Sahl al-Tustari: Adam Created from Light of Muhammad

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

يا نبي سلام عليك

In the history of this Muslim Ummah several men appeared who had a major impact on it through their writings, ideas and activities. Certainly, not all of them were positive from an orthodox Sunni perspective. We might begin by mentioning the earliest such figures, namely, Ibn Saba and Jahm bin Safwan, who undoubtedly had a major impact on at least some sections of this Ummah. But these two heresiarchs did not leave behind anything in their own writing, nor do any Muslims today celebrate their legacy or claim them as their own.

This is not so with men like Ibn Hazm, Ibn Sina, Ghazali, Ibn Arabi, Ibn Taymiyah, Suhrawardi and a few others. From my point of view, all of these men were controversial to say the least with the exception of Hujjat al-Islam, Imam al-Ghazali, may Allah have mercy on him, who was surely an orthodox Sunni and a defender of the Faith from heresy.

Ibn Sina spread neoplatonic ideas, Ibn Arabi introduced the concept of wahdat al-wujud, which may be characterized as a type of acosmism, while Suhrawardi founded the so-called Ishraqi school or illuminationism.

Many traditional Sunnis have incorporated the ideas of Ibn Arabi, particularly wahdat al-wujud, into their metaphysics and theology. However, I am more cautious of doing so, and prefer the course of those Sunni-Maturidi theologians and scholars who were highly critical of Ibn Arabi and his ideas. This tendency was best epitomized in the persons of at-Taftazani, Ala-ud-din al-Bukhari, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, Mulla Ali Qari and many others.

The classical Maturidis, based in Transoxiana and Khorasan, did not teach or accept the ideas of Ibn Arabi, such as Wahdat al-Wujud, Nur Muhammadi and al-Haqiqat al-Muhammadiyyah. With regard to the concept of Nur Muhammadi, that the primordial Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is light from which Allah created the rest of creation, it appears that the foundation for such a concept comes from the great saint Sahl at-Tustari, may Allah be pleased with him.

Commenting on the Ayah:

وَاِذۡ اَخَذَ رَبُّکَ مِنۡۢ بَنِیۡۤ اٰدَمَ مِنۡ ظُہُوۡرِہِمۡ ذُرِّیَّتَہُمۡ وَاَشۡہَدَہُمۡ عَلٰۤی اَنۡفُسِہِمۡ

When thy Lord brought forth offspring from the loins of the sons of Adam, He made them witnesses against their own souls

(Surah 7, Ayah 172)

Sahl at-Tustari says:

فالأول محمد صلّى الله عليه وسلّم لأن الله تعالى لما أراد أن يخلق محمداً صلّى الله عليه وسلّم أظهر من نوره نوراً فلما بلغ حجاب العظمة سجد لله سجدة فخلق سبحانه من سجدته عموداً عظيما كالزجاج من النور أي باطنه وظاهره فيه عين محمد صلّى الله عليه وسلّم فوقف بين يدي رب العالمين بالخدمة ألف ألف عام بطبائع الإيمان وهو معاينة الإيمان ومكاشفة اليقين ومشاهدة الرب فأكرمه الله تعالى بالمشاهدة قبل بدء الخلق بألف ألف عام

The first is Muhammad, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, for when Allah, Exalted is He, wanted to create Muhammad, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, He made appear a light from His light, and when it reached the veil of divine majesty it prostrated before Allah, and from that prostration Allah created an immense crystal-like column of light, that was inwardly and outwardly translucent, and within it was the essence of Muhammad, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him. Then it stood in service before the Lord of the Worlds for a million years with the essential characteristics of faith, which are the visual beholding of faith, the unveiling of certainty and the witnessing of the Lord. Thus He honored him with this witnessing, a million years before beginning the creation.

 آدم صلوات الله عليه خلقه من نور محمد عليه السلام وخلق محمداً صلّى الله عليه وسلّم يعني جسده من طين آدم عليه السلام

ذرية آدم وإن الله عزَّ وجلَّ خلق المريدين من نور آدم وخلق المرادين من نور محمد صلّى الله عليه وسلّم

Adam, blessing of Allah be upon him, Allah created him from the light of Muhammad*, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him. And He created Muhammad, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, that is, his body, from the clay of Adam, peace be upon him.

The progeny of Adam. Allah, Mighty and Majestic is He, created the seekers (muridun) from the light of Adam, and He created the divinely-sought (muradun) from the light of Muhammad, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him (Tafsir at-Tustari, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, pp.68-69)

*Note: In their translation of the Tafsir of Sahl at-Tustari, Annabel and Ali Keeler say in footnote 38 of chapter 7 (Surat al-Araf): “All the MSS (Z515 f. 48b, F638, f. 23b and F3488, f. 222a) have the words Muhammad alayhi al-salām, instead of qāla alayhi al-salām in the printed edition.”

Thus, based on the reliable manuscripts, we can conclude that Sahl at-Tustari taught that Adam was created from the Light of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. The doctrine of the primordial Light of Muhammad is certainly accepted and taught by the great mystic Sahl at-Tustari, and likewise, Adam and the children of Adam were created by Allah from the Light of Muhammad.

However, this is not precisely the same idea that is now termed Nur Muhammadi or Haqiqat al-Muhammadiyyah associated with Ibn Arabi and the Akbari school.

Ismaili Heresy: Prophet Concealed the Truth and was Sinful

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا رسول الله

The narrative of the heretical Ismailis is that since an Imam is required at all times for the world to sustain, the Imam prior to the raising up of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was his uncle Abu Talib. It was he who granted Nubuwwah (Prophethood) to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and also entrusted him with the responsibility of designating Ali bin Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, as the Imam after him. 

However, according to this blasphemous narrative, the Prophet, peace be upon him, failed to fulfill his duty, as he himself desired to be the Imam, and this was reckoned as a sin of the Prophet!

The 10th century CE Ismaili missionary, Jafar bin Mansur al-Yaman, taught that Prophets are not infallible or sinless:

ان سے گناہ صادر ہوئے کیونکہ انھوں نے ایسے مراتب طلب کئے جن کے وہ مستحق نہ تھے۔وہ سب غیر معصوم تھے۔ان میں آنحضرت صلعم بھی شامل ہیں

“Sins were committed by them [Prophets] because they sought after ranks which they were unworthy of. They were all fallible, including the Prophet Muhammad PBUH” (Hamare Ismaili Mazhab ki Haqiqat aur uska Nizam, p.70)

Explaining the Ayah of the Quran:

لِّیَغۡفِرَ لَکَ اللّٰہُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنۡ ذَنۡۢبِکَ وَمَا تَاَخَّرَ

That Allah may forgive you what preceded of your error and what will follow

(Surah 48, Ayah 2)

the Ismailis say:

تمھارا گناہ یہ ہے کہ تم نے شریعت کے ضمن میں حق اور حقیقت کو چھپا دیا جس کی وجہ سے شکوک پیدا ہوگئے اور حقائق کا علم مخفی ہوگیا۔

تمھارا حقیقت کو تمام لوگوں سے چھپانا ایک گناہ تھا جسے ہم نے معاف کیا۔

آپ کو یہ گمان پیدا ہوا کہ ابو طالب کے بعد میرے سوا کوئی امام نہیں ہے۔اس گمان کی وجہ سے اُن مواد روحانیہ میں جو آپ کو حدود علویہ کے ذریعے پہنچتے تھے فتور پڑگیا اور ان کا سلسلہ ٹوٹ گیا۔یہ آپ کا پہلا گناہ ہے۔کیونکہ آپ کے نفس نے ایک ایسا رتبہ حاصل کرنے کی کوشش کی جو آپ کا نہ تھا۔پھر آپ کو معلوم ہوا کہ اس میں تو اللّٰہ تعالیٰ کا ایک راز ہے اور حقیقی امام دوسرا ہے۔آپ صرف مستودع ہیں یعنے آپ کے پاس امانت کے طور پر رتبہ رکھا گیا ہے۔

“His [Prophet Muhammad] sin is that he concealed the truth and reality with the Shariah, which created doubts and concealed knowledge of the facts.

His concealment of the truth from all people was a sin that We forgave.

He conceived the idea that there is no Imam after Abu Talib except me. Because of this idea, the spiritual material that reached him through the elevated limits was suspended and its chain was broken. This was his first sin. Because his ego tried to achieve a status that was not his. Then he came to know that in this is a secret of Allah and the true Imam is another. He was only a trustee, that is, a status had been placed with him as a trust.” (Hamare Ismaili Mazhab ki Haqiqat aur uska Nizam, p.532)

In other words, according to the Ismaili narrative, the cause of the suspension of Wahi—divine revelation—to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, during the early Meccan phase of the Sirah, was that the Prophet, peace be upon him, began to think that he was the true Imam after Abu Talib and no one else! The Ismaili doctrine is that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was only entrusted with the Imamate in a sort of caretaker role but that its true heir was Ali, may Allah be pleased with him.

Another Ismaili missionary, al-Khattab bin al-Hasan, said:

رسول اللّٰہ کا پہلا گناہ یہ ہے کہ آپ نے اپنے وصی کے امر کو اس کے وقت کے قبل ظاہر کر دیا اور پچھلا گناہ یہ ہے کہ آپ کو جب حکم دیا گیا کہ آپ اپنے وصی پر نص کریں تو آپ نے توقف کیا۔

“The first sin of the Messenger of Allah was that he revealed the matter of his Wasi before its time, and the other sin was that he became silent when he was ordered to designate his Wasi.” (Ibid, p.533)

Needless to say, this is a bizarre and illogical view, but more importantly, it is blasphemous and plain kufr.

The Ismailis essentially believe that the reason Abu Bakr succeeded the Prophet instead of Ali, may Allah be pleased with them, was because the Prophet, peace be upon him, in defying Allah’s instruction, failed to identify and designate Ali as his successor.

The Ismaili scholar, Dr. Zahid Ali, says:

ہماری تاویل کو چھپانے کی ایک وجہ یہ بھی ہے کہ اگر اہلِ ظاہر یہ باتیں معلوم کرلیں تو ہم کو مسلمان نہ کہیں گے۔

“One reason for hiding our interpretation is that if the literalists learned of these matters then they would not call us Muslims.” (Ibid, p.535)

Indeed, it is true that the ones whom Ismailis refer to as people of Zahir, or literalists, meaning us mainstream, orthodox Muslims, would never consider them fellow Muslims if their actual doctrines and teachings were made public. This is why the Ismaili esotericists keep their actual beliefs and practices secretive and are generally forbidden from disclosing them to outsiders.

Among those heretical beliefs of the Ismailis is that Abu Talib possessed authority to grant Nubuwwah or Prophethood, and that he was the one who gave it to his beloved nephew Muhammad, peace be upon him:

مولانا ابو طالب مستقر امام تھے اور چاروں مراتب نبوت، رسالت، وصایت اور امامت کے مالک تھے آپ نے آنحضرت کو قائم کر کے یہ کہا کہ آپ کے پاس وصایت اور امامت کا رتبہ امانت رکھا جاتا ہے اس کا اصل وارث میرا لڑکا علی ہے۔

“Our master, Abu Talib, was a permanent Imam, and owner of the four ranks of Nubuwwah, Risalah, Wisayah and Imamah. He established the Prophet Muhammad and said to him that the ranks of Wisayah and Imamah are given into your custody as a trust, its actual heir is my son Ali.” (Ibid)

The fourteenth Ismaili Imam was al-Muizz (d. 975 CE), who was also the fourth Fatimid ruler. He apparently taught:

مولانا مُعز نے آنحضرتؐ کی شریعت کی وضع کو ایک گناہ قرار دیا ہے۔کیونکہ آپ نے اس کے ضمن میں حق اور حقیقت کو چھپا دیا۔اگر آپ کا یہ فعل گناہ ہے تو گویا اللّٰہ تعالیٰ نے آپ کو گناہ کرنے کی ہدایت دی۔اس سے صاف ظاہر ہے کہ ہماری اسماعیلی تحریک کا اصل مقصد نبی اور ان کی شریعت کی شان گھٹانا اور وصی اور ان کی تاویل کی قدر بڑھانا ہے۔

“Our master, Muizz, has declared the formulation of the Prophet Muhammad’s Shariah a sin because he concealed the truth and reality with it. If this act of his is a sin, then it is as if Allah has instructed him to commit a sin. This clearly shows that the real aim of our Ismaili movement is to diminish the glory of the Prophet and his Shariah and to raise the value of the Wasi and his interpretation.” (Ibid, p.536)