Can You Please Explain the Belief of The “Presence” of the Prophet?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question:Assalam’aleykum,

According to some the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is present everywhere like Allah but some schools say that he is not. Can you clarify me the true islamic position on this matter?

Answer: Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

I am alien to this debate.

Authentic hadiths establish that Allah makes the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) aware of the actions of his community. Thus, it is ‘as if’ he were present through his knowing the actions of his community.

This ‘presence’ is not in the physical sense we would understand: it is beyond the limits of the human mind to understand the perfections of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) who, though human, is not like other humans: he is a precious pearl and they mere stones, as the righteous explained.

Nor is this knowledge in any way like the knowledge of Allah: Allah knows absolutely all things, as they were, are and will be, from beginningless eternality, without any acquisition. The knowledge of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is vaster than that of any other human, but is acquired (by Allah’s granting) and is not absolute.

We do not say that Allah is ‘everywhere,’ though He is ‘with us’ wherever we are

Note that Sunni scholars do not believe that Allah is physically ‘everywhere’, either. Rather, Allah exists beyond both time and space, for both are His creation and the Beginningless Creator is not conditioned by His creation.

Allah is ‘with’ us, and closer to us than our very life blood because He is the One who created us, and is sustaining us through His Will and Power at every moment: if not for Allah’s sustaining us, we and everything else in creation would simply wink out of existence. This is our intrinsic indigence and need for Allah.

We owe our very faith and future felicity to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace), who gave us the gift of Islam from Allah. Given that he is made aware of our actions, we should fulfill the dictates of thankfulness to him, and make our actions sincere and pleasing to Allah, by following the Prophet’s guidance, for it brings joy to the heart of the Beloved of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace).

Wassalam,

Faraz Rabbani.