Knowledge of Unseen Disclosed to non-Prophets (Part 2)

نحمده ونصلى ونسلم على رسوله الكريم

اعوذ بالله السميع العليم من الشيطان اللعين الرجيم

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the previous entry, we examined some of the fundamental proofs from the Qur’an and Sunna which establish the fact that Allah Most High may and does disclose some ordinary matters of the unseen to non-Prophets, particularly, the Believers and Saints. In this entry, I shall cite the statements of various respectable scholars of the Religion. Since this is a matter that is being denied by some of the Ahl al-Hadith and “neo-Salafis”, due to their excessive hatred of Sufism who are regrettably following the path of the Mu’tazilites and modernists who preceded them in this rejection, I shall first quote a giant in the Tawhid movement respected by many of the Ahl al-Hadith, namely, Shah Isma’il shahid of Delhi:

اس کا علم غیب سے انبیاء علیہم الصلوۃ والسلام کے سوا اور کوئی دوسرا آدمی نہیں پاسکتا تو میرے خیال میں وہ مذہب کے ایک ایسے مسئلہ کا انکار کر  رہا ہے جو تواتر سے ثابت ہے

“I think that to deny the fact that no man except the Prophets upon whom be blessings and peace can attain knowledge of the unseen is a denial of something from the Religion which is established through tawatur.” (Abqat p.14):

 

The reader can see that Shah Isma’il shahid (rahimahullah) has on this page cited the same Ayah of the Qur’an which I cited in the previous entry regarding the revelation of a news of the unseen (the birth of the Messiah) to the saint Mary (Sura 3:45).

 

Another eminent scholar, Ibn Hazm al-Zahiri, has explained the Hadith I cited in the previous entry about the mubashshirat and commented that it is a reference to the mughayibat (matters of the unseen) which Allah honors a purified soul with:

فيشرف الله عز وجل به على كثيرمن المغيبات

“So Allah mighty and glorified honors him with abundance of the matters of the unseen” (al-Fisl v.5 pp.123-124):

 

Likewise, the great muhaddith, al-Hafidh Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani (rahimahullah) confirmed that matters of the unseen are disclosed to the wali (saint) and this does not contradict the Ayah which apparently says that Allah only reveals His unseen to a Messenger:

وفيه دلالة على جواز اطلاع الولي على المغيبات بإطلاع الله - تعالى - له ولا يمنع من ذلك ظاهر قوله - تعالى - { عالم الغيب فلا يظهر على غيبه أحدا إلا من ارتضى من رسول }

(Fath al-Bari)