The age-old dream of the human caravan is not to send astronauts in their orbit in outer space.. it is to send its individuals - every single individual in his orbit of self-realization. It is high time that this dream be thus reinterpreted. It is also the sacred duty of every man and woman to help intelligently reorientate human endeavour towards the culmination of this pilgrimage.

Mahmoud Muhammad Taha - Answers to the questions of Mr. John Voll - 17.7.1963

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Simplifying the New Islamic Call - Episode III

Ustadh Mahmoud Muhammad Taha
Translated by Salah Ahmed Farah
Click here to access original talk in Arabic

Part 3

The Prophets are prepared for their mission at the school of prophethood. This is what is asserted in the hadith, which we have mentioned before in some of our talks: “My Lord has disciplined me well (this is his preparation stage for the prophethood). Then He said: Take the superfluous, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorant.” He takes the superfluous from people without forcing or burdening them—He gradually urges them in no hurry and with ease. So, take the superfluous (what people can give freely), enjoin what is good (this is, also, an act of maximum constancy, high discernment, and immense patience required from a person who is disciplined in the school of prophethood), and turn away from the ignorant. This is one of the greatest things and one of the highest constancies undertaken by Messengers, the Possessors of Constancy, who turn away from the ignorant. This preparation is what we mean by the school of prophethood.

As we have said, the Quran at first began with the revelation of the prophethood Quran for disciplining and guidance and strengthening. After the prophethood strengthened, Muhammad then became a Messenger to the people. Then God revealed the messengership Quran, from which we have quoted some examples in our previous talks. As the prophethood strengthens and comes to fulfill its mission with the required efficiency and discipline, the status of the Prophet as missionary elevates—the status of the missionary Prophet elevates into the sainthood ranks. The sainthood ranks are higher than the angels’ ranks and higher than the ranks of our Prophet and Messengers. Thus, about the sainthood rank, Muhammad said: “I have a time with God such that no Angel close to God and no apostolic Prophet can come between us.” It is during this time, in this moment that he gets instructed by God from behind a veil. That is the mind veil. This is, in fact, the eventual rank of mankind.

We have said that mankind is far more prepared to learn from the Prophet than it was previously—in the past century. It is now capable of observing the prophethood of the Prophet as its code. The prophethood of the Prophet, his individual code, which is his path, can now become a code for ordinary people. Because, after fourteen centuries, thanks to God and thanks to humanity’s development and advancement and progression through the hard battle of life, people are now more able to learn from the Prophet than their ancestors. The prophethood of the Prophet descends to Earth.

We have said about the Prophet that he is Ahmadie and Muhammadie. In heaven he is Ahmad and on Earth he is Muhammad. His Muhammadie messengership has descended a long way from of his Ahmadie prophethood to address people according to the extent of their intelligence. Today the earth is prepared, thanks to God and thanks to the great development, which we spoke of in our previous talk. The earth is ready to join relations with heaven. This is an indication of the descending of the prophethood of the Prophet to the people’s earth. Accordingly, the sainthood of the Prophet, his way of receiving knowledge from behind the mind veil, becomes the way for the future Moslem nation (that we are announcing, God willing) to attain understanding from God. It is the nation for which the original Quran was kept dormant. So, the prophethood was sealed for a good purpose, not in order to target those on Earth with evil intent. Anyone who tries to purport that there is a revelation after the Quran and that the prophethood has not been sealed, as some people have claimed such a stature, such a person is driven out of their mind and unaware of the great wisdom behind the sealing of the prophethood. The sealing is in order to target those on Earth for good purposes.

How is it possible to perceive from behind the veil of the mind? It is possible through the spiritual discipline of the mind, beginning with the hadith: “None of you truly believes until his inclination is pursuant to what I have brought.” This is the starting point, because there is no image of a deity on earth that is more evil than egotism. In fact, there is no idol or any image of a deity other than God, except in the worship of the ego which takes many different forms. Even the idol carved from the massive rock, which used to be worshiped, was not what was intended; rather it symbolizes egotism. It is the symbol of human will, which is in conflict with the will of God, wanting to be in the lead and blocking the will of God, leaving it behind. The mind is always enslaved by the ego. It cannot be freed from egotism, except through lengthy spiritual discipline that is guided, firmly established, and mapped out. Spiritual discipline is neither arbitrarily nor extemporary. The Quran refers to this expressly: “So be pious to God, and God teaches you” (2:282). This has also been alluded to in the hadith: “He who acts up to his learning will be given by God such a knowledge which was unknown to him before.”

Piety means carrying out God’s commandments and refraining from His prohibitions. This requires knowledge. The Prophet has been entrusted with this knowledge. This is what he asserted in “Who acts on what he was learned.” He who acts (in worship) on what he learned (from the exoteric code), will be granted by God (an access to the Truth). In fact, he has said in another hadith: “I am only a conveyer, and God is the Provider.” Again, the Prophet says: “I am only a conveyer, and God is the Provider,” which means: I was sent with the teachings of the exoteric code and God grants us access to the Truth. “I am only a conveyer, and God is the Provider. Whoever God desires worthy will be endowed with comprehension of the religion. As this nation has not ceased to live the commandments of God, it will not be harmed by those who oppose them until the Command of God comes about.” This is the completion of the hadith. But, what concerns us here is the phrase “I am only a conveyer,” for it bears the same meaning as the phrases, “Who acts on what he was learned,” and also along the same lines of the phrase “So be pious to God, and God teaches you” (2:282). That is because piety is worship. This worship, though, requires knowledge. And this knowledge is what is delivered by the Messengers.

Messengers teach us the way of reversion to God. It is our duty to act on our learning and await knowledge from God. In fact, the Messengers do not teach us more than this. They are sent to teach all nations their exoteric codes and convey to them the commandments of God. And it is on the recipients to act, and God teaches them: “So be pious to God, and God teaches you” (2:282); “As for those who strive in Us, We certainly guide them to Our ways” (29:69); “O believers! If you are pious to God, He will grant you a Criterion” (8:29). So, the teacher is God.

In the story of Khidr and Moses, the Quran tells us: “They found a servant from among our servants to whom we had given mercy and had taught him knowledge from Our presence” (18:65). The knowledge from the presence of God does not need a medium. Since minds are a medium, we understand that when God says, “from behind a veil” He means, after unveiling. Here, then, are two stages, post-unveiling and pre-unveiling. Our minds are our medium to know God.

Without our minds we would not have known God. Also, with our minds we will not witness God. Without our minds we would have not known God—we came to know Him through our minds, even though our minds have veiled Him. We came to know Him through our minds along the descents of His knowledge, will, and ability. Furthermore, this is the same meaning of the Quranic phrase, “We shall show them Our signs on the horizons,” due to the fact that the signs on the horizons are manifestations of God’s names and attributes.

We have said that the universe is man in the small. This universe is God’s knowledge materialized in sensory objects. That is because the universe sequentially exists through knowledge, will, and ability. God’s knowledge does not spring from an organ but from His Self. His knowledge descends from His Self; His will descends from His knowledge; and His ability descends from His will. Through God’s ability emerged existence. We get to know God through existence. As has been said, every product necessarily has a producer. Or, as the simple Bedouin insisted when asked: What tells you of the existence of God? He replied: The dung is indicative of the camel. This is the rational, reasoned knowledge. This is also the knowledge of our minds that ultimately veils God. Our minds get to know God at His descended levels, but they veil His Self.

On the moment of Divine Self manifestation, which happened to the Prophet on the Night of Ascension, he said: “On the night of my ascent to the heavens, the sight of my eye and the sight of my heart coalesced into one, so I saw God.” In this moment of Divine Self manifestation, the veil is lifted. That is the veil of the mind. Before the moment of Divine Self manifestation, this veil is our gabriel. It is our guide as we ascend the heights, getting acquainted with God. So, through our minds we have been shown the way to God and have become acquainted with God.

The mind, when strengthened, knows how to clear itself away from the heart. That is to say, the mind recognizes its true limits. This is what is asserted in the hadith: “The one who knows himself would know his Lord.” That is to say, one who recognizes the helplessness of himself recognizes God is Powerful; one who recognizes the ignorance of himself recognizes God is Knowing; and so forth. Thus, stated in the hadith: “The one who knows himself would know his Lord.” The great mind knows its measure and does not make claim to sagacity. Nabalusi (a great Sufi poet), addressed the mind in this way: “O mind, which has mystified to perceive God, do not argue! You are owned by Him and at His disposal.” The mind, although insignificant, makes claim to sagacity, and transgresses and exceeds its limits. But the more the mind develops and strengthens, the more it recognizes its own limits and knows where to cease.

When duality comes to an end and the mind comes upon singularity, then intellectualization that veiling the heart will be lifted (or rather intellectualization will be at a loss and come to a standstill). The mind will be engrossed in the state of Divine Self manifestation, about which our Lord says: “When that which shrouds did enshroud the Sidr (that is when the Divine Self manifestation did enshroud Muhammad), the eyesight did not turn back, nor did it transgress—the intellectualization came to a standstill and did not fluctuate between the past and the future.” Muhammad was not grieved because of the past, nor was he worried about the future. In this manner, the intellectualization came to a standstill; thereupon the Prophet steadied at the line of equilibrium— with the utmost steadiness—and thereupon experienced singularity as the Divine Self manifestation occurred. Of course, we as human don’t have any honor that does not involve the mind.

As the Lord honored the Children of Adam: “We have honored the Children of Adam; carried them on the land and the sea; have made provision of good things for them; and have preferred them over much of what We have created, with a marked preferment” (17:70). The Lord has given the Children of Adam preference by virtue of the mind. It is the mind that has brought them the preference. The human, while scaling the heights, had no real stature that deserves God’s honoring other than that of the stature of the mind. By virtue of the mind’s stature, the Children of Adam transcended the animal phase and emerged to their place of exaltation in the human phase where they reached a level at which they are addressed, obligated, commanded, and interdicted.

This evolution has also been alluded to in the Quran: “Has there come upon man a period of time when he was a thing not worth mentioning” (76:1)? That is to say, there came over man a long period of time when he was a thing not worth mentioning in the Kingdom of God. Man was insignificant because then he had no mind. This was at the very early stages of human evolution from the lowest of the low: “We have created man of the best of stature. Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low” (95:4-5). From the lowest of the low, man began his journey back to the Lord toward the best of stature. This journey took a very long time, an abysmal time. Man then was insignificant, worthless, and deserved no attention, “Has there come upon man a period of time when he was a thing not worth mentioning?” When man arrived at the mind’s stature, he became worth mentioning because he became obligated, commanded, and interdicted. This shows the meaning of the verse: “We have honored the Children of Adam and carried them on the land and the sea, and have made provision of good things for them, and have preferred them over much of what We have created, with a marked preferment” (17:70).

This verse refers to “the Children of Adam” while in the previously mentioned verse, the reference is to “man”. There is a difference between humans and the Children of Adam. The child of Adam is a human in the making. At this phase, our Lord preferred the Children of Adam over much of what He created, but not over every creation, although the humans are preferred over every creation, the celestials and the terrestrials. And this is one of the secrets of religion to be recounted in this way.

Thus far, it should be clear that the sealing of prophethood is for the purpose of directing the people on Earth towards good purposes. After God spoke to people by revelation, He spoke to them by sending human Messengers. Our Lord (God) spoke to people by sending angelic Messengers, about which He says, “by revelation.” He also spoke by way of human Messengers, about which He says, “or that He sends a Messenger to reveal, by His permission, what He wills. He is Most High and Wise.” People on earth have become, by all of these means, ready to be instructed by God from behind the veil of their minds and they are also ready to be instructed by God once the veils of their minds are lifted, thanks to God and then again thanks to the mind.

If not for the mind, we would have not known God, but through the mind we cannot witness God. That is because, at the level of God Self, whatever comes to your mind, God is different from that. Minds do not perceive God at the level of Divine Self. In terms of God Self, minds are unable to perceive Him and are at a loss and come to a standstill. This, as we have said, is called the lifting of the intellectualization veil. In terms of the names and attributes of God, minds are able to know Him. Yet, there is no way to know Him without the mind. That is to say, the mind is present in all cases. This is one of the reasons for the sealing of the prophethood. The sealing of the prophethood is aimed at directing people on earth towards good purposes, and honors the mind in a manner that is humanly unimaginable. Islam’s honoring of the human mind is unparalleled in any philosophy or in any religion, nor is it found in any ideology. This mind is indeed very highly valued.

We will continue our talk, God willing, in this direction, highlighting the honoring of the mind in Islam.