Pearl of Wisdom
when he saw a male sparrow saying to a female sparrow, 'Why do you deprive me of yourself, for if I wanted I could take Solomon's crown with my beak and throw it in the seal' Solomon said to him, smiling, 'Are you really able to do so?' The bird said, 'No, O Messenger of Allah, but a man may embellish himself and greaten himself in front of his wife, and a lover cannot be rebuked for what he says.' Solomon then asked the female sparrow, 'Why do you deprive him of yourself when he loves you?' She said, ?O Prophet of Allah, he is not a lover, but a claimant [of love], for he loves someone else besides me!' The words of this sparrow affected Solomon's heart and he cried very much, and secluded himself from people for forty days praying to Allah to empty his heart for his love for Him, and to not mix it with love for anything other than Him.'
Prophet Solomon [as] Bihar al-Anwar, v. 14, p. 95, no. 3
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The Gnosis of the Prophets |
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Allah has provided His Prophets from the treasures of His subtlety, generosity, and mercy. He has taught them from the wealth of His knowledge, and He has singled them out for Himself from among all creation. No one from the entire creation possesses a state or character similar to theirs, for He has made them the means for all creatures to come to Him.
He made obedience to and love for them the cause of His contentment, and opposition to them and rejection of them a cause for His wrath. He commanded all peoples and groups to follow the religion of their Messenger, rejecting any obedience other than by means of obedience to them, praise of them, recognition of their love, respect and veneration for them, esteem for them and deference to them, and rank with Allah.
Therefore glorify all the prophets of Allah, and do not place them in the same position as anyone inferior to them. Do not exercise your intellect regarding their stations, states, and character unless it is by a precise clarification from Allah, and a consensus of the people who have insight into the proofs which affirm their virtues and ranks. How can you arrive at the reality of what they have from Allah? If you compare their words and actions with any of the people below them, you will be a bad companion to them; you will have disclaimed their gnosis in ignorance of their being specially selected by Allah, and you will have dropped below the level of the truths of belief and gnosis. So take care, and take care again.
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