Advice for the Muslim

his wife by tayy al-makân. It is possible (jâ’iz) that such a man
might be a man of karâma. This has been unanimously declared
by the ’ulamâ’ of fiqh and noted in books of ’aqâ’id, too. The book
Wahhâbiyya writes: “Tayy al-masâfa, that is, traversing long
distances in a moment, is a karâma bestowed upon awliyâ’. It is
wâjib to believe in this.” This fact is also written in An-Nasafî, Alfiqh
al-akbar, As-siwâd al-a’zam, Wasiyyatu Abî Yûsuf, Mawâqif
and Maqâsid and commentaries on them [and in Radd al-muhtâr].
Why should it not be believed while it is stated openly in the âyat
al-karîma? The ’ulamâ’ of Ahl as-Sunna based this contention on
an âyat karîma. The event, as reported in the âyat, that the throne
of Bilqîs was brought do Damascus in a moment verifies that tayy
al-masâfa is a karâma.
The karâmât of awliyâ’ are finely explained in the 32nd article
of the book As-siwâd al-a’zam by Hakîm as-Samarqandî Is’haq
ibn Muhammad (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), whom we thought it
proper to quote: “It is necessary to believe in the karâmât of
awliyâ’. Anyone who does not believe in their karâmât becomes
a man of bid’a, a heretic. There are two kinds of disbelieving in
their karâmât: one becomes a kâfir if he disbelieves the âyats
which narrate karâmât; if he believes in the âyats but says, ‘They
were prophets,’ again he becomes a kâfir. If one believes in the
âyats and does not say that they were prophets, it is permissible
for him to say, ‘The âyats narrate the karâmât of awliyâ’.’ For this
reason, Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the [above-mentioned] âyat that
the one who brought the throne of Bilqîs in a moment was a
learned man. That learned man was Âsaf ibn Barhiyâ. He was a
walî. He was not a prophet. He belonged to the umma of
Sulaimân (’alaihi ’s-salâm). While a karâma of one among the
umma of Sulaimân (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is narrated in the Qur’ân alkarîm,
why should it not be believed that the umma of
Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) have karâmât? Certainly
Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is superior to Sulaimân (’alaihi ’ssalâm)
and the former’s umma is superior to that of the latter. If
the lâ-madhhabî say, ‘This karâma belonged to Sulaimân (’alaihi
’s-salâm),’ we say, ‘The karâmât of this umma are of Muhammad
(alaihi ’s-salâm) as an answer. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares: ‘Pull the
date-wood to yourself! Therefrom fresh dates will fall for you,’ in
the 24th âyat al-karîma of Sûrat al-Mariam. Allâhu ta’âlâ reveals
that He grew fruit from the dry date-Wood for Hadrat Mariam.
who was not a prophet. The fruits which Zakariyyâ (’alaihi ’ssalâm)
saw beside Hadrat Mariam and the event of As’hâb al-kahf
– 177 –