(Futūḥāt, II, 243-244)
Human walāya (walāyat-i bashariyya, human sainthood) is of two kinds: general walāya (walāyat-i ʿāmma) and particular walāya (walāyat-i khāṣṣa). The first is the mutual friendship and assistance among people, empowered by the recognized benefit (maṣlaḥa) in the cosmos. Sometimes, this manifests as the higher serving the lower, and sometimes the lower serving the higher; thus, they are mutually subjugated (musakhkhar) to one another. No rational person can deny this, for it is the reality. The highest of ranks and stations is that of the king. The king is subjugated to the affairs of the subjects (fulfilling the functions of funds for the subjects' needs), and the subjects are subjugated to the king's command (they submit). The king's subjugation to the subjects is not by their command, but due to necessity (maṣlaḥa). The subjects, as dependents, benefit from this. For the purpose of benefiting from their own subjugation is precisely this. The subjugation of the subjects has two aspects: The first is that they share with the king in the matter of subjugation, for the reason that leads them to subjugation is a common benefit directed toward themselves. The king acts in the same way.
The second aspect of subjugation is that the subjects are not obliged to obey the king in hardship, ease, pleasant or unpleasant matters. Therefore, they differ from the subjugation specific to kings, and they are always abased and distressed. Even though the king needs them, their heads never rise. This is the general aspect of subjugation.
As for the particular aspect of subjugation, it is the walāya that means assistance in accepting the effects of certain divine names through the acts of mujarrad (pure, abstract) others. What manifests in their own worlds is that, since they accept the effects of the names, this walāya settles them in the stations of divine ḥaqīqa (inner realities). The ruling concerning them is, due to their inherent aptitude, like the ruling of the names themselves. This walāya in the people of ḥāl (spiritual state) is more manifest than in those with general walāya. The manifestation of this walāya in those at the station of particularity is even more apparent than its manifestation in the people of ḥāl. (Futūḥāt, II, 246)
Nubuwwa (prophethood) is a divine attribute established by the name al-Samīʿ (the All-Hearing) with Allah the Exalted, and He has established its ruling as the attribute of the state in which He responds to His servants in what is sought from Him. Likewise, nubuwwa is to request from Allah, concerning His servants, with a divine attribute in the form of "Do" or "Do not do." The servants say, "We hear and we obey." Allah, Glorified is He, says, "I have heard and I have responded." The Exalted has said: "When My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation (duʿāʾ) of the supplicant when he calls upon Me" (al-Baqara 2:186). In the servant's duʿāʾ, the imperative form is found in expressions such as "Forgive me," "Have mercy on me," "Pardon me," "Help me," "Grant me hudā (guidance)," "Provide for me," and the like.
In the servant's duʿāʾ, the prohibitive form is found in expressions such as "Do not let our hearts deviate," "Do not make us a trial for the wrongdoing people," "Do not make us grieve on the Day of Resurrection," and the like. (Futūḥāt, II, 249)
Human nubuwwa (nubuwwat-i bashariyya) is of two kinds: The first is the human nubuwwa in which there is no angelic spirit between Allah and His servant. In this nubuwwa, the servant finds within himself divine knowledge coming from the unseen. This is a divine informing concerning matters not related to the declaring of lawful and unlawful, an increase in divine knowledge, and manifestations that come by affirming a valid ruling established by transmission from the Prophet (peace be upon him) and recognized by outward scholars. The one who possesses this station knows, as a result, the truth of what is sound and the unsoundness of what is unsound; or, if there is a weak transmission, he knows what is correct and what is incorrect according to the transmitters. He also informs about the outcomes of actions, the paths of happiness, the rulings of outward and inward obligations, and the limits of these obligations.
All of this is a clear proof from Allah and a witness to the divine justice within him. However, it is impossible for him to be upon a sharia (sacred law) contrary to what has been brought by the Messenger and Prophet whom we have been commanded to follow. The one who possesses this station follows it upon sound knowledge and a firm, established proof from Allah. Then, when he lacks knowledge, he becomes aware of the unseen. But the condition for this is to know the states of causes in the world.
The one who is aware of causes, out of proper etiquette, does not precede them; when with the causes, he relies upon them. All of this is known by the one who possesses this station. He has degrees of following (ittibāʿ). He is a follower (tābiʿ), not one to be followed (matbūʿ); he is ruled, not a ruler. As he proceeds on his path, he must observe the footprints of his Messenger and Imam so clearly that even if they were lost in a sand dune, it would not be possible for him to miss them.
All of this existed in previous communities. However, the ruling of this umma of Muhammad is as we have described, and even more. That is, they do not declare lawful or unlawful by the ruling of the sharia of Muhammad (peace be upon him), but they follow the sound path established by the sharia and the sunnah (prophetic practice) that grants it legitimacy.
The second kind is those who are like students before the King. The Trustworthy Spirit (Rūḥ al-Amīn) descends to them with a sharia brought from Allah concerning them. They worship with it. He makes lawful for them what He wills and makes unlawful what He wills. They are not required to follow the prophets. All of this was before the coming of Muhammad (peace be upon him). Today, none of this remains. However, among the scholars, the mujtahids have ruled for them by affirming this sharia. Even if another mujtahid considers something unlawful, they have accepted it as lawful by a proof indicating its lawfulness. But this is not by divine revelation or unveiling (kashf).
One who possesses kashf (unveiling) that confirms something requiring the ruling of ittihād (union) in the sharia of Muhammad (peace be upon him) cannot today attain the reward and rank of the mujtahid who possesses this station. The knowledge upon which the command in the sharia is based prevents them from this. Even if what is established for the one possessing kashf is realized in the mujtahid, this ruling is bāṭil (invalid) and forbidden to him. Therefore, the mujtahid only gives fatwā (legal opinion) regarding events that occur, not regarding the determination of events. This is only...