Documents of the Right Word

hear about them. He will not believe in their existence. To reveal
to His slaves that the power of nubuwwa also exists, Allâhu ta’âlâ
created dreams in men similar to this power. In dreams, man might
see what will happen in future clearly or in its vision in the âlam-i
mithâl. If a person who does not know what dreams are is told,
“When man’s consciousness is suspended and thoughts and senses
are gone like that of a dead person, he sees unknown things that
are beyond mind’s grasp,” he will deny it. He will even attempt to
prove that such a thing is impossible, saying, “Man perceives his
surroundings with his sense organs. With these organs suspended,
especially when they do not function at all, he will perceive
nothing.” He will reason rather coarsely. As sense organs cannot
comprehend things that are known by wisdom, likewise, wisdom
cannot perceive things that are known with the power of
prophethood.
Those who doubt the existence of the power of prophethood
doubt its possibility or, if its possibility is accepted, its occurrence.
Its existence or occurrence shows that it is possible. And its
existence is demonstrated by Prophets’ giving information beyond
the intellect’s ability. This information, which cannot be acquired
through the intellect, calculation or experimentation, was acquired
only from Allâhu ta’âlâ’s ilhâm (inspiration placed upon the heart
by Allâhu ta’âlâ or His angels, that is, through the power of
prophethood). The power of prophethood has also other
peculiarities. Since dreams, which resemble one of its peculiarities,
exist in men, we have given it as an example. Its other peculiarities
are revealed through dhawq (tasting, sensitivity) to those who
strive in a path of Tasawwuf. The peculiarity we have given must
suffice as a proof to make one believe in prophethood. Imâm
Muhammad al-Ghazâlî, too, wrote this peculiarity as a proof for
believing in prophethood in his book Al-munqidh min ad-dalâl.
According to ancient Greek philosophers, it is useful to believe
in prophethood. They said, “To believe in prophethood helps
wisdom. Meditating over the existence, power and knowledge of
Allah is similar to this. Also, many useful things beyond the
intellect’s ability are learned from Prophets. Examples of this are
the Rising Day, teachings pertaining to the next world, revelation
of what things are good and what others are bad, and knowing
whether some foods and medicines are harmful or not.”
Those who do not believe in prophethood say:
1- “A person sent as a Prophet should have known that the one
who said, ‘I have sent thee as a Prophet. Communicate my
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