Muḥammad is only a messenger: messengers have passed away before him. Why if he should die or is slain will you turn back on your heels. If any man should turn back on his heels he will not harm God in any way and God will requite those that are thankful. The messengers were stationed wherever they were made to stand and they spoke of what they had been told so far as they knew. When they were aided by the lights of insights they came to know the hidden things of the innermost self to the degree that they were given illumination through the subtleties of allusion. Why if he should die or is slain will you turn back on your heels: When MuṣṬafā ﷺ passed away the eyes of discernment of all became weak except those of [Abū Bakr] al-ṣiddīq رضي الله عنه. God aided him with the power of the spirit of peace sakīna and inspired him with the power of gov- ernorship al-tawallī. [Abū Bakr] said “Whoever worships Muḥammad Muḥammad has died.” Everyone was subdued by the authority of his words because the light of his state spread to them just as the sun by its rising incorporates the light of the stars in its rays. The less intense rays of the stars are concealed by [the sun's rays]. He said Why if he should die or is slain because [the Prophet] ﷺ was slain. [The Prophet] said “The meal of Khaybar comes to me yet again but this time it has cut my aorta.”
