Advice for the Muslim

whenever he visited her. She would say that they had come from
Allâhu ta’âlâ. The ’ulamâ’ of Ahl as-Sunna have unanimously
declared that awliyâ’ have karâmât like prophets have mu’jizât,
since Allâhu ta’âlâ loves very much those who obey and follow
prophets. He grants them karâmât, in life as well as after death.
That prophets and awliyâ’ have mu’jizât and karâmât [respectively]
even after they die confirms that they were truthful, because the
disbelieving enemies who saw their mu’jizât and karâmât when
they were alive thought that they worked them after learning from
others, and it is impossible to think and say so about the mu’jizât
and karâmât which occur after they passed away. Allâhu ta’âlâ
Himself creates the mu’jizât and karâmât. They occur solely by His
Power. He creates them as a benevolence and favour to His
prophets and awliyâ’, through them and through their intercession.
Mu’jiza is [a miracle] witnessed of a prophet, and karâma is that
witnessed of a pious believer who is known as a follower of a
prophet. Prophets are ma’sûm, that is, they never commit any sins.
The devil cannot appear in the shape or body of a prophet. Awliyâ’
are the inheritors of prophets, and the devil cannot approach them.
It was recorded in many books that the devil fled from ’Umar,
’Abdullâh ibn Mas’ûd and many other Sahâbîs (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anhum). ’Alî ’Ushî al-Farghânawî (rahmat-Allâhi ’alaih), in his
qasîda entitled Bad’ al-Amâlî, says,
“Walî has karâma in the world;
They are the men of benevolence.”
There is nothing to be confused about in this couplet for
sensible, wise people. It stresses that the karâmât of awliyâ’ occur
in this world, because there was disagreement between Ahl as-
Sunna and the Mu’tazila about the karâmât in this world. The
Mu’tazila said that there was no karâma in this world. They
thought that karâma would be confused with mu’jiza, and a
prophet could not be distinguished from a walî. According to Ahl
as Sunna, the possessor of mu’jiza had to announce that he was a
prophet while it is forbidden for the possessor of karâma to say
that he is a walî. It should be concluded that he is not a walî if he
says so. If the lâ-madhhabî understood this fact, they would not
dare to slander awliyâ’ by using the ugly words of zindîqs and liars
as pretexts. The above couplet means, “The karâmât of a walî
occur in this world, too. Allâhu ta’âlâ grants the wishes of those
who ask a walî for something or for intercession.” Those with a
short comprehension take this couplet as meaning that a walî has
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