Imam Qastallani, Mawahib al-laduniyya

Imam Qastallani, Mawahib al-laduniyya, Publish: Dar al Kutub al-Ilmiyah, Beirut, Lebanon

Imam Taj ad-Din Subki said: “It has been said that Allah created the spirits before the bodies, and the Prophet’s reference to his prophecy in the hadith, “I was a Prophet while Adam was still between the spirit and the body” may be a reference to his blessed spirit and to the Reality of Realities (haqiqat al-haqa’iq). Our minds fall short of knowing such a Reality, but its Creator knows it, and also those to whom He extends a madad of light from Him [man amaddahu bi nurin ilahi]. Allah brings to existence whichever of these realities that He likes in the time that He pleases. As for the reality of the Prophet, it is most likely that it was before the creation of Adam, and Allah gave it its prophetic attribute upon its creation; therefore already at that time, he was the Prophet.” [Imam Qastallani, Mawahib al-laduniyya Volume 001, Page No. 31-32]

There is a further confirmation of the relation of the light of the Prophet to that of the rest of creation in the hadiths comparing Prophetic knowledge to the light of the stars in the darkness of night. Anas relates that the Prophet said: “The simile of the scholars of knowledge (al-`ulama’) on the earth is the stars in the sky by which one is guided in the darkness of the land and the sea. When the stars are clouded over, the guides are about to be lost.” Ahmad narrated it in his Musnad (Volume 003, Page No. 157 Hadith Number12606) with a chain containing Rishdin ibn Sa`d who is weak. However, it is confirmed by the hadith in Muslim and Ahmad narrated by Abu Musa al-Ash`ari whereby the Prophet said: The stars are trust-keepers for the heaven, and when the stars wane, the heaven is brought what was promised (i.e. of the corruption of the world and the coming of the Day of Judgment); and I am a trust-keeper for my Companions, so when I go my Companions will be brought what was promised them (i.e. of fitna and division); and my Companions are trustkeepers for my Community, so when they go my Community will be brought what was promised to you (i.e. following hawa and vying for dunya).