'Qadyaniat' and Ibn e Arbi's Mis-understood Concept of 'Nabuwwat'

 

Ibn e Arbi’s concept of ‘nabuwwat’ after coming of our Nabi (saww) is greatly misunderstood and the greatest misunderstood form of Ibn e Arbi’s concept of ‘nabuwwat’ after our Nabi (saww) is ‘Qadyaniat’.

We have seen in my article ‘Wahi, Intuition and their Implications’ that according to Quranic terminology, ‘wahi’ has mainly two types. First that is prophetic ‘wahi’ and relating to ‘nabuwwat/resalat’; and the second that is non-prophetic ‘wahi’ and relating to persons other than ‘Nabis/ Rasul’. The major difference between these two types of ‘wahi’ is that prophetic ‘wahi’ is compulsory to be accepted/complied with, on the one hand, by the ‘Nabi/Rasool’ who is recipient of such ‘wahi’ and, on the other hand, by the people to whom such ‘Nabi/ Rasool’ has been sent. But the non-prophetic ‘wahi’ is for the personal guidance of the person who is recipient of such ‘wahi’, and such ‘wahi’ is not compulsory to be accepted/complied with by the people. It may be appreciated that ‘wahi’ which is compulsory to be accepted/complied with by the people is always a ‘wahi’ which involves/carries ’shariah’; a ‘wahi’ not involving/carrying ‘shariah’ is not to be accepted/complied with compulsorily by the people. In other words, prophetic ‘wahi’ always involves/carries ‘shariah’; and non-prophetic ‘wahi’ is what does not involve/carry ‘shariah’. Another difference between the prophetic and non-prophetic ‘wahi’ is that prophetic ‘wahi’ is always generated through Hazrat Gabriel whereas non-prophetic ‘wahi’ is always generated through an angel other than Hazrat Gabiel. Prophetic ‘wahi’ has been discontinued after our Nabi (saww) but non-prophetic ‘wahi’ is still continuing.

When Ibn e Arbi states about continuation of ‘wahi’ after our Nabi (saww), he states about such ‘wahi which does not constitute/carry ‘shariah’. In other words, he states about continuation of non-prophetic ‘wahi’ after our Nabi (saww); he does not state about continuation of prophetic ‘wahi’ after coming of our Nabi (saww). He states that, after coming of our Nabi (saww), no other prophet’s/ Nabi’s order is to be accepted/complied with (Fatuhat e Makkia; vol. 1; chapter 10, 22). In other words, he states about a ‘wahi’ after our Nabi (saww), which is not to be accepted/complied with compulsorily by the people. Obviously what is not ‘shariah’ is not to be accepted/complied with compulsorily. The recipient of such ‘wahi’ which is not compulsory to be accepted/complied with cannot be called a ‘Nabi/Rasool’ because a ‘Nabi/ Rasool’ is always sent with a ‘shariah’ and a ‘Nabi/Rasool’ is always to be obeyed. According to Ibn e Arbi too, a Nabi is whom ‘wahi’ involving/carrying ‘shariah’ is sent to (Fatuhat e Makkia; vol.1; chapter 14). It may be noted that every ‘Nabi’ comes with a shariah; not a single ‘Nabi’ has come without a shariah. Some ‘nabis’ come with original/new ‘shariah’ and some come with previous (rectified/extended) ‘shariah’ which may have been or may not have been  corrupted with passage of time. Quran says: "Indeed, We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light. The 'Nabis' who submitted [to Allah] judged by it for the Jews..." (al-maidah-44). Law (i.e. part of shariah) was contained in the Torah, and 'Nabis' used to interpret this law to judge between the people. We know interpretation of law is itself a law and an extended form of law, and this extended law (interpretations) was revealed to 'Nabis' through 'wahi'; as such this 'wahi' constituted 'shariah' and  was compulsorily to be accepted/complied with by the people. In other words, such 'Nabis'  added laws to the law (shariah) orignally revealed to the 'Rasool'/Hazrat Musa (as). In other words, 'shariah' is not only revealed to 'Nabis' coming after and following a 'Rasool' to whom that shariah is originally revealed but also such 'Nabis' make additions , under 'wahi', to the orignally revealed shariah. Actually such 'Nabis' offer new shariah in the form of extended shariah through interpretations. There is no room for a Nabi whose 'wahi' does not constitute either original/new shariah or extended/rectified 'shariah'; to believe in a Nabi sent without extended/rectified shariah or original/new shariah is a non-sense. But another important thing to note is that a ‘wahi’ CONSTITUTING/carrying ‘shariah’ and sent to all ‘Nabis’ is always generated by Allah through Gabriel and received by ‘Nabis’ through Gabriel without any other mediation. (for details plz see my article ‘wahi, Intuition and their Implications’ ; 'Difference between Resalat and Nabuwwat').

In short, a prophetic ‘wahi’ is what is carrying shariah; what is compulsorily to be accepted/complied with by the people; what is generated by Allah through Gabriel and received by ‘Nabi’ through Gabriel without any other mediation.  

Now the question arises how Ibn e Arbi has stated about continuation of ‘Nabis’ after our Nabi (saww). Actually Ibn e Arbi has not stated about continuation of ‘Nabis’ after our Nabi (saww); instead he has stated about coming of ‘anbiya ul aulia’ after our Nabi (saww); ‘anbiya ul aulia’ means such ‘aulia’ which have spiritual status equal to that of ‘anbiya/ Nabis’. Ibn e Arbi has labeled such ‘anbiya ul aulia’ as inheritors to ‘anbiya/Nabis’ (Fatuhat e Makkia; vol. 1; chapter 14). In fact, Ibn e Arbi has coined this term ‘anbiya ul aulia’ in the light of our Nabi’s (saww) saying in which he (saww) states that spiritual levels of ‘ulema’ of his (saww) ummah are equal to those of ‘Nabis’ from bani Israel except regarding spiritual level of 'Nabuwwat'.  According to Ibn e Arbi, these ‘anbiya ul aulia’ are sent to serve ‘shariah’ of Muhammad (saww), but the 'wahi' sent to them does not constitute 'shariah'. These ‘anbiya ul aulia’ receive ‘wahi’ which does not carry/involve shariah and as such is not to be accepted/complied with compulsorily by the people because, after coming of our Nabi (saww), no other Nabi’s order is to be accepted/complied with (Fatuhat e Makkia; vol. 1; chapter 10).  According to Ibn e Arbi, these ‘anbiya ul aulia’ receive ‘wahi’ either from our Nabi (saww)- in that case such ‘wahi’ is not generated by Allah- or through our Nabi (saww) but generated by Allah. Moreover such 'wahi' is not carried by Gabriel; it is carried by 'misl e Gabriel' (misl e Gabriel means an angel carrying 'wahi' like Gabriel carried).

In short, these ‘anbiya ul aulia’ receive non-prophetic ‘wahi’ which does not constitute shariah to be accepted/complied with compulsorily by the people; such 'wahi' is not carried through Gabriel; therefore 'anbiya ul aulia' cannot be rightly called ‘Nabis’. Actually they are ‘aulia’ which are assigned with duties to serve Islam (shariah) after coming of our Nabi (saww) and as such they perform the role which was used to be assigned to ‘Nabis’ before coming of our Nabi (saww); the 'wahi' sent to these 'anbiya ul aulia' is not to be compulsorily accepted/complied with by the people; that is why Ibn e Arbi has called such ‘aulia’ as ‘anbiya ul aulia’. According to Ibn e Arbi, these ‘anbiya ul aulia’ are not ‘Nabis’; rather they are ‘aulia’ having status equal to, and performing the role of ‘Nabis’. Qadyaniat is the greatest mis-understood/distorted form of Ibn e Arbi’s concept of ‘nabuwwat’.  Mirza claims to be a Nabi carrying no new shariah; but actually 'Qadyanis' and he himself believe he is entitled to make additions/deletions in the shariah through interpretations according to so called 'wahi' he recieved. Mirza believes his interpretations of shariah are to be accepted/complied with compulsorily by the people because the 'wahi' he receives constitutes rectified/extended shariah based on old shariah. In fact, Mirza Qadyani believes that 'wahi' sent to him constitutes shariah; he says he has been sent without new shariah; but actually he is offering new shariah in the form of so called rectified/extended shariah which is to be accepted/complied with by the people compulsorily. That is why he/qadyanis' declare all those who do not believe in him as non-Muslims/ 'kafir'. He abolishes 'jihad'. He denies many 'sahih ahadith' and  puts himself in place of our Nabi Muhammad (saww) [who is source of all laws in Islam]. He asserts that his interpretations of shariah are to be accepted/complied with compulsorily by the people as these interpretations have been revealed to him through 'wahi'. As already mentioned,  what 'wahi' is to be accepted/complied with compulsorily by the people is called prophetic shariah; and what wahi is NOT to be accepted/complied with compulsorily by the people is NOT called prophetic shariah (it may be called aulia's opinions relating to shariah). Actually Mirza presents his so called wahi as prophetic shariah and he makes all claims of a full Nabi but, in order to decieve people, he says he has not been sent with new shariah. There is no concept of such 'Nabuwwat', after coming of our Nabi (saww), either in Islam or in Ibn e Arbi's views. 
(It may be noted Qadyanis often quote references from such  books which have been in the past out of print for long times; authenticity of such books requires to be ascertained before they are relied upon).