We have seen the limitations of sensual and intellectual faculties and have also seen that mystic experience is a faculty of immense potential by which knowledge about Reality can be acquired upto the unimaginable levels. We have also seen that mystic experience can get mixed with deception and erroneous interpretations. Hence it cannot be relied upon as the ultimate truth. So, finally we are left with Prophetic faculty of acquiring knowledge. This is the highest faculty and the safest where there is absolutely no chance of any deception, erroneous interpretations or Talbees-e-Iblees (deception caused by Satan).

Rasulullah (Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said:

“When a man is born, an Angel and a Satan are posted on his QALB’’’. The Angel guides him to righteousness and to Satan incites him to evil deeds”.

Satan cannot affect the Prophets; the receptors responsive to satanic effects were removed from their Qalbs (Hearts). Prophets are immune to the effects of Satan. The Satans posted on their hearts were also made harmless so that they could not incite evil in them.

Incident of SHAQQ-I-SADR:

Shadad Bin Aous quotes Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) as saying:

“One day I was in the valley of Bani Lais Bin Bakr with my foster brothers, suddenly I saw three persons. One of them was carrying a large golden tray filled with ice. In another narration, it is narrated that one was carrying a spouted silver jug and the other was carrying a pot of green emerald filled with ice. Then they caught me from amongst my companions, my all companions ran away towards their homes. Then one of these three made me to lie down on the ground very gently, other person incised my chest from the joints of chest up to the umbilicus but I did not feel any pain. Then he brought out the vessels, nerves (could be either of them) of my abdomen and washed them quite nicely with this ice and then placed them back in their original positions. The other person told him to move away and then he put his hand in my chest and brought out my heart, I was seeing it. He incised it and, brought out a black clot and said, “It is the part of the Satan”, and then they filled it (heart) with something, which they had got with them. Then he pointed towards his left and right as if he was asking for something, then they gave him a ring of Nur, the light which was dazzling, then they put a seal on my heart and my heart got enlightened, filled with Nur and that Nur was of Nubuwawah (Prophet-hood), Hikmah (Wisdom). Then he put back the heart at its place. I was feeling the coolness and joy of this seal for a long time. Then they moved their hands from the umbilicus up to the chest and that opening (incision) got closed. They lifted me gently and embraced me and kissed me between my two eyes. They told me, “O Friend of Allah, Don’t ask anything, if you would know as to what betterment is for you, then you would become very happy. They left me and flew towards the heavens and I was watching them”.

Ulema say that this washing of QALB was not peculiar about Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) only but was common to all the prophets. In them that part which was belonging to Satan, was removed too. (Madaarij-e-Nubuwwah)

This incident of Shaqq-e-Sadr (opening of breast) was repeated four time to Rasulullah (Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam) viz:

1. During childhood, when he was with Haleema.
2. Near Adolescence.
3. Before Nubuwwah (Prophet-hood).
4. On the night of Me’raj.

It is this quality of the prophets which immunizes them against evil. None amongst mankind, other than the prophets, can claim this perfection. Prophets were born as human beings only. They had all the characteristics of human beings. As Allah created prophets for a special purpose, so special arrangements were made for them so that they could serve the purpose for which they were created. One of them was the same as mentioned in the Hadith of Shaqq-e-Sadr i.e., the receptors in their hearts responsive to Satan, were removed from them so that their mystic experience could perceive only the Truth without any overshadowing, deception or interference from Satan. This important point should be borne in mind that whatever the experience prophets convey to mankind is nothing but the Absolute Truth.

Allah Ta’ala is infinite, His Essence and His Attributes are infinite. His Greatness and His Vastness is unimaginable. Allah Ta’ala wished to give expression to His Attributes, for this purpose, He created the universe. He created man for this job. Here it should be remembered that this is the real job of a man in this world, that is, to know Allah Ta’ala and His Attributes. As man was created basically for knowing Allah, so he was equipped with the faculties of acquiring knowledge like sensual, intellectual and spiritual.

But at the same time the very purpose of man’s creation demanded that man should have opposite faculties as well like self (NAFS), so that he would be distinct from the Angels, who can do only good, and Satan, which can do only; evil. Man was created as a mixture of opposites; both good and bad faculties were mixed in him. This created a problem for man. His sensual, intellectual and spiritual faculties were becoming overshadowed by the lust of self (NAFS) and cunningness of Satan. In addition to this one important characteristic of self (NAFS) is negligence and this is so dominant that man has to strive very hard to overcome this negligence what is called Mujahadah in the terminology of mystics. (Mujahaddah - Endeavour for self purification. In the Qur’an three states of self are explained: a) Nafs Ammarrah: Self dominated by vice, greed in particular. b) Nafs Lawamah: Penitent self. c) Nafs Mutmainnah: contended self, free from evil tendencies.)

This was one reason that Merciful Allah showed Mercy upon the mankind by sending Prophets in whom both these evil forces of man viz, ‘nafs’ and Satan were taken care of. Prophets were bestowed with NAFS-Mutmainna rather than NAFS-Ammara. NAFS-Mutmainna is that NAFS, which does not incite evil but righteousness only. Their Satan was also deprived of the evil properties.

The second reason for sending the Prophets was that there was a great discrepancy between the limited faculties of man and the infinite Attributes of Allah, so the need arose for intermediaries between man and these Eternal Attributes. The intermediaries resembled on the one hand man, and on the other with the Divine Attributes. This job could not be assigned to the angels as they did not resemble man. So Allah selected only some people from amongst mankind for this job, Allah gave them special capabilities which were necessary for the divine communication. Their hearts were congenial with Mala-u-Aala - a higher body of Angels. It is in association with these Angels that the Prophets could venture such great tasks and accomplished them in a very short time inspite of the fact that they apparently seemed to be alone with the whole world against them. Later on, Allah Ta’ala used to mould the hearts of the people, and used to safeguard these prophets, through angels. We conclude that prophets could only perceive the Truth without any misinterpretation, deception and also in its totality. Therefore there is only one way of salvation, only one way of knowing the truth that is through the prophets of Allah, who receive divine revelation that is called WAHY.

Why the Qur’an Only?

There is no doubt that Hadhrat Muhammad (Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam) was a Prophet. Even the opponents of Islam have no alternative but to accept his Prophet-hood. Modern scientists, Embryologists and Zoologists who are free from religious prejudice admit that the Qur’an is supernatural revelation. An illiterate man like Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), born in a conservative and ignorant society, could never come up with such perfect knowledge about realities as is contained in the Qur’an.

One of the essential qualities of Prophet-hood is truth. A prophet cannot tell a lie. Allah says in the Qur’an that Muhammad (Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam) is the last Prophet, prophet hood ended with him. There will be no prophet now onwards up to the Day of Judgement (Qiyamah), so we have to believe him as the last prophet. We believe in Hadhrat Isa (AS) Jesus Christ and Hadhrat Musa (AS) (Moses) as Prophets. They did not say that they were last prophets, so believing in Muhammad (Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam) does not mean denying prophet-hood of any other prophet. On the other hand the Qur’an has endorsed their Prophet-hood as well.

Secondly, only the Qur’an, the last testament, exists in its original form as Allah Himself has guaranteed its safety whereas we don’t have the Bible and the Tourah (Pentateuch) in their original forms present in the world. We have no other divine book available these days in the world in original form, of course except the Qur’an.

I hope that I have proved beyond any doubt my point that to understand Reality, prophet hood is essential and, as Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) is the last Prophet and the Qur’an, last revelation from Allah, so to understand Reality, only one door is open and that is the Qur’an.

All Praises for Allah The Almighty.