# Did revelation end with the Prophet, or does inspiration continue?

*Does revelation continue after the Prophet? Imams, saints and jurists*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/xznxiyp0b5s/s/5/
- Date: 2020-07-03 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Prof. Dr Khalil Andani | The Oral Text & the Ontology of The Quran | Mindtrap with Mufti #28 (19:58–22:36)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xznXIYp0B5s&t=1198s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/xznxiyp0b5s/

**Topics:** How to read the Quran; Sufism and tasawwuf; Sunni-Shia dialogue

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The guest says that for Shi'is, Sufis and arguably jurists some form of revelatory inspiration continues; Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran will always continue to mean different things to different people over time.

## Longer summary

Answering Mufti Abu Layth's point that the lived experience of revelation could only last during the Prophet's lifetime, the guest says the answer depends on one's persuasion: for some Shi'i Muslims a mode of the inspiration that manifested as the Quran continues through the Imamate, and for many Sufis it continues through the awliya, citing Rumi on a subsidiary wahy given to saints and Jami calling the Mathnawi the Quran in Persian. He adds that academically one could say a jurist who reaches the correct ruling has had a hukm in the mind of God unveiled to him. Mufti says he would personally agree that it is part of the Quran's dynamic nature to keep meaning different things to different people over time, as people draw inspirations from verses that earlier readers did not see.

## Sources and names cited

- Dr Khalil Andani (guest)
- Imamate
- awliya (friends of God)
- Jalal al-Din Rumi
- Jami
- Mathnawi
- wahy
- hukm

## Transcript (machine tier, 19:58–22:36)

[19:32] And so, that phenomenological experience, if it was so core, I mean, I'm not saying it it unquestionably is of paramount importance. But what I'm trying to say is if that was at the forefront of what the Quran is meant to be, then it only had a very short time span because it couldn't because that could only be when the prophet was there.

[19:57] It I you know, it's a very good question. It's a very good question. Now, the answer to that question really depends on one's persuasion because one may argue that for a certain for certain Shiite Muslims, the phenomenon of Revelation did not come to an end. In the sense that some portion of the divine inspiration that manifested as the Quran, some portion of that some mode of that continues through the Shiite Imamate.

[20:26] I would also argue that for many Sufis, some portion of divine inspiration continues through the Sufi Aulia, the friends of God. I mean, it's no coincidence that Jalaluddin Rumi himself in the in his writings, Masnavi and others, has has talked about different kinds of Wahi that even there's a subsidiary form of Wahi that the saints get.

[20:53] I think it was Jami who refers to the Masnavi itself as the Quran in Persian and he refers to the Masnavi as like Rumi's Kitab, although he says Rumi's not a prophet. So, I think depending on which Islamic tradition one is part of, an argument could be made that some kind of charismatic revelatory process has continued. I would even argue academically speaking that to some at some level what we see in Fiqh, when the jurist is trying to come to a hit upon a legal ruling, to

[21:32] the extent that the jurist reaches the correct ruling, what has happened in some way is that some something in the mind of God, a Hukum in the mind of God has become unveiled to the Faqih when he reaches the correct legal opinion. So, in that sense, I'm not saying it's charismatic, but there seems to be some sort of that sense I I I would personally agree as well and I would say that the Quran is it's part of its dynamic nature that it will always continue to mean maybe different things to different people over time.

[22:08] Now, people may take certain inspirations from certain verses which people before them maybe didn't see that verse for that particular inspiration. I think that for that angle, I think for the most part most Muslims would be, you know, very comfortable with. This this oral tradition of the Quran, how is that different how is that different from the actual scripture?

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment xznXIYp0B5s/s/5. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/xznxiyp0b5s/s/5/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.