nation, then it is ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb.”
I heard Shaykh al-Islām Taqī al-Dīn ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, say: “He stated categorically that such men existed among the nations before us, but made their existence in this nation conditional by using ‘if’, even though it is the best of nations. This is because earlier nations needed them, whereas this nation has no need of them, owing to the perfection of its Prophet and his message. After him, Allah did not leave this nation dependent upon anyone receiving inspired communication or inspiration, or anyone experiencing spiritual unveiling or dreams. This conditional wording therefore reflects the nation’s perfection and lack of need, not any deficiency.”
A recipient of inspired communication is someone to whom something is communicated inwardly, in his heart, and it turns out just as it was communicated to him.
Our shaykh said: “A person of consummate truthfulness is more perfect than a recipient of inspired communication. Through the perfection of his truthfulness and his adherence to the Messenger, he has no need of inspired communication, inspiration, or spiritual unveiling. He has surrendered his entire heart, his innermost self, and his outward and inward being to the Messenger; through him, he has no need of what arises from within himself.”
He said: “This recipient of inspired communication would examine what was communicated to him against what the Messenger brought. If it agreed with it, he accepted it; otherwise, he rejected it. Thus we know that the rank of consummate truthfulness is above that of receiving inspired communication.”
He said: “As for what many people given to fantasies and ignorance say—‘My heart has narrated to me from my Lord’—it is true that his heart has spoken to him. But on whose authority: his devil’s or his Lord’s? When he says, ‘My heart has narrated to me from my Lord,’ he attributes the report to someone whom he does not know to have communicated it to him. That is a lie.”
He said: “The recipient of inspired communication in this nation did not say this, nor did he ever utter it. Allah protected him from saying it. Rather, one day his scribe wrote, ‘This is what Allah has shown the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb.’ He said: ‘No. Erase it and write: This is the opinion of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb. If it is correct, it is from Allah; if it is mistaken, it is from ‘Umar, and Allah and His Messenger are free of it.’ Regarding kalālah (collateral inheritance), he said: ‘I give my own opinion concerning it. If it is correct, it is from Allah; if it is mistaken, it is from me and Satan.’”
Such are the words of one whom the Messenger testified to be a recipient of inspired communication. Yet you see the proponent of union with Allah, the believer in divine indwelling, the antinomian given to ecstatic outbursts, and the devotee of mystical audition brazenly voicing shameless falsehoods, saying: “My heart has narrated to me from my Lord.” Consider, then, what