and if there is one in my community, it is ʿUmar.’ Thus ʿUmar was indeed an inspired man, and he is the foremost of all such inspired ones in this Community, the best nation ever raised for mankind. Among the saints of this Ummah there is none who receives anything from God—glorified be He—without the mediation of a prophet who surpasses ʿUmar. Nevertheless, whatever reaches him without the Prophet as intermediary must be measured against what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, brought: if it concurs, he accepts it, and if it contradicts, he rejects it. This was exactly ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb’s practice: whenever something occurred to him and the Sunnah proved contrary to it, he abandoned his own view for what the Sunnah indicated—even to the point that, if a woman disputed him by citing a verse from God’s Book, he would relinquish his opinion in favor of the textual proof.

This obligation rests upon him and upon everyone who believes in God and His Messenger, for what the Messenger has brought is safeguarded from error’s persistence. God has made it incumbent upon His creation to believe him in what he relates and to obey him in what he commands. As for the inspirations that enter the hearts of the saints, these are not infallible; they are not required to believe them, nor may they act on anything from them if it conflicts with the Book and the Sunnah.

Shaykh Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī said: “A subtle point from among the subtle points of the folk may fall into my heart, yet I do not accept it unless it has two witnesses—the Book and the Sunnah.” He also said, “No one to whom some good has been inspired…"