Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem, assalamu alaikum
“The apostle of Allah asked some men of Medina what had been said there about the falling stars and was told: ‘We said, “A king has died or has begun to reign; a child has been born, or has died.” ‘ The apostle of Allah replied: ‘It was not so. When Allah reaches any decision concerning His people He is heard by the bearers of His throne, who praise Him; and this praise is taken up by the angels below them, and by others still further below; and the praise continues to descend until it reaches the sky of this world, where other angels also praise. Then these ask each other why they praise, and the question ascends gradually till it reaches the bearers of the throne. They then, tell of the decree of Allah concerning His people, and the news travels down by degrees until it reaches the heaven of this world, where the angels discuss it. But the evil Jinns (devils), who used to listen to such discussions by stealth, sometimes misheard, and what they retold to soothsayers on earth was sometimes true and sometimes false. The soothsayers also conversed about these matters, some giving true and some false accounts. So, when the coming of the apostle was being discussed by the angels, Allah foiled the evil Jinns by hurling meteors (at them), and from that time onwards an end was made to soothsayers”. (Seerah ibn Ishaq)
When you come to understand the spiritual world you start to see how significant some things are in Islam that you overlooked before hand. One of these is the fact that when the prophet Muhammad (saws) was given prophethood, it stopped all jinn around the world from being able to get news of the future from Heaven, except what Angels tell them deliberately to thwart their harm. This event marked the end of the pagan world that worshipped false idols in many forms, something that had covered the entire world and up to the time of Nuh (as) the only solution by the prophet (as) was to ask Allah to end mankind.
This should tell you something about our prophets (saws), today because of our lack knowledge, intellect and good character we pass these events of as “something Allah did”, or something “He gave to someone”…Allah gave it to that person is short hand for saying this event is what he earned through his work because Allah clearly declares in the Quran “La ha Ma kasabat wa alayha ma Ktasabat”, “For it (each soul is only) that which it hath earned, and against it (only) that which it hath deserved” (2:286).
What an injustice we are doing to our self by not investigating and doing the main task Allah sent down Quran the for, to discover the science behind everything in the universe. Allah repeats this instruction many times in the Quran in various ways, they all boil down to “Go learn about the universe”.
Abu Huraira (ra) said: “Allah’s Apostle (saws) has gone, and you people are utilizing those treasures (He gave you), or digging those treasures out (that knowledge behind the Quran and Sunnah).” or said a similar sentence.” (Bukhari)
The prophet (saws) became a prophet only after He earned it through what he did before hand in his life, and he only went on the Isra wal Miraj, His (saws) night journey to learn about the universe, which is also the event that proved his superiority over every other human or creature Allah ever created, because unlike previous prophets (as) He (saws) was shown everything and only because “For it (each soul is only) that which it hath earned, and against it (only) that which it hath deserved” (2:286).
Ask your self what would it take to deserve something like that from Allah?
To understand this matter on a grand scale, the entire affair is a competition between every single creature Allah created. If a Jinn through his work and character could reach prophethood Allah would grant it to Him, if the Angels through their work over the trillions of years they have been alive could surpass the Prophet (saws) in what he did, Allah would have given it to them. Those among mankind who surpassed the other creatures did so because they earned it and every prophet was given every miracle, every sign because He (as) earned it with Allah.
The door of prophethood isn’t closed because no person could reach prophethood after the prophet Muhammad (saws), the prophet (saws) Himself said multiple time if there were to be a prophet after me it would be Umar (ra), and you can be certain that also meant Abu Bakr (ra). The door was closed because each prophet (as) was tasked with doing some of the work Allah required for the universe to learn about Him, when the prophet (saws) become a prophet He exceeded everyone else and completed all the work Allah required, the door of prophethood is closed because there is no need for any new prophet by Allah and every 124,000 prophets Allah had ever sent beat the rest of mankind to the task.
The matter was decided long before any of us were born on the day of Oaths when we were all souls and those to be prophets responded to Allah well before the rest of mankind, such was their degree of excellence and Ihsan (perfection) above the rest of us.
So, when idol worship was suddenly ended on earth and the “1000 year” pagan fire of the Persians was put out miraculously, and idols around the world toppled over instantly, and shooting stars were sent against the Jinn of the earth preventing them from going into space and getting news of the future for their oracles and soothsayers, that was all through the power behind the prophet Muhammad (saws) reaching prophethood. Its spiritual force marked the point the world changed from worshipping wood and stones to the age of science we know today.
These events all announced His (saws) status to the entire Jinn world, in a single day;
‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Abbaas said (soon after He was given prophethood): “The Prophet (saws) went out with a group of his Companions heading for the marketplace of ‘Ukaaz. This was when the shayateen (devils) were prevented from getting any news from heaven, and shooting stars had been sent against them. The shayateen went back to their people, who said, “What is the matter with you?” They said, “We cannot get news from heaven, and shooting stars were sent against us.” Their people said, “Nothing is stopping you from hearing news from heaven except some new event that must have happened. Go and look in the east and the west of the earth, and see if you can find out what it is that is stopping you from hearing news from heaven.” Those who went out in the direction of Tihaamah came upon the Prophet (saws) in Nakhlah, when he was on his way to ‘Ukaaz, and found him leading his Companions in Fajr (morning) prayer. When they heard the Qur’an, they listened to it and said, “By Allah, this is what is stopping us from hearing news from heaven.” When they went back to their people, they said, “O our people, we have heard a wonderful Recital (the Qur’an). It guides to the Right Path, and we have believed therein, and we shall never join (in worship) anything with our Lord (Allah). [al-Jinn 72:2]. Then Allah revealed to His Prophet (saws) the words: “Say (O Muhammad): “It has been revealed to me that a group of jinns listened (to this Qur’an)” [al-Jinn 72:1], and Allah revealed to him what the jinn had said.” (Bukhari)
How could the Jinn after hearing the Quran understand that these words are what stopped all of them on earth from getting news from Heaven. Their understanding of the world gave them insight into the significance of the words they were hearing, they had enough knowledge to convert at that moment, if you don’t see the significance in the words of the Quran you lack the insight to understand it.
Something even worse than this that people accuse the Prophet (saws) of is that receiving revelation is just receiving the words of Allah. Any person who has experience with Marifah from the Angels will tell you if the Angels did that, just give the Prophet (saws) the words, they would be forcing them on him (saws), they would be moulding His (saws) mind by force and breaking His (saws) character.
It is reported that once Rasulullah (saws), placed his blessed head on the thigh of Zayd bin Thabit (ra) and descent of ‘Wahy’ (revelation) started during that time, Zayd (ra) felt so much weight on his thigh that he thought it was going to crack.
Allah even mentions this in the Quran as a quality of the Angels appearing in their real form, it would be punishment for normal people.
Marifah, and by extension revelation occurs according to the person’s knowledge and experiences in life. So then looking at the Quran and the subjects it covered a person may ask what on earth did the Prophet (saws) know before hand before receiving some of the more complex verses in the Quran.
The answer is Allah revealed the Quran over a period of 23 years, one verse at a time and each in response to an event that occurred which the prophet learned from the event about life. For the more complex and scientific verses Allah also revealed that gradually and at each step and each subject Allah would teach His prophet more about the universe, exactly like a person going from one year in school onto the next, and as He (saws) learned, Allah revealed the next more advanced verse on the subject.
We can see this from how many verses seem like they are repeating themselves except for a single word that highlights the subject from a different angle.
In the Arabic, this changes the entire meaning of the verse because now you are looking at a different area of science that is related to the topic. You can see this clearly from my work, some in the past have stated that I often repeat the same thing in many of my books, rather they have failed to understand the subject has shifted to a different scientific subject and that is being highlighted, exactly as Allah himself does so in the Quran.
If you have seen some of the complex topics I discuss like the nature of space, time and quantum entanglement, by Allah, I can tell you i am holding back on what I Know the Prophet (saws) understood about these matters in Ahadith. The more you understand science the more you see how far ahead He (saws) still was and I don’t think we will ever catch up because some subjects are beyond the capacity of technology today.
He was the first person to be shown the entire universe, He (saws) saw its shape and held it in His (saws) eye, His (saws) went to the edge of space and reached two bow lengths from leaving the universe completely and came back and taught his companions and us about it all, none of which Allah would have shown him if he could not understand the science behind it, so His (saws) could see the significance of what His (saws) was looking at.
Today most of the formulas that physics use rely on assumptions about the age, shape, size and weight of the universe, you can be certain that most of these equations will be thrown out and the numbers disregarded because they have no real clue how big the universe is, how old it is and how deep sub atomic space is, but the prophet (saws) saw all of this and knows the answers well.
“Blessed is He in Whose hand is the Sovereignty, and, He is Able to do all things. Who hath created life and death that He may try which of you is best in conduct; and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving. Who hath created seven heavens in harmony. Thou (Muhammad) canst see no fault in the Beneficent One’s creation; then look again: Canst thou see any rifts? Then look again and yet again, thy sight will return unto thee weakened and made dim.” (67:1-4)
It’s interesting the translator stated the verse was referring to the Prophet (saws), instructing him to look again and again at how the universe was constructed, a passage about subatomic space.
Shaykh Rami Al Rifai.