There is a verse about God’s oneness in the Quran, painted by how it’s impossible for a servant to have two masters. Yet, in many instances throughout the Quran, God is constantly mentioned together with the prophet Muhammad (الله ورسوله).
So to me, that verse about a servant having two masters serves an important point; when one’s guidance from God clashes with a prophet’s guidance, then God’s guidance must be prioritized.
This brings me to the next point.
We are all our own prophets. That is to me the mark of monotheism. We are all our own receivers of relevation and guidance directly from God. This makes us prophets.
“But doesn’t the Quran say that no prophet can come after Muhammad, since he is the seal or prophets?”
I believe this to be incorrect.
See, there emerged from the Jewish religion a figure of a spiritual stature that the Jews don’t recognize. Because they don’t believe Jewish teachings supports it. Yet Islam recognizes him. And that person is Jesus.
So too, there can emerge from the Islamic religion a figure of a spiritual stature (a new prophet) that Islam doesn’t recognize, yet his spiritual significance is as such.
“And when Allah (God) took the covenant of the prophets, [saying], ‘Whatever I give you of the Scripture and wisdom and then there comes to you a messenger confirming what is with you, you [must] believe in him and support him’. [Allah] said, ‘Have you acknowledged and taken upon that My commitment?’ They said, ‘We have acknowledged it’. He said, ‘Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses’. (Quran 3:81)
This verse holds equally true to (the status of) Islam’s prophet.
For just like the Quran says in chapter 18 verse 109; if the oceans of the world were to be turned into ink to write the words of God, then the ink still would not be enough as oceans would need to be added to oceans.
How then, can one believe that the Quran, or any religious scripture, satisfies the vastness of God’s nature, words and storage? How can one believe that revelation ends with a prophet or a scripture, and is tied to and limited by them? Who is greater, God, or the one God reveals Himself to? Who deserves more reverence?
“They have not shown Allah (God) His proper reverence—when on the Day of Judgment the whole earth will be in His Grip, and the heavens will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified and Exalted is He above what they associate with Him!” (Quran 39:67)
Indeed, holding prophethood to the same importance as God, and using it to replace guidance and revelation rather than contribute to and reveal them, is like a blockage in the streams of spirituality that needs to be removed in order to allow revelation to flow freely.
“Muhammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels? And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allah (God) at all; but Allah will reward the grateful.” (Quran 3:144)
This verse is often used to portray the relationship between faith and disbelief. But to me, it portrays more so the relationship between inspiration and loss of spiritual direction. Guidance and revelation lives on, even after the passing of a prophet. Your relationship with God and His guidance is not severed because of the passing of the spiritual fountain (meaning, a prophet) from which you used to drink. Indeed, you are your own fountain.
“Ask, ‘Who provides for you from heaven and earth? Who owns your hearing and sight? Who brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living? And who conducts every affair?’ They will surely say, ‘Allah (God)’. Say, ‘Will you not then be conscious (of Him)?’” (Quran 10:31)
It is of course up to each person to honor their spiritual guidance, and everything here is written under its shade. I am writing this, not as critique, but rather as a reinforcement of spiritual strength and understanding.
“Ask, ‘Who provides for you from heaven and earth? Who owns your hearing and sight? Who brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living? And who conducts every affair?’ They will surely say, ‘Allah’. Say, ‘Will you not then be conscious (of Him)?’” (Quran 10:31)
If what is asked here to be rendered unto God by merit of worldly things, then isn’t spiritual matters even more deserving of it?
The Searcher Who Wants to Give 