Infinite thanks be to Allahu ta'ala, who has sent Prophets to guide people to the way of salvation and who has revealed four of His major Books to them; these Books contain no aberration or abnormality. The Book He has revealed to His Last Prophet, Muhammad ('alaihi 's- salam), is Qur'an al-karim; in which everything necessary for His human servants has been revealed, unbelievers have been warned of Hell's torment while believers who carry out the requirements of Islam have been given the good news of Paradise. By sending Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam), Allahu ta'ala has completed the faith (din) of His human servants. He has declared that He will be pleased with those who are in the Islamic religion (ad-Din). For His servants of earlier times, too, He sent prophets with clear revelations and great miracles. He has declared in the Qur'an al-karim that no Prophet will succeed Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam). He has decreed that, as a blind person entrusts himself to those who will lead him or as a helplessly ill person commits himself to the care of compassionate doctors, people must submit themselves to Prophets He has sent so that they will attain benefits beyond the mind's grasp and escape calamities. He has made Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam) the highest, the most merciful of Prophets, and his Umma the most equitable people. He has made his Umma the most perfect of all. He has announced through ayats in His Book that his conduct has no excess or defect, that his grade is very high and that he is the Prophet for all creatures. For His servants, He has sent him as the Last Prophet to communicate the fact that Allahu ta'ala is One to His servants, and to treat their sick hearts. May abundant prayers and good wishes, from us, be upon him, his household ('Al), and companions (as-Sahaba) day and night! They are the stars guiding to the right way and the sources of light illuminating darkness.

Let it be known that this servant, that is, [al-Imam ar-Rabbani Mujaddid al-Alf ath-Thani] Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Ahad, who is greatly in need of Allahu ta'ala's compassion and the first of them to invoke Him to protect him, his ancestry, masters and disciples against the troubles of the Rising Day, has seen with regret that the people of our time have become increasingly slack in believing in the necessity of Prophets' coming, in the twenty-five Prophets whose names are given in the Qur'an al-karim, and in obeying the religion brought by the Last Prophet. Moreover, some powerful people with authoritative positions in India have been torturing pious Muslims who diligently follow Islam. There have appeared people who mock the blessed name of the Last Prophet and substitute the blessed names given to them by their parents with absurd names. Sacrificing a cow, which is wajib for a Muslim to butcher during 'Iyd al-Adha, has been prohibited in India. Mosques are either being demolished or turned into museums or stores. Islamic cemeteries are being made into playgrounds or places for rubbish. Disbelievers' churches are being restored in the name of monuments. Their rituals and festivals are being celebrated by Muslims, too. In short, Islam's requirements and Islamic customs are being abhorred or totally abandoned. They are being called "retrogressive." Disbelievers' and atheists' customs, false religions, immoral and shameless acts are being praised. Efforts are being made to spread them. Depraved and squalid books, novels and songs of the Indian disbelievers are being translated into the languages of Muslims and sold. In this way efforts to annihilate Islam and Islam's beautiful ethics, which result in Muslims' iman weakening, are being carried on while unbelievers and rejecters are increasing. Moreover, even men of religion, who must be healers for the disease of disbelief, are falling for this disaster and drifting into calamity.

I have studied the causes for this corruption in Muslim children's belief and have scrutinized the origin of their doubts. I have come to the conclusion that there is only one reason for the slackness in their iman. And the reason is that much time has elapsed since Rasulullah ('alaihi 's- salam), while at the same time some fanatical, short-sighted, religiously nescient politicians and some ignoramuses, who pass themselves off as scientists, talk on religious matters and have their words accepted as true. I have spoken with people who read and believe the articles of such fanatics of science and who therefore describe themselves as enlightened, modern people. I have seen that they err mostly in comprehending the rank of prophethood (nubuwwa). I have had many of them say, "Prophets endeavored so that people should get along well with one another and form beautiful habits. This has nothing to do with life in the next world. Books of philosophy, too, provide ways of getting along well and forming good habits. Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali divides his book Ihya Ulum ad-din into four sections. In the first section he explains beautiful habits, which he terms Munjiyyat (things that save). In the other three sections, he writes about salat, fasting and other 'ibadat. This book of his resembles books of philosophy. And this shows that 'ibadat are not Munji (able to save) and that salvation depends upon beautiful habits. Others say, "One who has heard of the Prophet, is ayats and miracles but who disbelieves this information because centuries have passed ever since, is like a person who lives in the mountains or in a desert and has not heard about the Prophet at all. Like the latter, the former may not have iman, either."

In response to them, we say that to perfect people and to cure the diseases in their hearts, Allahu ta'ala pitied them in the eternal past and willed to send Prophets. In order to fulfill these duties of theirs, Prophets must threaten the disobedient and give good news to the obedient. They must inform the former of the torment and the latter of the rewards in the Hereafter. Man desires to attain things that come sweet to him. In order to attain them, he goes astray, sins and harms others. The sending of Prophets was necessary for protecting men from doing evil and for providing them with a peaceful and comfortable life in this and the next worlds. Life in this world is short. Life in the next world is endless. For this reason, attaining happiness in the next world takes precedence. Some ancient philosophers, in order to sell more of the books they had prepared with their own views and imagination, embellished them with ways of beautifying one's morals and doing useful acts, which they had read in heavenly books or heard from those who believed in these books. Concerning Hujjat al-Islam Imam Muhammad Ghazali's (rahmat- Allahi 'alaih) explaining 'ibadat in his books, scholars of fiqh explained how to carry out 'ibadat, but they did not describe their subtle particulars because their purpose was to state the conditions for and manners of performing 'ibadat properly. They did not look to men's souls and hearts. The task of describing them belonged to scholars of tasawwuf. Al-Imam al-Ghazali combined the knowledge of religion that provided for the betterment of bodies and outward deeds with the knowledge of tasawwuf, which enables one to attain inner cleanliness. He explained both of them in his book. He named the latter Munjiyyat, that is, teachings that prevent calamity, yet he said that 'ibadat, too, were Munji. The way of making 'ibadat a means of salvation can be learned from books of fiqh. Those teachings of salvation which pertain to the heart cannot be learned from books of fiqh. They can be understood better by reading the explanations from that exalted imam.

We have not seen the medical scientist Calinos or the grammarian 'Amr Sibawaih. How do we know that they were experts in those branches of knowledge? We know what the science of medicine means. We read Calinos's books and hear some of his statements. We learn that he gave medicine to the ill and cured them. Hence we believe that he was a doctor. Likewise, when a person who knows the science of grammar reads Sibawaih's books or hears some words of his, he knows and believes that he was a grammarian. By the same token, if a person knows well what prophethood is and studies Qur'an al-karim and the Hadith ash-Sharif, he will understand thoroughly that Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam) was in the highest grade of prophethood. As one's belief in the above-mentioned scholars would never be upset, so the slanders and vilifications of the ignorant and deviated will never undermine one's iman in Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam), since all the sayings and actions of Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam) guide people to perfection, make their beliefs and actions correct and useful, and illuminate their hearts so as to cure them of diseases and disencumber them of bad habits. And this is what prophethood (nubuwwa) means.

One who lives in mountains or in a desert [or a communist country] and has not heard of Prophets is called shahiq al-jabal. It is impossible for such people to believe in prophethood or that Prophets were sent. It is as if no Prophet has come for them. They are excusable. [After their accounts are settled following death, they, like animals, will be eternally annihilated without entering Paradise or Hell. The same is the case for disbelievers' non-adolescent children.] They are not commanded to believe in Prophets. Concerning them, Surat al-Isra declares: "We do not torment unless We send a Prophet before!"

With the intention of removing the doubts and suspicions of those who acquired their religious knowledge from the books of religiously ignorant people and from the venomous pens of the enemies of the religion, I have thought of writing what I know. In fact, I have deemed this a task, a debt which I owe to humanity. By writing this book, I have tried to explain what prophethood means, to verify that Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam) was in full possession of prophethood, to eliminate the doubts of the unbelievers concerning this fact, and to display the wickedness and harms of a few fanatics of science who attempt to suppress this fact with their own thoughts and opinions. Citing documents from the books of Islamic scholars and adding my humble thoughts, I have tried to rebut their thoughts. The book consists of an introduction and two articles. And the introduction is divided into two topics. Trusting myself to Allahu ta'ala, I begin writing.

Hijri Kamari (990)
Miladi (1582)

AHMAD IBN 'ABD AL-AHAD AS-SIRHINDI