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seek prophethood(1), unlike one who acknowledges what the revealed law has established and holds that the outward law cannot be altered. Such a person says, “Prophethood has been sealed, but sainthood has not.” Yet he claims, by virtue of sainthood(2), a rank greater than prophethood, as well as what belongs to prophets and messengers, and asserts that the prophets derive benefit from sainthood.
Among these are those who profess indwelling and union. With regard to(3) indwelling and union, they are of two kinds(4): one kind professes absolute, universal indwelling and union, as do Ibn Arabī and his ilk. Regarding prophethood, they say that sainthood is greater than it, as Ibn Arabī said:
(1) Ibn Taymiyya states in *Dar Taārud al-Aql wa-l-Naql*, 5:22: “Each of these men came to claim prophethood and messengership, or wished to declare such a claim openly, had it not been for the sword, as did the executed al-Suhrawardī. He used to say, ‘I shall not die until I am told: Arise and warn.’ Ibn Sabīn used to say, ‘The son of Āmina erected a barrier when he said: There is no prophet after me.’ It is also said that he would seek out the Cave of Hirā so that revelation might descend upon him there.”
I commented on this passage as follows: “Dr. Muhammad Alī Abū Rayyān states in his introduction to al-Suhrawardī’s *Hayākil al-Nūr*, p. 11 (al-Tijāriyya Press, Cairo, 1377/1957), that during their debate with al-Suhrawardī in the mosque of Aleppo, the city’s scholars asked him, ‘Is Allah able to create another prophet after Muhammad?’ The shaykh replied, ‘There is no limit to His power.’
Dr. Abū al-Wafā al-Taftāzānī likewise states in his article *Ibn Sabīn wa-Hakīm al-Ishrāq*, p. 296 of *The al-Suhrawardī Commemorative Volume* (Cairo, 1394/1974): ‘The same applies to Ibn Sabīn. In *Budd al-Ārif*, he explicitly states that prophethood is a rank that is barred and cannot be aspired to in any respect, even if it lies within human nature—or the nature of the human species—for prophethood to arise in a human being, since prophets are human.’ See the discussions of both scholars in the two preceding references, as well as Dr. Abū Rayyān’s *Usūl al-Falsafa al-Ishrāqiyya*, pp. 304–312; his introduction to al-Suhrawardī’s *Hikmat al-Ishrāq*, pp. 11–12 (Paris ed., 1952); and al-Suhrawardī’s *Majmūa fī al-Hikma al-Ilāhiyya*, *Kitāb al-Talwīhāt*, pp. 95–113 (Istanbul ed., 1945).”
(2) W reads: “in.”
(3) W reads: “and what belongs to the prophets; the messengers derive benefit from it—meaning the doctrine of *wahdat al-wujūd* (unity of existence)—and they are, with respect to…”
(4) W reads: “kinds.”
يَطْلُبُونَ النُّبُوَّةَ
(١)
، بِخِلَافِ مَنْ أَقَرَّ بِمَا جَاءَ بِهِ الشَّرْعُ،
وَرَأَى أَنَّ الشَّرْعَ الظَّاهِرَ لَا سَبِيلَ إِلَى تَغْيِيرِهِ ; فَإِنَّهُ يَقُولُ:
النُّبُوَّةُ خُتِمَتْ، لَكِنَّ الْوِلَايَةَ لَمْ تُخْتَمْ. وَيَدَّعِي مِنَ
(٢)
الْوِلَايَةِ مَا هُوَ أَعْظَمُ مِنَ النُّبُوَّةِ، وَمَا يَكُونُ لِلْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ، وَأَنَّ الْأَنْبِيَاءَ يَسْتَفِيدُونَ مِنْهَا.
وَمِنْ هَؤُلَاءِ مَنْ يَقُولُ بِالْحُلُولِ وَالِاتِّحَادِ، وَهُمْ فِي
(٣)
الْحُلُولِ وَالِاتِّحَادِ نَوْعَانِ
(٤)
: نَوْعٌ يَقُولُ بِالْحُلُولِ وَالِاتِّحَادِ الْعَامِّ الْمُطْلَقِ، كَابْنِ عَرَبِيٍّ وَأَمْثَالِهِ،
وَيَقُولُونَ فِي النُّبُوَّةِ:
إِنَّ الْوِلَايَةَ أَعْظَمُ مِنْهَا،
كَمَا قَالَ ابْنُ عَرَبِيٍّ:
(١) ذَكَرَ ابْنُ تَيْمِيَّةَ فِي كِتَابِهِ " دَرْءِ تَعَارُضِ الْعَقْلِ وَالنَّقْلِ " ٥/٢٢ وَصَارَ كُلٌّ مِنْ هَؤُلَاءِ يَدَّعِي النُّبُوَّةَ وَالرِّسَالَةَ، أَوْ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يُفْصِحَ بِذَلِكَ لَوْلَا السَّيْفُ، كَمَا فَعَلَ السُّهْرَوَرْدِيُّ الْمَقْتُولُ، فَإِنَّهُ كَانَ يَقُولُ: لَا أَمُوتُ حَتَّى يُقَالَ لِي: قُمْ فَأَنْذِرْ. وَكَانَ ابْنُ سَبْعِينَ يَقُولُ: لَقَدْ زَرَّبَ ابْنُ آمِنَةَ حَيْثُ قَالَ: لَا نَبِيَّ بَعْدِي، وَيُقَالُ: إِنَّهُ كَانَ يَتَحَرَّى غَارَ حِرَاءَ لِيَنْزِلَ عَلَيْهِ فِيهِ الْوَحْيُ. وَعَلَّقْتُ عَلَى هَذَا الْكَلَامِ بِقَوْلِي: " يَقُولُ الدكتور مُحَمَّد عَلِي أَبُو رَيَّانَ فِي مُقَدِّمَتِهِ لِكِتَابِ " هَيَاكِلِ النُّورِ " لِلسُّهْرَوَرْدِيِّ ص ١١ ط. التِّجَارِيَّةِ الْقَاهِرَةِ ١٣٧٧/١٩٥٧ إِنَّ عُلَمَاءَ حَلَبَ سَأَلُوا السُّهْرَوَرْدِيَّ أَثْنَاءَ مُنَاقَشَتِهِ فِي مَسْجِدِ حَلَبَ: هَلْ يَقْدِرُ اللَّهُ عَلَى أَنْ يَخْلُقَ نَبِيًّا آخَرَ بَعْدَ مُحَمَّدٍ؟ فَأَجَابَهُمُ الشَّيْخُ بِأَنْ: " لَا حَدَّ لِقُدْرَتِهِ ". وَيَقُولُ الدكتور أَبُو الْوَفَا التَّفْتَازَانِيُّ فِي مَقَالَةِ " ابْنُ سَبْعِينَ وَحَكِيمُ الْإِشْرَاقِ "، ص ٢٩٦ الْكِتَابِ التِّذْكَارِيِّ لِشِهَابِ الدِّينِ السُّهْرَوَرْدِيِّ ط. الْقَاهِرَةِ ١٣٩٤/١٩٧٤ وَكَذَلِكَ الْأَمْرُ بِالنِّسْبَةِ إِلَى ابْنِ سَبْعِينَ فَإِنَّهُ فِي " بُدِّ الْعَارِفِ " يُصَرِّحُ بِأَنَّ النُّبُوَّةَ رُتْبَةٌ مَمْنُوعَةٌ وَلَا طَمَعَ فِيهَا بِوَجْهٍ مِنَ الْوُجُوهِ، وَإِنْ كَانَ فِي طَبْعِ الْإِنْسَانِ أَوْ فِي طَبْعِ جِنْسِهِ أَنْ تُوجَدَ لَهُ النُّبُوَّةُ، فَالْأَنْبِيَاءُ بَشَرٌ "، انْظُرْ مَا ذَكَرَهُ الْأُسْتَاذَانِ فِي الْمَرْجِعَيْنِ السَّابِقَيْنِ وَمَا ذَكَرَهُ الدكتور أَبُو رَيَّانَ فِي: أُصُولُ الْفَلْسَفَةِ الْإِشْرَاقِيَّةِ، ص ٣٠٤ - ٣١٢ مُقَدِّمَةِ كِتَابِ حِكْمَةِ الْإِشْرَاقِ لِلسُّهْرَوَرْدِيِّ ص ١١ - ١٢ " ط بَارِيسَ "، ١٩٥٢ مَجْمُوعَةٍ فِي الْحِكْمَةِ الْإِلَهِيَّةِ لِلسُّهْرَوَرْدِيِّ، كِتَابِ التَّلْوِيحَاتِ، ص ٩٥ - ١١٣ ط. اسْتَانْبُولَ، ١٩٤٥
(٢) و: فِي
(٣) و: وَمَا يَكُونُ لِلْأَنْبِيَاءِ، وَالْمُرْسَلُونَ يَسْتَفِيدُونَ مِنْهَا، يَعْنِي الْقَوْلَ بِوَحْدَةِ الْوُجُودِ، وَهُمْ فِي.
(٤) و: أَنْوَاعٌ.