Note 29

[ BACK ] One who is not possessor of shariah is not a prophet, as mentioned earlier in Note 24. The term "non-shariah bearing prophet" was, like the terms zill, burooz and fana fir-rasul, coined by Sufi writers and saints as referring to one who is not a real prophet but is spoken to by God. It is not a type of prophet. Nowhere do the Holy Quran or Hadith mention a kind of prophethood called "non-shariah bearing". What the Quran and Hadith refer to as a wali or muhaddas, that is what in the Sufi terminology is sometimes known as "non-shariah bearing prophet".

It is abundantly clear from Hazrat Mirza's own writings that, besides the possessors of shariah, others who receive revelation are saints, and not prophets of some kind. He writes:

1. "The point is worth remembering that to call the denier of one's claim as kafir is only the privilege of those prophets who bring a shariah and new commandments from God. But apart from possessors of shariah (sahib-i shariah), all the others who are muhaddas, no matter how high a rank they may have with God, and be exalted with the robe of Divine revelation, no one becomes a kafir by denying them." (Tiryaq al-Qulub, October 1902, p. 130, footnote)

According to this statement, besides "possessors of shariah" (sahib-i shariah) all others who receive revelation are saints or muhaddas.

2. "God speaks to, and communicates with, His saints in this Umma. They are given the colour of prophets, but they are not prophets in reality because the Holy Quran has completed all the requirements of the shariah. They are given nothing but the understanding of the Quran; they do not add to the Quran, nor take anything away from it." (Mawahib ar-Rahman, January 1903, p. 66)

Here Hazrat Mirza says that the reason why saints are not prophets is that the Islamic shariah has been perfected with the revelation of the Quran. A prophet would only need to come if the shariah required change or improvement. So there are only two categories: (1) saints, and they are not prophets in reality, and (2) prophets, and they come to perfect the shariah.