsīr al-Baḥr al-Madīd, writes while citing the position of Imam an-Nasafi:

“The conclusion is this: The Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) being made aware of the unseen is definitive and certain, while any such awareness for one who is not a prophet is conjectural, for Allah Almighty has reserved access to the unseen as a quality specific to the Prophets and has not extended it in the same way to others.”[xi]

Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani writes in Tafsīr al-Jīlānī:

“Allah Almighty manifested to the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) the spiritual truths, the gnoses (ma’ārif), the divine mysteries and subtleties, and unveiled to him all the inward indications pertaining to both the manifest and the hidden. He granted him the skill of turning away completely from everything other than Allah Almighty, and the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) was never niggardly in conveying this. After this, Allah Almighty commanded him to propagate and spread it.”[xii]

In other words, just as the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) himself witnesses the divine mysteries, gnoses and conditions of the unseen, he likewise honours the chosen among his community with these secrets through the blessings of his prophethood.

Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (R.A.) elaborates further in Sirr al-Asrār, quoting the declaration of the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ):

“A portion of knowledge was kept hidden, which none know except the scholars deeply connected with Allah Almighty (‘ulamā’ rabbāniyyīn). This is the secret which, on the night of the ascension (mi’rāj), was blessed within the deepest of thirty thousand veils in the pure heart of the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ). No one was made acquainted with this secret, except the closest Companions (R.A.) and the People of the Bench (Aṣḥāb al-Ṣuffah, R.A.).”[xiii]

Ruzbahan Baqli al-Shirazi also writes in Tafsīr ‘Arā’is al-Bayān:

“Allah Almighty has kept the unseen witnessings and divine illuminations hidden from all creation, except the Prophets and Messengers, the men of truth (ṣiddīqīn) of perfected intellect, the gnostics (‘ārifīn) of pure heart, and the monotheists (muwaḥḥidīn) who are masters of divine mysteries, those whom Allah Almighty honoured through His unseen. These are the perfected ones who came to be known as the people of spiritual unveiling (ahl al-mukāshafah), the people of spiritual perception (ahl al-firāsah) and the people of spiritual witnessing (ahl al-mushāhadah).”[xiv]

This is why Sultan-ul-Arifeen Sultan Bahoo declares in his blessed work ‘Aql-e-Bīdār:

“Knowledge of the unseen is the exclusive of the Sustainer, and He teaches that special knowledge to His chosen servants, such as the direct divine knowledge (‘ilm-e-ladunnī) that arises within the heart in the form of a guiding illumination. For some, this awareness comes through divine inspiration (ilhām) and heavenly message (payghām) by virtue of intimacy to the power of Allah Almighty. This path is attained through the blessings of the Exalted Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). Whoever denies this is rejected, disgraced, dead of heart,[xv] and a seeker of the vain glory of this perished world.”

The perfected friends of Allah Almighty and the great Sufis, working within the framework of the Glorious Qur’an and the Sunnah, have made it unambiguously clear in their teachings that knowledge of the unseen is the exclusive attribute of Allah Almighty, and no created being can possess awareness of it except one whom He Himself bestows and informs. Across numerous clear verses, the Glorious Qur’an records Allah Almighty’s attribute of being All-Aware Informer (al-Khabīr). The final verse of Surah Luqman, which identifies the five categories of hidden knowledge (‘ulūm khamsah), namely the knowledge of the Hour, of rain, of what is in the womb, of what any soul will earn and of where any soul will die, reserves all of these for Allah Almighty alone with the declaration: Inna Allāha ‘indahu ‘ilm. The same verse closes with the words: Inna Allāha ‘Alīmun Khabīr, meaning Allah Almighty is All-Knowing and All-Aware. This makes clear that His exalted Being informed His chosen Prophets (A.S.), and in particular the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ), of all these knowledges, which the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) in turn conveyed to his noble Companions (R.A.) on various occasions, as the blessed traditions stand as living witness and testimony.

This quality of prophethood was not something that ever stopped, nor will it. It has been witnessed from the practical lives of the Rightly Guided Caliphs through to the spiritual witnessings and unveilings found in the biographies of the great Sufis, and it will continue to be witnessed until the Day of Judgement. Given the breadth of this subject, a full enumeration of instances of unseen disclosure is beyond the scope of this article, for books are filled with accounts of divine disclosures and spiritual witnessings. Even today, those of true spiritual vision (ahl-e-naẓar), through purity of heart (ṣafā’-e-qalb) and illumination of the soul (jalā’-e-rūḥ), see beyond walls and beyond veils and give tidings of what is to come. It is incumbent upon every human being to forge a living bond with his true Lord so that, emerging from the veils of material existence, he may attain the illuminations of the spiritual realm and prepare for himself the means of recognition of and nearness to the Hidden Divine Being.

The Successor of the King of Spiritual Excellence (Sulṭān al-Faqr), Honourable Sultan Muhammad Ali, is spreading this very message of intimacy to Allah Almighty across the length and breadth of the world through the Islahee Jamaat and the Aalami Tanzeem al–Arifeen): come and become inheritors of the outward and inward knowledge of the bounty of prophethood, and build alongside the outer world the world of the inner self.

 

This article was originally published in Urdu in the Monthly Mirrat ul Arifeen International Magazine.

To cite the original article:

Mufti Muhammad Manzoor Hussain, “The Knowledge of the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ) and Sufi Reasoning,” Monthly Mirrat ul Arifeen International Magazine, September 2, 2024. https://www.mirrat.com/article/48/1500.

References:

[i] Muḥammad ibn Mukarram Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab (Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1994), 1:767.

[ii] Muḥammad murtaḍā al-Ḥusaynī al-Zabīdī, Tāj al-ʿArūs min Jawāhir al-Qāmūs (Kuwait: Maṭbaʿat Ḥukūmat al-Kuwayt, 1965), 3:311.

[iii] Muḥammad murtaḍā al-Ḥusaynī al-Zabīdī, Tāj al-ʿArūs min Jawāhir al-Qāmūs (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1994), 3:295.

[iv] Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Book 31, Hadith 2013.

[v] Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad al-Tirmidhī, Jāmiʿ at-Tirmidhī, trans. Abū Khāliyl (Riyadh: Darussalam, 2007), 5:535, no. 3235.

[vi] ʿAlī ibn Sulṭān Muḥammad al-Qārī, Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ sharḥ Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ: Kitāb al-Ṣalāt (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2001), 2:285–290.

[vii] Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Fatḥ al-Bārī bi-Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ed. Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī and Muḥib al-Dīn al-Khaṭīb (Cairo: Dār al-Rayyān li-l-Turāth, 1986), 6:291.

[viii] Qāḍī Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabī, Aḥkām al-Qurʾān (Tafsīr Ibn al-ʿArabī), ed. Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qādir ʿAṭā (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2003), 1:72–75 (under Qurʾān 2:143).

[ix] Rūzbihān ibn Abī al-Naṣr al-Baqli al-Shīrāzī, ʿArāʾis al-Bayān fī Ḥaqāʾiq al-Qurʾān, ed. Aḥmad Farīd al-Mazīdī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2008), 1:274.

[x] ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Khāzin al-Baghdādī, Tafsīr al-Khāzin: Lubāb al-Taʾwīl fī Maʿānī al-Tanzīl (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2004), 1:426.

[xi] Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Ibn ʿAjībah, Al-Baḥr al-Madīd fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-Majīd, ed. Aḥmad ʿAbdallāh al-Qurashī Raslān (Cairo: Ḥasan ʿAbbās Zakī, 1999), 8:161.

[xii] ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, Tafsīr al-Jīlānī, ed. Muḥammad fāḍil jīlānī (Istanbul: Markaz al-Jīlānī li-l-Buḥūth al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2009), 6:304.

[xiii] ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, Sirr al-Asrār fī mā Yaḥtāj ilayhi al-Abrār, ed. Khālid ʿAdnān al-ʿAkm (Beirut: Dār al-Sanābil, 1993), 78.

[xiv] Rūzbihān ibn Abī al-Naṣr al-Baqli al-Shīrāzī, ʿArāʾis al-Bayān fī Ḥaqāʾiq al-Qurʾān, ed. Aḥmad Farīd al-Mazīdī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2008), 3:460.

[xv] Sultān Bāhū, Aql-e-Baidar, trans. Al-Arifeen Publications (Lahore: Al-Arifeen Publications, n.d.), 43, accessed via Alfaqr Books, https://alfaqr.net/en/books/.