Everything mentioned points to other prophets being given similar to the Muhammadan reality and the superiority of mankind over every other creatures Allah created, evidenced by the fact Allah asked the Angels who are clearly understood as Allah’s most superior creatures in the universe to prostrate to Adam (follow mankind’s lead) because in reality Allah wanted every spiritual creature he created to follow mankind.
We see this most clearly in the Jinn who live on earth with us, when they take the lead in life and we follow them, they have no wisdom only knowledge and so make foolish shortsighted choices that destroy communities, so their place is to stand behind man understand his wisdom and appear through his actions. The scholars understood the reality of man perfectly and so Imam Ibn Arabi wrote in his work al Fusus al Ahkam;
We should Know that the Most Beautiful Divine Attributes, demand in themselves the existence of the Universe (so they are known). So Allah brought the Universe into being as a “body” made complete (a universe made from many systems dependent on each other) and made Adam its spirit; what is meant by “Adam” (the model of mankind) is the existence of the human microcosm (a metaphor for something regarded as encapsulating in miniature, the characteristics of something much larger) Allah created both the universe and Man with his Attributes. “And He taught him the Names (attributes, qualities), all of them (all things)” (2:31), he gave Adam the names (in his heart) so he could know all He created (in the universe), what Man came to understand of his own self and Attributes he used to understand the creation around him. Because the soul governs the body through its faculties, just as the Attributes are like faculties for the Perfect Man (one who has reached completeness, Ihsan).
Therefore, it can be said that the Universe by similitude is a “great man”, but on condition of Man’s existence within it, he was created to know Allah and Allah created his creation so man could know Him. Man is the epitome (a perfect example) of the ontological plane (relating to or based upon “being”, or existence, the nature of “being”) of Allah (no other being can know Allah as well as us) And therefore He singled him out for the Form, For He said “Verily Allah created Adam in His form” and in another version, “in the form of the All-Merciful”. And He made him, the sought-after goal (of his other creatures. He asked the Angels and Jinn to prostrate to him), the Universe (that everything else should look to), like the rational soul, the human individual, (unique in his creation).
Therefore this Universe will be destroyed with his (Man’s) disappearance (from creation, when no person believing in Allah remains alive on earth) And the edifice (this Universe) is transferred to the hereafter because of him, and when man leaves the lower world to reside in the hereafter, and when no one remains among men who is qualified by the divine perfections (when no muslim is alive only the worst of the worst who embody no good qualities) and able to take man’s place, and when Allah makes him the treasurer of His own treasuries (in the next life), then all of the perfections and meanings which exist in the treasuries of this world are removed along with that Perfect Man (the universe no longer has a soul to receive its qualities, realities, and so will die like man), the small amount which is in the world (the one mercy from his one hundred mercies he sent down to us) joins that which is waiting in the hereafter, and the work of keeping the treasury (knowing Allah) and being the vicegerent goes to the next world. Hence he is the first in intention (the reason Allah created the universe, and) the last in creation, the outward form and the inward in station or rank. So he is a servant of Allah and a lord (ruler) in relation to the world (Allah’s Khalifah).
For that reason He made him a vicegerent and his sons vicegerents And therefore none of the creatures of the world has claimed for himself lordship except man, because of what he possesses of power, And no one in the world consolidated the station of servanthood in himself except man. Therefore he worshipped stones and minerals (Idols), which are the lowest and the most debased kind of being. So there is nothing greater than man in his lordship (Khalifa) and nothing more lowly than him in his servanthood (the Jinn, the lowest spiritual creature, dominating him from behind statues as he debases himself).
So if you have understood, I have explained to you what is meant by “man”. Look at his grandeur, through the Most Beautiful Attributes and the fact that they seek him (the Jinn and Angels).
Through their seeking (and needing) him you will come to understand his majesty, and through his appearance through them (His dependence on Angels and Jinn for spirituality), you will understand his lowliness, So understand!
From this it is understood, that he is a copy of the two forms, Allah and the Universe. (Taken From Imam Ibn Arabi’s summary of his work al Fusus al Ahkam, the translation was rephrased for clarity)
Everything we have mentioned thus far about the Muhammadan reality, the reality of the prophets and mankind can be found in the following hadith.
Much of what the hadith states you will find in various smaller ahadith, it was narrated by Jaabir ibn Abdallah (ra), the other similar hadith of Jaabir (ra) we have quoted elsewhere talks about the raw process of how the universe was created, the science, this hadith talks about Allah’s Qualities that He instilled in each step of that process, both ahadith mirror each other but this hadith focus’s on the spiritual aspects.
The hadith describes the process of creation in relation to the first particle and is explicit in stating this is the light of prophet hood Allah placed with Adam when he was created which was then passed on to each prophet (as) after him. It also affirms everything we have stated in this work and the previous one on Allah’s reality, and that the light of prophet hood was the first subatomic particle Allah created from which He created everything else.
It is the light by which mankind was guided so we should understand its significance; it is the light that the declared to the spiritual world mans superiority, it only appeared with man after aeon’s had passed and no spiritual creature had seen it and its superiority comes from its primacy, there was nothing before it and everything was created from it so man had the capacity to know everything.
It has been related on the authority of Jaabir ibn Abdallah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said I asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about the first thing which Allah ta’ala created. He said, “The first thing which Allah created was the light (nuur) of your Prophet, O Jaabir. Then He created from it every excellent thing, and after that He created every thing. At the time He created my light, He established it in the station of proximity (maqaam ‘l-qurb) for twelve thousand years. Then He made my light into four parts (arba’ aqsaami). He then created the Throne (al-‘arsh) from one part, the Foot Stool (Al- kursi) from one part, the supporters (Angels) of the Throne (hamalata ‘l-‘arsh, supporters of the universe)
He then established this fourth part of my light (the same light that created the supporters of the kursi) in the station of Love (maqaam ‘l-hubb) for twelve thousand years. He then made the light into four parts. He then created the Primordial Pen (al-qalam) from one part, the Guarded Tablet (al-lawh) from one part, the Garden (al-janna) from one part, and the remaining fourth part of my light He established in the station of Fear (maqaam ‘l-khawf) for twelve thousand years. He then made my light into four components (arba’ ajza’u). He then created the Angels (al-mala’ika) from one component, the Sun (as-shams) from one component, the Moon (al- qamar) from one component, and the Planetary Stars (al-kawkab) from a component.
He then established this fourth component of my light (the light of the kawkab) in the station of Hope (maqaam ‘r-raja’i) for twelve thousand years. He then made my light into four portions. He then created the Intellect (al-‘aql) from one portion, Knowledge (al-‘ilm) from one portion, Infallibility (al-‘isma) from one portion, and Success (at-tawfeeq) from one portion. He then established this fourth portion of my light in the station of Modesty (maqaam ‘l-haya’i) for twelve thousand years.
Then Allah sub’haanahu gazed upon my light and out of modesty it perspired and there exuded from it 124,000 drops of light. Allah sub’haanahu then created from each drop of light the spirit (ruh) of a Prophet or Messenger. The spirit of the Prophets and Messengers then exhaled and Allah created from their breath the light of the obedient (nur ‘l-muti’eena) from among the believers until the Day of Standing.
Then Allah sub’haanahu created twelve veils (hijaaban). He then placed my light (which was the fourth portion established in the station of Modesty) in each of the twelve veils. These veils were the veils of nobility (karaama), felicity (sa’aada), reverence (haiba), compassion (rahma), graciousness (ra’afa), knowledge (‘ilm), forbearance (hilm), dignity (waqaar), tranquility (sakeena), patience (sabr), truthfulness (sidq), and certainty (yaqeen).
When my light had appeared from the veils, Allah sub’haanahu placed it in the earth and it caused the earth to radiate with light from the east to the west like a lamp illuminating the darkness of the night.
Then Allah created Adam from the earth and placed my light in his forehead. From him it was transferred to Seth. It was then transferred from virtuous person (taahir) to good person, and from good person (tayyib) to virtuous person until Allah conveyed it to the loins of Abdallah ibn Abd al-Muttalib. From him it was transferred to the womb of my mother Amina. Then He brought me out into this world and made me the master of the Messengers and the seal of the Prophets.” (reference for the hadith is in the notes)
عبد الرزاق عن معمر عن ابن المنكدر عن جابر قال: سألت رسول الله عن أول شيء خلقه الله تعالى؟ فقال: هو نور نبيك يا جابر خلقه الله, ثم خلق فيه كل خير, وخلق بعده كل شيء, وحين خلقه أقامه قدامه من مقام القرب اثني عشر ألف سنة, ثم جعله أربعة أقسام فخلق العرش والكرسي من قسم، وحملة العرش وخزنة الكرسي من قسم, وأقام القسم الرابع في مقام الحب اثني عشر ألف, ثم جعله أربعة أقسام فخلق القلم من قسم, واللوح من قسم, والجنة من قسم, ثم أقام القسم الرابع في مقام الخوف اثني عشر ألف سنة جعله أربعة أجزاء فخلق الملائكة من جزء, والشمس من جزء, والقمر والكواكب من جزء, وأقام الجزء الرابع في مقام الرجاء اثني عشر ألف سنة, ثم جعله أربعة أجزاء فخلق العقل من جزء والعلم والحكمة والعصمة والتوفيق من جزء وأقام الجزء الرابع في مقام الحياء اثني عشر ألف سنة ثم نظر الله عز وجل إليه فترشح النور عرقاً فقطر منه مائة ألف وعشرون ألف وأربعة آلاف قطرة من نور, فخلق الله من كل قطرة روح نبي, أو روح رسول ثم تنفست أرواح الأنبياء فخلق الله من أنفاسهم الأولياء والشهداء والسعداء والمطيعين إلى يوم القيامة, فالعرش والكرسي من نوري والكروبيون من نوري والروحانيون والملائكة من نوري والجنة وما فيها من النعيم من نوري, وملائكة السموات السبع من نوري, والشمس والقمر والكواكب من نوري, والعقل والتوفيق من نوري, وأرواح الرسل والأنبياء من نوري, والشهداء والسعداء والصالحون من نتاج نوري, ثم خلق الله اثني عشر ألف حجاب فأقام الله نوري وهو الجزء الرابع, في كل حجاب ألف سنة, وهي مقامات العبودية والسكينة والصبر والصدق واليقين, فغمس الله ذلك النور في كل حجاب ألف سنة فلما أخرج الله النور من الحجب ركبه الله في الأرض فكان يضيء منها ما بين المشرق والمغرب كالسراج في الليل المظلم, ثم خلق الله آدم من الأرض فركب فيه النور في جبينه, ثم انتقل منه إلى شيث, وكان ينتقل من طاهر إلى طيب, ومن طيب إلى طاهر, إلى أن أوصله الله صلب عبد الله ابن عبد المطلب, ومنه إلى رحم أمي آمنه بنت وهب, ثم أخرجني إلى الدنيا فجعلني سيد المرسلين وخاتم النبيين ورحمة للعالمين وقائد الغر المحجلين، وهكذا كان بدء خلق نبيك يا جابر.
“Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke (loose subatomic particles), and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or unwillingly. They said: We come, obedient (we obey your laws in the universe).”(41:11) “At the time He created my light, He established it in the station of proximity (maqaam ‘l-qurb) for twelve thousand years.”
The light of the prophet Muhammad (saws) was the first thing Allah asked obedience from and it was the first to obey Him, it was the first to worship Him, the first to represent Him and the first to know Him after Allah said Kun (be) so He created every excellent thing in the universe from it, everything that came first.
This hadith is very beautiful, it describes the qualities Allah used to create the universe and the order in which Allah created them. The light of the prophet (saws), the first particles of the universe, are given qualities as they are being created, the order they are created in is also the Maqam of each quality and its distance from Allah, this order tells us their dependencies.
The first quality was the station of proximity to Allah, it was required to create the Arsh and its Angels and the Kursi and its Angels. After proximity is the station of Love, turning towards Allah. The light of the prophet Muhammad (saws) was given proximity then love, and from it Allah made the Pen, the tablet and Jannah, in other words the things that record everything, preserve everything, and the place that represents the best of everything.
Then Allah dressed these particles with the station of Fear and created the Angels, the Sun, the Moon, and the Planetary Stars (al-kawkab). Proximity, love, fear, all lead to hope in the loved one, so next comes the station of Hope, from which He created the Intellect (al-‘aql), Knowledge (al-‘ilm), Infallibility (al-‘isma), and Success (at-tawfeeq). When you hope you search in yourself and that ability is the primary role of the intellect which seeks knowledge and being correct (infallible) all to achieve success, so Allah instilled hope in these things so it is part of their nature and the nature of everything that receives an intellect.
By now we can see Allah is creating the spiritual path of all his creatures to Him, and while these are the main qualities of the path, complex relationships will be created once more creations appear in the universe.
But, there are some problems with the hadith of Jabir, I have included it so we can see the entire process of creation in relation to the light of the prophet (saws), all being described in a single narration. The main issue is the wording, it may have been the phrasing of one of the tabiin, Imam Bukhari was known for including ahadith in his sahih that were the wording of the companions or tabiin as long as the meaning was still correct.
The main problem with the hadith in relation to this work is when the souls of the prophets and mankind where created, according to this hadith after the Kursi, the moon, earth, stars basically the entire universe, while everything else including the Quran indicates something else. Another problem with the Hadith is that the moon is mentioned and not earth or the planets, so there are also discrepancies in the order of things.
One surprise for any person looking at it with scientific accuracy is that knowledge is created separate from the Kursi, while “His Kursi Is His knowledge”, at first this may seem wrong but in fact is in line with how “His Kursi Is His Knowledge”, because knowledge here doesn’t mean words in a book but how knowledge exists in the universe. When the Kursi was created it allowed quantum entanglement to exist on a huge scale, but at this point knowledge did not exist because Allah’s knowledge inside the universe can not have existed until entanglement was sufficiently complex enough to represent Allah’s knowledge.
So at this point, Allah’s Kursi had not yet allowed Allah’s knowledge to manifest in the universe therefore the Kursi and Knowledge are mentioned separately.
These lengthy ahadith are general and often sum up multiple complex events, so they don’t need to be scientifically precise and exact in their description, that isn’t part of normal human language, so the answer maybe missing in this generalization.
So I am leaving this matter to the scholars to solve, the hadith is solitary in its account. If the hadith is found accurate in respect to everything else on the matter then this work is inaccurate in relation to how the prophet (saws) reached the distance of two bows length, but we are certain we are right because of the Quran.
Because, the hadith in its labeling of particles says every major particle that created things is the light of the prophet (saws), so there is confusion as to which “light” of the prophet (saws) Allah helped the prophets (as) with at various times as they came closer to Him and it may have been more than one kind of light, the light of Sidrat al Muntaha is still called the light of the prophet (saws) like the light of the Kursi because the prophet (saws) said Allah created every excellent thing from His light, even after multiple particles are created it is still called His (saws) light no doubt because Allah honored Him (saws) with them.
In science each would be given an individual name, this kind of labeling in the hadith is something often found in the Arabic language even if it refers to different things.
The exactness of science only became relevant in our time, so if this hadith is an amalgamation of other narrations there could easily be confusion, we think the technicalities may have been lost in narrating it as each successive generation lost sight of its nuances.
If we say the hadith is correct and Allah gave the prophet (saws) something to achieve these things like a miracle instead of it coming from the power of his (saws) own soul, we have to understand that what ever that maybe it still has to be created from particles, so it is subject to the same basic laws of physics, namely that, for example, protons and electrons can’t go into themselves to know what is in the depths of subatomic space.
So, any light (particle) that doesn’t come from the utter depths of sub atomic space is not a suitable light to guide us in the spiritual world, in the language of the scholars this light can’t penetrate the veils to see what is behind them let alone reach Allah and the Arsh, so it can’t be the light of prophet hood which must have a primordial origin.
The prophet (saws) had to have received something from the distance of two bows length to reach it and surpass Jibril (as) who said his body would burn up, (His “particles” can’t go within themselves), if He goes inside the Arsh.
If the hadith has no faults, we can say Allah added from His light, the light of the Arsh, to the light of man, which is mentioned often in ahadith, and added to the prophets (saws) light from the light of the distance of two bows length and that is how He (saws) achieved everything. Man is created dependent on Allah, (as this hadith states), Allah’s light is from the Arsh and we need to connect with the light of the Arsh that is above the Kursi to know Him, knowledge (the Kursi) leads to wisdom (the Arsh).
Allah placed in man the light of Tawheed, his inner most light, uns, He made him swear by this light in his heart on the day of oaths, this light is from the Arsh because Allah said Tawheed is from Him. This is how the matter can be understood if we are wrong, but we think the human soul is far elevated above the Kursi because similarly Allah said it is from Him, by His command, something fundamental to the universe like the laws it runs by, the light of tawheed in the heart is more than likely a latter process needed for mans conscious faculties that rely on the heart.
Allah breathed of Himself into man, of His own spirit, and that can only mean the human soul is from within the Arsh where He (Istawa) established Himself in the universe, He didn’t Istawa anywhere else. So we now have a major verse in the Quran contradicting this hadith. It is also impossible that Allah asked the Angels to prostrate to Adam if He wasn’t a superior creation, He was made of something more superior and elevated than them yet the hadith states they are created before the Human soul;
“And when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My Spirit, then fall down before him prostrate.” (38:72) the reason they are should prostrate to man, Allah is saying is because Allah breathed into man of His Spirit, its because of man’s soul.
We feel the hadith is more accurate than wrong but something important is missing about the human soul that should explain the verse in the Quran. The hadith within itself is consistent and logical, after Allah created the major qualities, Nearness, Love, Fear, Hope, which are the foundation of more complex qualities, He created nobility (karaama), felicity (sa’aada), reverence (haiba), compassion (rahma), graciousness (ra’afa), knowledge (‘ilm), forbearance (hilm), dignity (waqaar), tranquility (sakeena), patience (sabr), truthfulness (sidq), and certainty (yaqeen).
All after creating the Human soul which revolves around the major qualities Allah created first. These later qualities are qualities the soul will be dressed with in life and qualities it will need to achieve through Ihsan to reach Allah.
If you are able to follow the discussion up to this point, alhamdulilah, the hadith clearly contradicts verse 38:72, namely the creation of the human soul is superior to that of the Angels, otherwise Allah would not have asked them to prostrate.
As I stated the hadith is a generalization of events and not a step-by-step process, so people reading it will think this is exactly what Allah did in this order and no further steps are involved.
What resolves many of the questions this hadith can raise when looking at it with scientific accuracy is the following hadith, as well as this statement, “O Jaabir. Then He created from it every excellent thing (Not every thing), and after that He created every thing (else),” and the verse in the Quran that says Allah created every living thing from water, the first ocean of particles.
This includes things like the Angels and Adam, the hadith doesn’t mention anything about the water, it instead reads like a genealogy tree for particles, while the water was created from the light of the prophet Muhammad (saws), since it was the first thing to exist.
Shaykh al-Qastalaani said in his al-Muwaahib: “It has been related by Ahmad and was verified by at-Tirmidhi from a prophetic tradition of Abu Razccn al-‘Aqccli that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace said: “Verily the Primordial Water was created before the Throne (Arsh).”
If we consider that every particle in the hadith of Jabir was part of the primordial water, since the first thing created from the prophets (saws) light in the hadith is the Arsh, then this hadith is saying that these are the major particles that created everything, the hadith is not talking about every particle in the universe and how it came to exist, only the key ones, “O Jaabir. Then He created from it every excellent thing” (nothing else).
These major particles exist at the depths of sub atomic space, like the water, and the genealogy of particles in the hadith is not an indication of their exact location in the universe.
The hadith is rather talking about how things were created from the first ocean of particles, the water. So when Allah says He divided a particle into four particles and crated the sun, moon and stars, it means from this one particle came every other particle that makes up these objects.
This would mean the location of each of these originating particles is from a place near the Arsh, wallahu allam.
Ibn Marzuq mentioned on the authority of Ali ibn al-Hussayn on the authority of his father (al-Hussayn ibn Ali) on the authority of his grandfather (Ali ibn Abi Talib) that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace said: “I was a Light between the Hands of my Lord fourteen thousand years before He created Adam.” (Ahkaam of Ibn al-Qataan) This is most likely saying the soul is a kind of light (particle), and when Allah chose to create Adam after creating the souls of mankind.
The other Hadith of Jabir (quoted elsewhere) talks about the process of creation while this hadith talks about which of Allah’s qualities He placed in each thing, the scholars said:
– The Throne is the locus of the Self Manifestation of His Divine Name the All Encompassing (al-Muheet).
– The Footstool is the locus of the Self Manifestation of His Divine Name the Thankful (as-Shakuur).
– The Primordial Pen is the locus of the Self Manifestation of His Divine Name the Originator (al-Badee’u).
– The Guarded Tablet is the locus of the Self Manifestation of His Divine Name the Emanator (al-Baa’ith).
– The Paradise is the locus of the Self Manifestation of His Divine Name the Affectionate (al-Hanaan) and the Benefactor (al-Manaan) and these two Divine Names are secrets of the Self Manifestation of His Divine Name the Subtlety Kind (al-Lateef).
– The Highest Angels are the locus of the Self Manifestation of the Beauty of the Divine Essence (Jamaal ad-Dhaat), while the remainder of the Angels are the locus of the Self Manifestation of His Divine Name the Majestic (al-Jalaal).
– The Station of Fear is one of the Divine Stations and is a station of bewilderment because the person of this station fears the lowering of the Veil of Allah due to what It conceals regarding Allah, and he fears the lifting of the Veil of Allah due to the possible loss of vision which could occur at Its lifting, thus causing the loss of spiritual advantage.
– The Sun is the locus of the Self Manifestation of His Name of Majesty (Allah) and His Divine Name the Light (an-Nuur).
– The Moon is the locus of the Self Manifestation of His Divine Name the Universally Compassionate (ar-Rahmaan) and that the Planetary Stars are the locus of the Self Manifestation of His Divine Name the Sustainer (ar-Rabb).
– The Station of Hope is one of the Divine Stations and it is a locus for the Self Manifestation of His words on the tongue of His Generous Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “I am in the opinion of My servant of Me, so have a good opinion of Me.’’’
– The Station of Modesty is one of the Divine Stations which are transmitted in the Mighty Book: “Verily Allah is not ashamed of showing examples from even a gnat or something even smaller.” This Divine Station manifests from His Divine Name the Protector (al-Mu’min) because modesty is from trusting belief, and modesty and shame are among the traits of the trusting believer.
– The Station of Love is one of the Divine spiritual stations. Allah ta’ala describes Himself by It in His Divine Name the Loving (al-Waduud). This station has four designations: love, affection, ardent passion and devotion. This Divine station is a locus for the Self Manifestation of His words expressed upon the tongue of His Beloved, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “I loved to be known so I created creation. I then made Myself known to it and it knew Me.”(Traditions say that this is the divine response to the Prophet David’s query, when He asked about the purpose of creation.)
Shaykh al-Akbar Ibn al-Arabi al-Hatimi, may Allah be merciful to him said in his Shaiarat ‘l-Kawn: “Verily Adam upon him be peace, when the Light of our master Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace was created and placed in his forehead, the Angels were facing him, sending blessings and peace upon the Light of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, (as Allah ta’ala says: ‘ Verily Allah and His Angels send blessings upon the Prophet’). Adam, upon him be peace could not see it, so he said: ‘O my Lord, I would love to gaze upon the Light of my son Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. So transfer it to a limb from among my limbs so that I can see it.’ Thus, He transferred it to the index finger of his right hand. He then gazed upon this Light shinning in his forefinger (misbahta). He then lifted it and said: ‘I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’. It is for this reason that the index finger is called forefinger (misbahta), which means the finger of glorification.”