Unknown. To know them depends solely on divine assistance. This is the stance of nubuwwa (prophethood) and walāya (sainthood). It is clear that these two are distinct from one another. For the nabī (prophet) is followed (metbūʿ), while the walī (friend of God) follows him and derives illumination from his lamp. (Tadbīrāt, 208)
In nubuwwa (prophethood), it is necessary for the knowledge of taklīf (divine obligation) to be present in an absolute sense. In the utterances of the muḥaddathūn (those who receive divine inspiration), there is no comprehensive and initial taklīf. This is the case if a prophet representing a sharia (the sacred law) is intended. However, if prophets who have attained absolute prophethood are meant, then the muḥaddathūn are a part of absolute prophethood. Among the matters revealed through them, a prophet who is not a ṣāḥib al-sharīʿa (bearer of a sharia) is the head of the awliyāʾ (friends of God) and is the one who, unlike prophets who receive their sharia through the mediation of the Rūḥ al-Amīn (Gabriel), encompasses within himself the stations required by the divine names that are not present in the sharia of those prophets. The muḥaddath has nothing beyond ḥādith (inspiration) and, as a result, only possesses spiritual states (aḥwāl), actions, and stations (maqāmāt). Thus, every prophet is a muḥaddath, but not every muḥaddath is a prophet. (Futūḥāt, II, 78)
What is nubuwwa (prophethood)? (It is this:) The high degrees of the one who is ṣāḥib (possessor) of the Throne — al-Muʾmin, walāya-nubuwwa-risāla (sainthood-prophethood-messengership) (al-Muʾmin 40:15) — is a rank that He supports. The servant attains that rank through righteous akhlāq (character), through actions that are deemed good and praiseworthy by people. These actions are recognized by the qalb (the heart), not rejected by the nafs (the lower self), indicated by the intellect, are suitable for the intended aims, and remove maladies. If the servants reach this rank, then this rank, composed of the high degrees of the possessor of the Throne, is the rank of divine and absolute communication for everyone who attains it. If the Truth (God) regards the one who has reached this rank with the gaze of khilāfa (vicegerency) and niyāba (deputyship), and sees him as khalīfa (vicegerent) and nāʾib (deputy), then the Rūḥ al-Amīn (Gabriel), by God's command, casts messages into the heart of the chosen khalīfa.