Khatira [ Ranking Among the Messengers ] | Dr. Ahmed Abouseif | 4 November 2019

Occasion: Transcription of a khatira delivered on 4 November 2019 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

In our last meeting we paused at the story of Ṭālūt and Jālūt and took a number of lessons from it, and today we want to turn to the saying of Allah, blessed and exalted be He: ﴿تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ﴾ (Those messengers, We have favored some of them over others).^[1] The word «those» points to the group of messengers whose mention has gone before, so this group as a whole, Allah favored some of them over others. So is there, then, ranking among the messengers?

Between Messengers and Prophets

The scholars say, in brief: there is no ranking among the messengers in their being sent by Allah, glorified and exalted be He, rather the ranking is between prophets and messengers. The mission of the messengers is greater than the mission of the prophets; the prophets are there to remind people of what was revealed before, so they do not have in their hands a new way with which to change reality, but rather they confirm that the messenger before them was given books, and they remind people of them. As for the messenger, he comes with a new way that will be in people's hands in a different form. And the messengers always face more hardships and difficulties than the prophets, so they say that the messengers are better than the prophets, and those of firm resolve among the messengers are better than the others. In this Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, says: the best of the friends of Allah are His prophets, and the best of His prophets are the messengers among them, and the best of the messengers are those of firm resolve among the messengers, as the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, indicated.

Then Allah, exalted be He, says: ﴿مِنْهُم مَّن كَلَّمَ اللَّهُ﴾ (Among them were those to whom Allah spoke), as if He were pointing to the aspects of ranking among them; among them is one to whom Allah spoke, among them is the Intimate Friend, among them is the Beloved, and so on. Each of them was distinguished in one respect, with the judgment upon them all that they are messengers of the Lord of the worlds, and there is no rank or station above that. We agree that the messengers are the highest in rank among human beings, and those of firm resolve among them, such as Moses, Noah, Abraham and Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon them, are the models who faced more than others, challenged more than others, and exerted more effort than others. So we understood that the ranking is based on the choice of the Lord of the worlds of a group of people who give more than others.

Ranking Is an Established Pattern Among Creatures

And before we ask about the benefit of ranking, we must understand that ranking occurs among almost all creatures. At the level of days, the best day of the week is Friday, the best night of the year is the Night of Power, and the best day of the year is the Day of ʿArafah. And among times, Allah singled out the time of Fajr and the time of ʿAṣr, and He singled out from the night the time before dawn, in which the Lord of Might, glorified be He, descends in a manner befitting His majesty to the lowest heaven, calling His servants in it to ask, to supplicate and to repent. And ranking occurs likewise among human beings; Allah made among people elite ones who are the friends of Allah, and among the friends of Allah elite ones who are the prophets, and among the prophets elite ones who are the messengers, and among the messengers elite ones who are those of firm resolve. Even the angels have elite ones among them, and Allah made Gabriel, peace be upon him, the trustee of revelation.

How Do We Reconcile the Verse with the Prohibition of Ranking?

One day a man from the Jews swore by Moses, whom Allah favored over the worlds, and one of the Muslims said to him: Better than all the worlds, even Muhammad? And he slapped his face. So the Jew went to complain to the Prophet ﷺ himself: This companion of yours struck me on my face. So the Prophet ﷺ asked the man: Why did you slap him? He said: O Messenger of Allah, he said that Moses is the best of the worlds. So our master the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, in meaning: Do not rank the prophets one above another.^[2]

So do we have a contradiction between the Qur'an and the Sunnah? The scholars answer: No. The prohibition of ranking means that you diminish the station of one compared with another. Imagine ten students, all of them excellent, ma shaa Allah, and among them one who obtained one hundred and fifteen percent. Does that mean that those who did not obtain that grade are lesser? The wording itself is different: if you belittled those who exceeded one hundred percent, that would not be right, but one of them is above that, so he is more distinguished than they, and they are not lesser. So there is a difference between belittling a person and distinguishing a person over a group all of whom are geniuses. So the meaning of «do not rank them» is that you do not place one lower than the others, because they are all at the same rank: prophets, the blessings of Allah be upon them all.

And once I had a dialogue with someone about the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and about adding the title to his name, and I said to him: Do you hold a doctorate? He said: Yes. I said: And with what grade? He said: The doctorate by itself is enough, and does not need to be paired with a grade. I said to him: Easy now, if you boast of the doctorate to this extent and do not want to pair anything with it, then the doctorate does not need titles beside it, so what of prophethood? He is a prophet in the highest station, and he is not waiting for me to strive to raise his standing with two words. The blessings of Allah be upon them all, and the pleasure of Allah upon the righteous among His servants.

The Degrees: Distinction in Particulars

Then Allah, blessed and exalted be He, said: ﴿تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ ۘ مِّنْهُم مَّن كَلَّمَ اللَّهُ ۖ وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَهُمْ دَرَجَاتٍ﴾ (Those messengers, We have favored some of them over others; among them were those to whom Allah spoke, and He raised some of them in degrees). And the degrees do not mean that one of them took one and another took nine, but each of them may have ten attributes: this one has seven of them in this respect and three in that, and this one six and four, and this one eight and two, and all of them are in a state of ranking. Take, for example, a group of scholars with whom we study a project in earth science: one is a genius in the science of rocks, the second in the science of soil, and the third in the hurricanes that may occur from beneath the earth. All of them are geniuses, but this one excels in one respect and that one in another, so they are on the same level in general terms, and the distinction among them is in one aspect or another.

And imagine our master Moses, peace be upon him, when he faced a people with crookedness in their souls, they being the Children of Israel in his time: disputation, dialogues and exhaustion, and they used to twist and turn. So Moses, peace be upon him, argued with wearied souls. As for Abraham, peace be upon him, the people around him had clear, sound psyches, but going toward disbelief; he does not tell you he is gray nor that he is white, and does not color the matter as the Children of Israel used to color it, but says to you: I am a disbeliever. His psyche is sound, and needs a key that turns it from disbelief to faith, and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, is an example of that. And note, I am speaking about the psyche, not about the position a person has taken on an issue; you may find your bitter enemy and yet you bear witness to the purity of his soul, he does not twist and turn, he is clear.

So Abraham, peace be upon him, had a people who were clear disbelievers, so he strove with them in rational persuasion, imposing the proof, and stating the argument and logic, and he did not twist and turn with them to reach the result. But as for those who were ﴿تَأْتِيهِمْ حِيتَانُهُمْ يَوْمَ سَبْتِهِمْ شُرَّعًا وَيَوْمَ لَا يَسْبِتُونَ لَا تَأْتِيهِمْ﴾ (their fish came to them on their Sabbath day, openly, and on the day they did not observe the Sabbath they did not come to them),^[3] they kept twisting and turning around themselves. So the striving of Abraham, peace be upon him, with his people is different from the striving of Moses with his people, and it is different from the striving of Noah with his people, and so on. So the distinction among them is a ranking in particulars, and none of them is better than another in general rank, so we cannot say that so-and-so is lesser than so-and-so.

Jonah, Peace Be Upon Him

And another detail comes in the matter of no ranking among the prophets, which is the saying of the Prophet ﷺ concerning Jonah son of Mattā, peace be upon him, in meaning that it is not proper for anyone to rank himself above him.^[4] And the scholars say: Beware, if you feel you do something well in da'wah, and that you pray and are committed and have a method and have a call and a movement, and you gather people and work, that you say: Here I am, better than our master Jonah who left his people and went away! For what happened from him, peace be upon him? That he left the people; he grew weary of them after years of calling and saw that there was no use, so he said: Peace be upon you, and departed. That is the great matter that took place from our master Jonah, peace be upon him, and yet no one should imagine that he is better than Jonah, peace be upon him. And we will bring, God willing, a text in his mention that speaks about this.

So the sum of the matter: the ranking among the prophets is in certain particulars, and we believe in them as a whole that they are the prophets of Allah and His messengers, and we believe in their protection, all of them, from error in matters of the Sharia and the divine revelations, and we believe that this distinction among them took place by the distinguishing of Allah, blessed and exalted be He.

The Lord of Might, glorified be He, says: ﴿وَآتَيْنَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ الْبَيِّنَاتِ﴾ (And We gave Jesus son of Mary the clear proofs).^[5] And why Jesus? Because He had pointed before it to ﴿مِنْهُم مَّن كَلَّمَ اللَّهُ﴾, who is our master Moses, peace and blessings be upon him, then He said: ﴿وَآتَيْنَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ الْبَيِّنَاتِ﴾, so that no one would say that Moses, peace be upon him, is better than Jesus; just as Moses was spoken to by Allah, so too Jesus was given the clear proofs.

Disagreement After the Clear Proofs

﴿وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا اقْتَتَلَ الَّذِينَ مِن بَعْدِهِم مِّن بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ وَلَٰكِنِ اخْتَلَفُوا فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ آمَنَ﴾ (And if Allah had willed, those after them would not have fought each other after the clear proofs had come to them, but they disagreed, and among them were those who believed).^[6]… In every messenger you find peoples, even those who used to support him in the time of hardship, you find that after the messenger moves to the neighborhood of the Lord of the worlds, and after matters settle among them and conditions calm down and they become established, the impulses of disagreement begin. And this is what we always say and have said many times from this minbar: we, praise be to Allah, have completed the building, so when will we disagree, quarrel and fight, and who will be the chief and who the minister and who the guard? When will we begin to bear grudges? This is the deep pit into which people fall, sadly, except those on whom Allah has mercy.

And from here comes the warning toward more awareness: if you have climbed a step, stand firm until you climb the next, and do not let your brother push you from above so that you go down below, and then he tries to continue and finds someone who pushes him, and we keep on bringing each other down, so Islam does not move, and the da'wah does not proceed, and people do not set out toward a goal. We seek refuge with Allah, we ask Allah for safety.

And disagreement, our dear brothers, in a state of ignorance may have an excuse in it; when we disagree and quarrel while we are ignorant we have some excuse. But when you disagree while you have the clear proof and you have the information, you have no excuse before the Lord of Might, glorified be He. He, glorified be He, said: ﴿وَلَٰكِنِ اخْتَلَفُوا فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ آمَنَ﴾ and another group. And our disagreement may lead us to the stage of disbelief, we seek refuge with Allah, we ask Allah for safety and well-being. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: ﴿وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا اقْتَتَلُوا وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يُرِيدُ﴾ (And if Allah had willed, they would not have fought each other, but Allah does what He wills).

Spending After the Talk About the Prophets

Then He said: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَ يَوْمٌ لَّا بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلَا خُلَّةٌ وَلَا شَفَاعَةٌ ۗ وَالْكَافِرُونَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ﴾ (O you who believe, spend from what We have provided you before a day comes in which there is no trade, nor friendship, nor intercession; and the disbelievers are the wrongdoers).^[7] So what is the relation of the command to spend after the talk about the prophets and the ranking among them? The scholars said: Among the greatest causes that raise the standing of the servant until it brings him to a level close to the level of the prophets is giving. For we said that the rising of degrees is because of sacrifice, so whoever resembled the prophets in sacrifice and giving was close to them. ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَىٰ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُم بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ﴾ (Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their selves and their wealth in exchange for Paradise being theirs),^[8] and there He says: ﴿أُولَٰئِكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِم مِّنَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ ۚ وَحَسُنَ أُولَٰئِكَ رَفِيقًا﴾ (Those are with the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed favor, of the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous; and excellent are those as companions).^[9]

Then the Lord of the worlds mentions Āyat al-Kursī, which in its whole and its content is proof of the power of Allah, His self-subsistence and His life, blessed and exalted be He, and His glorified encompassing knowledge of everything that happens of the conditions of His servants, and His Mighty and Majestic dominion over the universe and His might over it. Perhaps we have gone into detail on Āyat al-Kursī before, and we do not want to repeat it because of the limits of time. The Lord of Might, glorified be He, says: ﴿اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ﴾ (Allah — there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He wills), ﴿وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا﴾ (and their preservation does not weary Him).^[10]

And after it comes the matter of compulsion in religion and forcing people to religiosity or not, which we will take up, God willing, in what is to come. May Allah reward you with good, and be pleased with you, and I ask Allah, glorified be He, to keep us and you firm upon what pleases Him, exalted on high. The peace of Allah be upon you, and His mercy and blessings.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: al-Baqarah: 253; the rest of the verse: ﴿...مِّنْهُم مَّن كَلَّمَ اللَّهُ ۖ وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَهُمْ دَرَجَاتٍ﴾ (…among them were those to whom Allah spoke, and He raised some of them in degrees), which the speaker mentioned afterwards in the body. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth, in meaning, is narrated in the two Ṣaḥīḥs in the story of the slap; it is conveyed here by meaning as the speaker mentioned it. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: al-Aʿrāf: 163; the text of the verse: ﴿وَاسْأَلْهُمْ عَنِ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ إِذْ يَعْدُونَ فِي السَّبْتِ إِذْ تَأْتِيهِمْ حِيتَانُهُمْ يَوْمَ سَبْتِهِمْ شُرَّعًا وَيَوْمَ لَا يَسْبِتُونَ ۙ لَا تَأْتِيهِمْ﴾ (And ask them about the town that was by the sea, when they transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath, when their fish came to them on their Sabbath day, openly, and on the day they did not observe the Sabbath they did not come to them). ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth, in meaning, is narrated in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: «لا ينبغي لعبد أن يقول: أنا خير من يونس بن متى» (“It is not fitting for a servant to say: I am better than Jonah son of Mattā”); it is conveyed here by meaning as the speaker mentioned it, and its wording is not specified in the transcript. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: al-Baqarah: 253. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: al-Baqarah: 253; the rest of the verse: ﴿وَمِنْهُم مَّن كَفَرَ ۚ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا اقْتَتَلُوا وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يُرِيدُ﴾ (and among them were those who disbelieved. And if Allah had willed, they would not have fought each other, but Allah does what He wills); the speaker cited the last part in the body. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: al-Baqarah: 254. ^[8]: Editor's documentation: al-Tawbah: 111; the speaker did not mention the rest of the verse. ^[9]: Editor's documentation: al-Nisāʾ: 69. ^[10]: Editor's documentation: al-Baqarah: 255; omitted in the transcript between ﴿إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ﴾ and ﴿وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا﴾ is (﴿وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۖ﴾ — His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth), so it was not set down in the body because it does not appear in the transcript.