2.4.3.20 - The Hierarchy of Saints

Shaykh Muhyiddin considers that the Saints, or the Friends of Allah the Almighty, are the ones by whom God preserves the world, and they are on different ranks, the highest of which is the Pole (al-Quإ¥b), followed by the two Imams (Leaders) and then the four Pillars (al-Awtaad), then there are the Substitutes (al-Abdaal), the Captains (al-Nuqabaaa), al-Nujabaaa, al-Rajabiyyun and the Individuals, to mention some of the many levels that the Shaykh mentioned in the long Chapter 73 of The Meccan Revelations. This hierarchical division of saints in Sufism is based on a number of prophetic narrations (hadiths) in addition to their own science of unveiling that characterizes them. For example, the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, says in one hadith:

Allah has amongst the creations three hundred whose hearts are on the heart of Adam.

And Allah has in the creations forty whose hearts are on the heart of Moses.

And Allah has in the creations seven whose hearts are on the heart of Abraham.

And Allah has in the creations five whose hearts are on the heart of Gabriel.

And Allah has in the creations three whose hearts on the heart of Michael.

And Allah has in the creations one whose heart is on the heart of Israfilfootnote(Israafiil, in Islam, is the archangel who will blow the trumpet to announce the Day of Resurrection. In biblical literature, Raphael is the counterpart of Israfil. Though unnamed in the Quran, he is one of the four Islamic archangels, the others being long with Mikhail, Jibrail and Azrael. and if he dies, Allah will replace his place by one from the (previous) three.

And if someone from the three dies, Allah will replace his place by one of the five.

And if someone dies of the five, Allah will replace his place by one of the seven.

And if one dies of the seven, Allah will replace his place by one of the forty.

And if one dies of the forty, Allah will replace his place by one of the three hundred.

And if one dies of the three hundred, Allah replaces him by one from the public.

By them Allah revives and bring death, brings the rain and grows (the plants) and eradicates afflictions.

[Kanz: 34629].

The term: “on the heart of” is defined by Ibn al-Arabi in the Meccan Revelations: so when he says that a certain saint is on the heart (or on the foot) of certain prophet or angel, it means that they alternate between the same stations of the divine knowledge, so every kind of science that descends onto the heart of that great angel or prophet, it also descends on the heart of this saint. This means that they share the same state of presence and knowledge of God, but there is a fine difference that although the saint is in the heart of a prophet but not in terms of legislation that is only the privilege of prophets and not the saints, so they are on their hearts from the aspect of sainthood and not prophecy, because every prophet is a saint and not vice versa [Futuhat: II.8].

In the long Chapter 73 of the Meccan Revelations, Ibn al-Arabi has listed all these and other types of saints who are called by the collective name as: the men of breaths or the men of number, which means that they have a certain number at all times that do not increase or decrease, although some of whom are not limited to a certain number. For example, in The Meccan Revelations in Chapter 16, “on the knowledge of the lower stations and the cosmological sciences and the principle of knowing God from them, and the knowledge of the Pillars and the Substitutes and their descendants of the higher spirits and the arrangement of their orb”, that the Pillars, by whom God keeps the world, are four, there is no fifth, and they are higher than the Substitutes, while the two Imams (Leaders) are higher than them, and Pole is the highest in the group. However, he adds, the Substitutes in this Way is a common term, where they call by it those whose vilified descriptions have changed into commended, and it also refers to those special number of men, who are forty, according to some, and they are described by a certain characteristic, while others said their number is seven [Futuhat: II.6].

In another text, Shaykh Muhyiddin says that it is the mercy of God that he made some saints to proceed according to the foot of each prophet, at least one heir or maybe more than one, so in every age there must be at least one hundred thousand and twenty-four thousand saints, and they may be more but not less. If they increase then Allah divides the knowledge of that prophet over his heirs, because the sciences descended on the hearts of the prophets do not abandon the world and they only have the hearts of those men divided on them according to their number; thus there always must be in the nation of the saints the same number of prophets (throughout the Age) or more [Futuhat: III.207].