the subject, has clearly brought out the distinction between the
experience of a Nabi and that of a mystic. The relevant passage
deserves to be quoted in full:
"Muhammad of Arabia ascended the highest Heaven and returned. I
swear by God that if I had reached that point, I should never have
returned." These are the words of a great Muslim saint, Abdul Quddus
of Gangoh. In the whole range of sufi literature, it will be, probably,
difficult to find words which, in a single sentence, disclose such an
acute perception of the psychological difference between the
prophetic and the mystic types of consciousness. The mystic does not
wish to return from the repose of 'unitary experience’; and when he
does return, as he must, his return does not mean much for mankind at
large. The prophet's return is creative. He returns to insert himself into
the sweep of time with a view to control the forces of history, and
thereby to create a fresh world of ideals. For the mystic, the repose of
'unitary experience' is something final; for the prophet it is awakening,
within him, of world-shaking psychological force, calculated to
completely transform the human world. The desire to see his religious
experience transformed into a living world-force, is supreme in the
prophet. Thus his return amounts to a kind of pragmatic test of the
value of his religious experience. In its creative act the prophet's will
judges both itself and the world of concrete fact in which it
endeavours to objectify itself. In penetrating the impervious material
before him, the prophet discovers himself for himself, and unveils
himself to the eye of history. Another way of judging the value of the
prophet's religious experience, therefore, would be to examine the type
of manhood that he has created, and the Cultural world that has
sprung out of the spirit of his message.(4)
The Nabi's mission of leading all mankind, in accordance with
the dictates of Wahi and thus bringing about a universal revolution
to mould the course of history, is no light task. It is with reference to
this heavy burden of responsibility that the Qur'an observes:
Have We not caused your bosom to broaden and eased you of the
burden which weighed down your back? (94:1-3).
The Nabi proclaims the message he has received and it is through
the sheer force of truth that it sinks in the mind of those whose
finer susceptibilities have not been deadened. The Nabi, by the
example of his own life and conduct, fires them with the ambition
to live a purer, nobler and higher life. These men gather round the
Nabi and earnestly strive to shape their lives in the light of the
Divine Guidance^102