It belongs not to any mortal that God should give him the Book the judgment prophethood then that he should say to men “Be servants to me instead of God.” Rather “Be masters by virtue of what you know of the Book and in what you study.” That is “It is not a quality of anyone whom We have chosen for prophet- hood or selected for friendship walāya to call created beings to himself or to teach anything affirming himself or his worldly situation because His سبحانه choosing them for prophethood includes protecting them from what is not permissible. To allow that as an attribute of theirs would be incompatible with their state. Rather the messengers and the friends have called created beings to God سبحانه وتعالى and this is the meaning of God most high's words Rather “Be masters” which is to say that He directs them only to be masters rabbāniyyūn to created beings. [The word] rabbānī is related to [the word] “lord” or “master” rabb just as it is said “so and so is bull- necked” raqabānī or “full of life” ḥayyānī and the like. They are those who have knowledge of God who are forbearing for the sake of God and stand firm through God in their annihilation from anything other than God. With their worldly concerns withering away they become immersed in the realities of His existence rather than their sensory percep- tion of their own states. They speak hear and see by means of God and so they are effaced from what is other than God. It is said that the master rabbānī is one who has had the shadow of his lower self nafs lifted from him and he subsists in the shelter of God's سبحانه shadow. It is said the master is one who does not affirm anything other than his Lord as one; he does not acknowledge even in the slightest way any efface- ment or affirmation [in creation] as belonging to anything other than Him or coming from anything other than Him. It is said that the master is he who is obliterated maḥq in His سبحانه existence and effaced maḥw in witnessing Him so the One who stands in for him is other than him and the One who acts on his account is other than him.
