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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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The mention of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in the verse of al-Shura regarding the three levels of revelation

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : I told you that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) mentioned at the end of Surat al-Shura that the levels of revelation are three levels:
And it is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a partition or that He sends a messenger to reveal, by His permission, what He wills وَمَا كَانَ لِبَشَرٍ أَنْ يُكَلِّمَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَّا وَحْيًا أَوْ مِنْ وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ أَوْ يُرْسِلَ رَسُولًا فَيُوحِيَ بِإِذْنِهِ مَا يَشَاءُ
[Ash-Shuraa 42:51]
, and He said in the verse of the stories:
And We inspired to the mother of Moses, "Suckle him; but when you fear for him, cast him into the river and do not fear and do not grieve. Indeed, We will return him to you and will make him [one] of the messengers." وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى أُمِّ مُوسَى أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ وَلَا تَخَافِي وَلَا تَحْزَنِي إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ
[Al-Qasas 28:7]
. We referred to the tafsirs and found that this inspiration is divine inspiration. So, Shaykh, since Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) said:
Indeed, We will return him to you and will make him [one] of the messengers." إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ
[Al-Qasas 28:7]
, how can this promise come through inspiration? We asked you to explain this to us.

The Shaykh : The answer to this question is from two angles:
The first is to say that this verse itself is evidence that the mother of Moses was a prophetess. The first angle is to say that this verse indicates that the mother of Moses was a prophetess; by the proof that Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) revealed to her this explicit revelation informing that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) would make this infant boy, in the future, a prophet and a messenger.
The second opinion is based on the fact that it is not established in the Shari'ah that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent a prophetess before; so it is said at that time that this is inspiration and not revelation. And this is the opinion we lean toward; because there is a verse in the Qur'an that is explicit, or actually explicit, that no person from among the women was sent as a prophet before. He said (the Exalted):
And We sent not before you [as messengers] except men to whom We revealed from among the people of cities وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْقُرَى
[Yusuf 12:109]
; so this is a restriction after a negation, which implies what? The restriction and the non-sending of a prophetess, but rather a male prophet.
In this verse, and due to the absence of any report in the Qur'an or in the Sunnah that speaks about a prophetess at all, there is no such thing; so we leaned toward denying that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent a prophetess before. Accordingly, an interpretation is necessary, and accordingly, the previous verse must be interpreted as revelation in the sense of inspiration. This is supported by the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
There had been among the people before you inspired persons and if there were any such among my Umma Umar لقد كان فيمَن قبلَكم محدَّثون ؛ فإن يكُنْ في أمَّتي فعمر
Sahih Muslim 2398a
. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) explicitly states in this hadith that there were, before the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), people who were inspired (muhaddathun), meaning inspired, and not prophets; by the proof that he said (peace and blessings be upon him) to 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) when he left him behind in charge of his family and the people of Madinah when he went to Tabuk, so 'Ali wept and said: “Are you leaving me with the children and the women?” So he said to him (peace and blessings be upon him) ...

Another questioner :
You are to me in the position that Harun أنت منِّي بمنزلة هارون
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3730Sahih (Darussalam)
.

The Shaykh
being unto me what Aaron was unto Moses but with this exception that there would be no prophet after me أنت منِّي بمنزلة هارون من موسى ؛ غيرَ أنه لا نبيَّ بعدي
Sahih Muslim 2404b
; therefore, when he said:
There had been among the people before you inspired persons and if there were any such among my Umma Umar لقد كان فيمَن قبلكم محدَّثون ؛ فإن يكن في أمَّتي فعمر
Sahih Muslim 2398a
, it does not mean here that they were inspired (muhaddathun) in the sense of being informed of prophecy; no; because there is no prophet after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) by the text of that hadith and others of its meaning. So we were compelled to interpret
Inspired ones محدَّثون
as meaning not informed of prophecy, but rather inspired. And this is how the scholars all interpreted it, saying: the meaning of the hadith is: there were, among the nations before you, inspired people. If there are inspired people in this Ummah, then it is 'Umar. And in reality, everyone knows that there are many incidents in which 'Umar ibn al-Khattab was inspired, and he hit the core of the truth by his inspiration. If this is established by the indication of this hadith; then likewise we say: the mother of Moses was revealed to her that text which you recited earlier, in the sense of inspiration, not in the sense of revelation which is specific to the noble prophets and messengers.
Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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