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One
who is not possessor of shariah is not a prophet, as
mentioned earlier in Note 24. The term "non-shariah
bearing prophet" was, like the terms zill, burooz
and fana fir-rasul, coined by Sufi writers and
saints as referring to one who is not a real prophet but
is spoken to by God. It is not a type of prophet. Nowhere
do the Holy Quran or Hadith mention a kind of prophethood
called "non-shariah bearing". What the Quran
and Hadith refer to as a wali or muhaddas,
that is what in the Sufi terminology is sometimes known
as "non-shariah bearing prophet". It is abundantly clear from Hazrat
Mirza's own writings that, besides the possessors of
shariah, others who receive revelation are saints, and
not prophets of some kind. He writes:
1. "The point is
worth remembering that to call the denier of one's
claim as kafir is only the privilege of those
prophets who bring a shariah and new commandments
from God. But apart from possessors of shariah (sahib-i
shariah), all the others who are muhaddas,
no matter how high a rank they may have with God, and
be exalted with the robe of Divine revelation, no one
becomes a kafir by denying them." (Tiryaq
al-Qulub, October 1902, p. 130, footnote)
According to this
statement, besides "possessors of shariah" (sahib-i
shariah) all others who receive revelation are saints
or muhaddas.
2. "God speaks
to, and communicates with, His saints in this Umma.
They are given the colour of prophets, but they are
not prophets in reality because the Holy Quran has
completed all the requirements of the shariah. They
are given nothing but the understanding of the Quran;
they do not add to the Quran, nor take anything away
from it." (Mawahib ar-Rahman,
January 1903, p. 66)
Here Hazrat Mirza says
that the reason why saints are not prophets is that the
Islamic shariah has been perfected with the revelation of
the Quran. A prophet would only need to come if the
shariah required change or improvement. So there are only
two categories: (1) saints, and they are not prophets in
reality, and (2) prophets, and they come to perfect the
shariah.
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