The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship
Online Library
If Muhammad (Sal.) is the last prophet, are we to expect no more?
A short talk given by M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen from Questions of Life, Answers of Wisdom Volume 1 .
Questioner:
If Muhammad (Sal.) is the last prophet, are we to expect no more?
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen: No more. There will be no other prophet after Muhammad (Sal.). So if another prophet comes, it will have to be a prophet that has already been here. They say that a prophet who left this world will come back again, and the world accepts that. All four religions say that, but only when we believe in God will any prophets come to us. We have sent God away, we have asked Him to go away. Why should prophets come to a place where God will not come? We do not have the qualities or actions of God. We do not have trust or faith in God. We do not have the compassion of God. We do not have the fervor of firm determination and certitude in God.
Such a state does not exist in this kingdom of animals, this kingdom where one life kills another life. Here we find only arrogance. Here we find the religions of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam (Zabur, Jabrat, Injıl, and Furqan). We travel from the north, south, east, and west along these four main roads or their many offshoots, saying: I am Catholic. I am Protestant. I am a Muslim. I am a Jehovah’s witness. I am Shiite. I am a Sufi. I am Hanifi. I am Hanbali. I am Maliki.
Now, in every city there are the main roads that lead to the city hall, and there are also many side roads leading to the supermarket. But there is no use in fighting over which one to take, because whether we go straight down the main roads, or go in circles on the winding side roads they all will eventually end up either at the supermarket or at the city hall. City hall is the world. Here you celebrate birthdays and build memorials for death days. You get your birth and death certificates and then go back home, but after that you have to return to the world again. Finally you end up in the kingdom of hell. All you have done is to travel from the kingdom of animals to the kingdom of hell.
The four main roads will take you to the city hall, and the side roads will take you to the supermarket, but there is no road that will take you from the city hall or supermarket to the kingdom of God. If you want to go to God, you have to open your own road. All other roads must be left behind; they will only take you as far as the city hall. There are no roads beyond that and no people beyond that. Nothing at all exists beyond that. So, if you want to go beyond, if you want to reach God, you have to forge your own way and travel alone along that very tiny, pointed path. You have to cast off everything and travel free. You must cut a path with the knife of wisdom and walk with the legs of perfect faith, using the staff of determination and always remembering the four states of surrender, concentration, balance, and gnanam. The path is very, very slippery, and each time you climb up one step, you may slip back down four steps. So you must walk with the light of gnanam and hold fast to the staff of faith and certitude, bearing the sword and axe of ıman. With that help, you can travel beyond the city hall.
To go beyond is difficult. No race or religion, no arrogance, no karma or maya exist there. There, only God meets God. This is a faultless path that gives you absolute freedom, but to travel it, you have to leave everything behind and say, “Give it all to somebody else. I am going. I don’t want any of these things.” And then you can go. While you are still traveling along the main roads, you can call upon your wife, your relatives, your wealth, your religion, or your race to help you, but if you want to go on to God, you have to leave behind all of these things. Only if you travel free and unburdened can you escape. It is very rare to find even one in ten million following that true path. It is even rarer to find one in a hundred thousand, and almost impossible to find one in a thousand. That is why the prophets, the angels, the pure ones, the lights and saints and qutbs had to come—to try to show mankind this path. They did not come to this world to do business. Try to understand that.
Let whoever has that knowledge escape and go along this path which points to God alone. Let the ones who want to fight keep on fighting. Let the man who wants to eat the other man keep on eating. If animals want to devour other animals, let them. Let the monkeys that want to smile at other monkeys keep on smiling. If a snake wants to swallow another snake, let it. If a fish wants to devour another fish, let it. If the earth wants to eat earth, let it eat earth. What can you do about that? You should simply say, “O my teacher, it all happened just as you predicted.” Or, “O my God, what You said is true. Everything You said is true. Now I realize that animals eat animals in this animal kingdom. Earth devours earth.” And then say goodbye and go off along your path. You can also say “O God, I have no more problems. I have finished my journey here, and I am coming back to You.” Then go along with God. Say goodbye to the earth with a “Thank you,” and go your way.