Imam Muhammad b.

Ja’far al-Kattani on the

Superlative Knowledge of the Prophet Muhammad
(Extracts from Jala’ al-Qulub min al-Asda’ al-Ghayniyya fi Bayan
Ihatati bi al-‘Ulum al-Kawniyya, or: Polishing Hearts from the Rust of
Alterities through Expounding on the Prophet’s Encompassing
Knowledge of Cosmic Realities)

The Prophet Was Given Knowledge of the Soul and the Five
Before Leaving This World
[Imam] al-Bajuri said in the commentary upon Jawharat al-Tawhid: “The Prophet did not
leave the lower physical world until Allah taught him all of what was previously undisclosed
to him, such as the soul and other matters regarding which it is possible for a human to
know—so it is not everything of Allah’s knowledge, for that would imply equality between
the contingent and the Pre-eternal. As for the statements [of the Prophet ] that seemingly
contradict this position, such as his statement ‘I do not know the unseen,’ they are
interpreted as having been said by him before these matters were disclosed to him.”

The erudite Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Sawi al-Khalwati al-Maliki said in his comments
upon the Jawhara: “Know that there is disagreement regarding the soul: some say that it is
one of Allah’s mysteries that He has disclosed to none, as Allah said: ‘They ask you concerning
the soul. Say: “It is from the affair of my Lord.”’ (Quran 17:85) That said, the Prophet did not
leave the lower physical world until Allah taught him this and other matters of the unseen,
the knowledge of which is fitting for contingent beings. Allah commanded him to teach
some of these things and to conceal others, and in some of them he was granted the choice
of whether to conceal them or teach them.”

Shaykh Ibrahim b. Mar’i al-Shabarkhiti al-Maliki said in his commentary upon the Forty
Hadith collection of Imam al-Nawawi: “The truth of this matter, as a large group of scholars
has stated, is that Allah Most High and Exalted did not take our Prophet’s soul until He
disclosed to him everything that was previously unclear while commanding him to conceal
some of it and reveal some of it.” The same has been mentioned verbatim by Shaykh Husayn
b. ‘Ali al-Mudabighi in his gloss upon the commentary of the Forty Hadith collection by Ibn
Hajar al-Haytami.

Knowledge of What is in the Wombs and Knowledge of Souls During the

Covenant
My master ‘Abd al-Salam [al-Laqqani] said, “If Allah informs [the saint] about the gender of
a child in a mother’s womb, telling him that it is a boy or a girl, such a thing only occurs
after the formation of the fetus, not before it. As for when the sperm and egg meet and the
child is formed in the womb, no one among creation know what is to come of it at that time.”
This should be juxtaposed with what many of the saints have said regarding their knowledge
of their students in the spiritual world, in the Day of Decrees known as the day of “Am I not
your Lord? They replied, ‘Of course.’” (Quran 7:172) This should also be juxtaposed with their
comments about how they took notice of their students while the students were in the loins
of their fathers and the wombs of their mothers, and how they knew which of them would
come eagerly to them and which of them would turn away.

Sahl b. ‘Abdillah al-Tustari, one of the Solitaries [Afrad] and devotees of this Umma, would
say: “I witnessed the Presence of Firstness [al-Hadra al-Awwaliya] when the covenant was
taken, and I heard the words of Allah Most High ‘Am I not your Lord?’ and the respondents
who said ‘Of course,’ and I recognized those there who were to my right and to my left, and
I recognized my students since that day and saw them in Adam’s loins when they were
returned to him after the taking of the covenant, and I saw them in the loins of their fathers
until they reached this time.” This was quoted in full by Sayyidi ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha’rani
in al-Jawahir wa al-Durar.

Other Narrations Detailing the Prophet’s Knowledge of Peoples’ Deaths

And in the raised (marfu’) hadith recorded by Abu Nu’aym in Dala’il [al-Nubuwwa], and
recorded by others, from Ma’qal b. Yasar it reads, “Medina is my place of migration and
where I shall be buried.” Al-Zubayr b. Bakkar recorded in Akhbar al-Madina from al-Hasan
in a raised report, “Medina is my place of migration, my place of passing, and my place of
quickening.” A similar narration was reported from ‘Ata’ b. Yassar in mursal form.

In the Shifa of Qadi ‘Iyad it states: “Of the things that the Prophet related was his passing
and the approach of his final days, and that his grave will be in Medina inside of his home.”
Muslim, Abu Dawud, and al-Bayhaqi recorded that Anas b. Malik g said: “The Messenger of
Allah s called upon the people [to prepare for the battle], so they set out until they reached
Badr. Upon arriving, the Messenger of Allah said, placing his hand on the earth here and
there, ‘This is the place where so-and-so will be slain, and this is place where so-and-so will
be slain.’ And none of them fell away from the place which the Messenger of Allah had
indicated by placing his hand on the earth.”. . . Abu Nu’aym recorded in his Dala’il al-
Nubuwwa a marfu’ reported from Anas b. al-Harith: “This son of mine [i.e., Husayn] shall
be slain in Iraq, so whoever among you encounters him must offer him aid.”

Can the Angels be More Knowledgeable than the Prophet ?

How can Jibril or other angels brought nigh be more knowledgeable [than the Prophet ]
when all of their knowledge, nay the knowledge of the first and the last, is but drawn from
the Prophet’s status ? Moreover, how can that be when at every moment—from the
beginning of the existence of his Muhammadan light before the creation Jibril and others of
creation until evermore without end—he receives from his Lord such sciences and secrets
that are unknown to any, whether Jibril or others, or prophets sent, or an angel brought nigh.
. . ? Abu Yazid al-Bistami once said in a debate he had with some scholars of the law: “The
Prophet learned such things from Allah that He did not disclose to Jibril or Mika’il, and
how could it be otherwise when it is authentically reported that he was taught the knowledge
of the first and the last, and among the first are the angels brought nigh?”