“I will in such a manner make myself one with thee, that if one day
Thou seekest thyself, thou mayest find me within thy tunic.”
As to the interpretation of what they say, that the prophet had no shade—this refers to an able son: as after Muhammed (the peace of the Highest be upon him!) the prophetic mission did not devolve upon a son of his: hence the saying that he had no shade. It is also said, that never a fly sat upon the body of the prophet; which means that he never was tainted by avarice.
[126] معجزة, mâjezet, is an extraordinary thing, operated by prophets for the confirmation of their prophecy.
[127] كرامة, kerámet, signifies a prodigy, or sign, manifested by any pious person without his claiming prophetic dignity.—(See Pococke. Specim. Hist. Arab., p. 186. 1st edit.)
The Asiatic Doctors admit that extraordinary things may be operated by men who pretend to be deities, prophets, Valis (Saints, of whom more hereafter), and magicians, who are supposed to command demons. Thus they quote Pharaoh, who arrogated divinity to himself, and performed miracles, and thus it shall be with the Antichrist. Celestial favors granted to Valis are believed by the orthodox Muhammedans, upon the strength of the Koran and authentic traditions. To these are added innumerable tales accredited among the superstitious, some of which are ingeniously combined with a moral lesson. Jâmi, in his Lives of Sufis, quotes the following words of another illustrious personage, whom he does not name: “The principle on which all is comprised is, that, when a man performs an extraordinary action, renouncing something which other men are wont to do, or which he himself was wont to do, God also, on his part, by a sort of compensation, changes, in that man’s favor, something in the ordinary course of nature. It is that which the vulgar call Kerámet. But distinguished men understand by this word the divine favor which gave a man aid and force to renounce the things to which he was accustomed. This is what we understand by Keramet.” This explanation differs from that given above. The whole doctrine relative to this subject is united with that of Sufism, which is hereafter to be developed.—(See Notices et Extraits des MSS., vol. XII. pp. 357-369.)
[128] الهام, ilhám, means what is thrown in a man’s mind by way of emanation, or with the exclusion of diabolical suggestions; that is, not by way of thought and reflection. It is also explained, a knowledge which rises in a man’s heart and excites him to action without his demanding a prodigy, or the investigation of a proof for believing the truth of what is so revealed to him.—(See Definitions of Jorjáni, Ext. et Not. des MSS., vol. X. pp. 76-77.)
[129] Avisenna. (See, upon this celebrated personage, vol. II. pp. 168-175.) He and Al Fárábi, before-mentioned (p. 170, [note 1]) are, according to the concurring opinions of the Arabs, the most distinguished chiefs of the Arabian philosophers, properly so called. The logic of Avisenna has been translated by Vattier, 1658.
[130] The ascent of Muhammed to Heaven has been mentioned (vol. II. p. 339). The prophet gave no explicit account of it in the Koran, yet traditions of what he himself had related of it, although not without various versions, are preserved, and believed with equal faith as the verses of the sacred book themselves, in which frequent allusions occur to the circumstances and events of which Muhammed’s voyage to Heaven is composed. These, indeed, however absurd they may appear to unbelievers, contain the fundamentals of the Muhammedan mysticism. On account of this importance, I shall add to the notice given above, by Avisenna, some particulars contained in the narration published from original sources by the Baron of Hammer Purgstal Gemäldesaal moslimischer Heersher. IIIter Band. 1837, Seite 81, etc.)
[131] Muhammed was sleeping in the house of Omm Hani, the daughter of Abu Thaleb, in the sanctuary of the Kâba, when Jabríl awakened him; the angel called Mikail to bring him a cup full of water from the sacred well Zemzem (see vol. III. pp. 14-15. [note 1]). Jabríl cleft Muhammed’s breast, drew his heart out, washed it, and, with three cups from the sacred fountain, infused into him faith, knowledge, and wisdom. He then conducted him out of the sanctuary to a place between Safa and Merva, where he made the prophet bestride Borak (see vol. II. p. 339), which, as the Angel said, was mounted by Abraham.