From the Fourth Discourse—page 79-83

in Irshad: Wisdom of a Sufi Master, by Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak Al-Jerrahi, trans. Muhtar Holland. An Ashki Book of Amity House, Warwick: 1988.

 

 

THE CREATION OF THE WORLD,

OF ADAM AND OF THE LIGHT-OF-MUHAMMAD

Believers, you should know that the most noble of creatures are the angels, men and jinn.  And the noblest of these is man:

 

Indeed We have honored the children of Adam.  We carry them over land and sea.  We have provided good things for them, and have preferred them greatly over many of those We have created.  [17:70]

 

Indeed We have created man in fairest form.  [95:4]

 

Man has been created as the most honored, most perfect, most beautiful and most complete of all creatures.  Man is the vicegerent of Allāh:

 

When your Lord told the angels:  ‘I am placing a vicegerent on the earth’, they said: “Will you place on it one who will make mischief there and shed blood, while we hymn Your praise and sanctify You?’  He said: ‘Surely I know what you know not.’  [2:30]

 

By this Divine Word the dignity of Man is established.  In short, everything that exists has been created for Man’s sake.  And of all mankind the noblest, most beautiful and most perfect is the Revered Prophet, Allāh bless him and give him peace.  And he was sent as a Mercy to all worlds.

Let it be known that Allāh, Creator and Lord of the Universe, created us humans superior to angels, jinn, animals and plants, and gave us control over the material worlds.  To us He subordinated the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the continents, the oceans and the skies.  He created man most noble of all, “in fairest form.”  As the Holy Tradition puts it: “Son of Adam, I created all that exists for you, and you I created for Myself.”

In the infinite variety of this creation, as He has made plain to those with eyes to see, we have evidence and proofs by the thousand of His Existence and Oneness, of His Might and Majesty.

Before creating all these creatures without number, Allāh created a light from His light.  To that light He then said: “Become Muhammad!” and that light became the light of our blessed Master.  That light acknowledged its Lord, saying “There is no god but the One God, Allāh (lā ilāha illā-llāh).”  The Exalted One responded to this acknowledgement with : “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allāh.”  This blessed sentence was the lock with which He locked the gate of Hell, the key with which He opened the eight doors of Paradise.  The Noble Qur’an bears witness to this eternal dialogue in many glorious chapters.  For instance:

He it is Who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all religion.

And Allāh suffices as a witness. [48:28]

 

Allāh, Glorified is He, divided the one Light-of-Muhammad into four parts.  Of the first part He created the Tablet and the Pen; the Pen wrote down what was decreed.  Of the second part He created the Throne and the Seat, then commanded the Pen to inscribe upon the Throne: “There is no god but Allāh; Muhammad is Allāh’s Messenger (lā ilāha illā-llāh; Muhammadun rasūlu-llāh).”  Thus He indicated to His servants that His Messenger’s name was forever linked to His own.  By inscribing those blessed words upon the Thorne, He proclaimed to all creatures the splendor of His Messenger and his place in the sight of Allāh.

Of the third part of the light He created the sun, the moon and the stars.  Of the fourth part He created Paradise and its pavilions, the beauties of this world and the Hereafter, the light of Adam, the angels and the jinn.

Next, He fashioned from the light a tree named the Tree of Certainty.  He adorned the Prophetic Light with varied ornaments of white pearl, formed it in the shape of a peacock and set it upon that tree.  After this Light-of-the-Prophet had been there for seventy thousand years, ever hymning the praise of the Lord All-Glorious and Exalted, Allāh created the Mirror of Modesty and set it before the blessed Light-of-Muhammad.  When this peacock came to see the reflection of his own form, adornments and nature, he prostrated himself five times from modesty before Allāh, Exalted is He.*

When the Lord made Himself manifest to this blessed creature of light, a sense of shame produced drops of sweat from every part of his sacred body; these drops became the embryos from which all creatures were brought into being.  Thus the angels were created from the sweat of his head; the Throne and Seat, the Tablet and Pen, the sun, moon, stars and other heavenly bodies from the sweat of his face; the Prophets and Messengers, martyrs, champions, saints and righteous men from the sweat of his breast.  From the sweat of his back were created the Meccan Sanctuary, the Noble Ka’ba, the Sanctuary in Jerusalem and all mosques in which prostration is made before Allāh.  From the sweat of his brows was created the light of believing men and believing women…

Allāh, Exalted is He, then commanded this sacred bird to look to the four quarters.  When he obeyed, he saw that four lights had been created.  These were the lights of our Masters Abū Bakr the Veracious, ‘Umar the Discriminator, ‘Uthmān and ‘Alī, may Allāh be pleased with them all.

After the Prophetic Light had been there for a further seventy thousand years, still hymning the Lord’s praise, the Exalted One made Himself manifest to those radiances and created their souls.  These souls thereupon pronounced the Good Sentence: “There is no god but Allāh; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allāh.”

Next, the Lord created a lamp of green agate, transformed the peacock into the beautiful earthly shape of our blessed Master, the Glory of the Universe, and set him inside this lamp.  At that very moment He also created the souls of His creatures.  For a thousand years the souls revolved around the lamp; for a thousand years the souls of the believers were engaged in hymning the praises of the Lord.  After that, the command was given for all the souls to gaze upon the lamp.  They looked toward it, and some of the believing souls beheld the head of the Light-of-the-Prophet; they became rulers in this world.  Those who saw his forehead became just leaders.  Those who saw his brows became impartial benefactors.  Those who saw his nose became doctors.  Those who beheld his lips, ministers; his mouth, keepers of the fast; his teeth, people of beautiful countenance; his throat, preachers; his beard, charitable suppliers of water; his tongue, ambassadors; his shoulders, men-at-arms; his neck, merchants; his right arm, surgeons; his left arm, ignoramuses; the palm of his right hand, bankers; the palm of his left hand, butlers; the back of his right hand, generous givers; the back of his left hand, jewelers; the fingers of his right hand, calligraphers and orators; the fingers of his left hand, artists and smiths; his back, humble people; his sides, knights; his stomach, Qur’ān reciters; his knees, people who bow and prostrate themselves frequently in prayer; the soles of his feet, wanderers; his eyes, readers.

After this, the Exalted One placed this noble light beneath the Lofty Throne, where He preserved it until the creation of Adam.  Allāh took the Light of the blessed Prophet Muhammad from beneath the Throne and set it on Adam’s back.  He then commanded all creatures to prostrate themselves before Adam, on him be peace.

It seems that the mercy of the Most Noble Messenger and Revered Prophet touched all the divinely created beings according to their several degrees.  As it was in the Universe of Souls, so shall it be in this world and in the Hereafter.

Allāh, Exalted is He, declares in the Holy Qur’ān that He created His Beloved from His light, as a mercy to all worlds, and He extols his exalted splendor.  According to its status, each creature has received his share of the Messenger’s mercy; even inanimate objects have been blessed with existence; inanimate beings can enjoy food, drink and good health; unbelievers are not destroyed because of their unbelief, nor find themselves transformed into swine, monkeys or stones.  It is due to the mercy of the Revered Prophet that sinners and unbelievers are not erased from the earth by tempest, flood or earthquake, but escape from so many disasters of this kind.  Since the coming of our blessed Master, Muhammad, the punishment inflicted on unbelievers has been milder than it was for previous communities.  The Exalted One says in the Holy Qur’ān: “I shall not send down upon them a punishment like that of Noah’s people, Sālih’s people, Lot’s people or the people of Shu’ayb, for you are in their midst.”

 

But Allāh would not punish theme while you were among them, nor will He punish them while they seek forgiveness. [8:33]

 

 

If earlier nations had committed one thousandth part of the evil we have done, they would have suffered instantaneous divine retribution, through drowning, annihilation by fire, or a hail of stones baked in Hell.

All who live and die believing in Muhammad, peace be upon him, will obtain his intercession at the Resurrection and will achieve mercy.

It is beyond the capacity of mere mortals to describe the dignity and majesty of the Holy Messenger; they cannot hope to praise and extol him as he deserves.  The true extent of his worth and greatness is known only to Allāh, Exalted is He.

The Holy Prophet is Allāh’s slave or bondman and His blessed Messenger.  But let us not match our own bondage with his.  If we were to place in one scale the acts of worship performed by all the angels, Prophets and righteous people from the venerable Adam till the Day of Resurrection, and if we were to place in the other scale the servitude of the blessed Messenger, the latter would certainly carry the heavier weight.  It is actually impertinent to describe our blessed Master as “a man just like ourselves.”  He belongs, of course, to the same biological species as ourselves, but in terms of service to Allāh he is unique.  After Allāh Himself, the greatest being is Muhammad, peace be upon him.  He is the slave, the Messenger and the most dearly Beloved of Allāh.  The Lord’s Beloved is the Intercessor on the Day of Judgment, the Refuge of the Poor.  He is not God, but those who swear homage to him also swear homage to Allāh, Exalted is He.  To give obedience to him is to give obedience to Allāh.  Exalted is He.  In the physical universe he is the last of all Prophets.  He is the king and sultan of all Messengers and Prophets.  All other Prophets are in the position of ministers to him, for their knowledge, light and perfection are reflections from the Most Noble Messenger and Revered Prophet, Allāh bless him and give him peace.

Allāh declares in the Noble Qur’ān that His own divine Essence and His angels bless His Beloved, and He commands the believers to bless him also.  He invited His Beloved to the heavenly Ascension, showed him the marvels attaching to His own Essence and thereby honored those marvels.  Our of affection for His Beloved, He made His Sacred Law more gentle.  In honor of His blessed Messenger and his Community.  He sent down and explained to him the most excellent of all the heavenly scriptures, the Qur’ān, making its rules valid till the Resurrection and presenting it as an inimitable miracle.

Our blessed Master Muhammad is the spiritual director of God’s special servants.  For he has saved us from every kind of wrongdoing that would cause us to enter Hell and remain there in everlasting torment; and in liberating us from the fire of Hell he has also shown us the ways that lead to Paradise.  The blessed Messenger is Allāh’s gracious divine favor to us.  The Revered Prophet is the source of all goodness, the key to Paradise.  He is characterized by all good traits and fine qualities.  He is the leader of all devout and righteous people.  He is dear to all the angels, Prophets and believers, and in the Hereafter he is greatly beloved of those who dwell in Paradise.  He is the foe of all that is wicked and hateful, be it devil or man, or the devils in man.  To believers he is kind and compassionate.  Every aspect of human perfection is to be found in his noble person.  He is the light of all creatures.  His blessed renown will endure till the Resurrection.  Many are his noble names and attributes; their great number is indicative of the most noble, most honorable and most perfect nature of his blessed person and body.  Our humble pen could never exhaust the record of the merits of the blessed Messenger of Allāh, for the Exalted One has bestowed countless honors upon His Beloved.  He says in the Holy Qur’ān: “O My Beloved, great indeed are My grace and bounty upon you.”  It is certainly sufficient for the Messenger himself to be praised and extolled by his Exalted Lord.  May Allāh grant us his intercession in this world and in the hereafter.  Amen.

 

 

NOTES

  • Because of these five prostrations, five daily prayers became obligatory for the Messenger and his Community.