who addressed him as a sleeping person is addressed, and who possessed such an exceptional practical faculty that he could exert an extraordinary influence upon elemental bodies—was, in their view, a prophet (1).

“They affirm neither a preeminent angel who brings revelation from Allah Most High, nor angels (2), nor even jinn through whom Allah brings about extraordinary events for the prophets. Instead, they recognize nothing but faculties of the soul (3).”

Although their position is worse than the doctrines of the unbelievers among the Jews and Christians, and is the furthest of all positions from what the messengers brought, many later claimants to rational inquiry and imaginative Sufi unveiling—upon whom the light of prophethood has never shone—have fallen into it. The former have attained nothing beyond flawed syllogisms and doubt, while the latter have attained nothing beyond corrupt imaginings and ecstatic excess.

[The Prophets Are the Best of Creation]

The fourth position (4)—which is held by the majority of the early generations and imams of this Ummah, as well as many rational inquirers—is that Allah chooses messengers from among the angels and from among mankind, and Allah knows best where to place His messages. A prophet possesses distinctive qualities by which Allah has distinguished him from others in intellect and religion. By virtue of them, he is prepared for Allah to single him out by His bounty and mercy, as He Most High says:

“They said, ‘Why was this Quran not sent down to a great man from one of the two towns?’ Is it they who distribute your Lord’s mercy? It is We who have apportioned among them their livelihood in the life of this world and raised some of them above others in rank.”