On Spiritual Authority

Know, dear disciple, that every messenger (rasūl) is a prophet (nabī), but not every prophet is a messenger. Moreover, every prophet and messenger is a friend of God (walī). That is why every messenger brings together the reality of the Alif with all three levels of Messengerhood (risala), Prophecy (nubuwwa), and Sainthood (wilaya). As for the prophet, only two levels manifest in him: the levels of sainthood and prophethood.

It is for this reason that when Sayyidunā Mūsā went for the appointed time with his Lord as the Qurʾān says, "And Mūsā arrived at Our appointed time, and his Lord spoke to him" (Q Aʿrāf 7:143), and he left behind with his people Sayyidunā Hārūn (s) it was as if only half of the Alif remained with them. Hārūn’s influence over his people was weak, and so they inclined towards gold and the worship of the calf, because they had lost that upper half of the Alif of messengerhood, namely our master Mūsā (s). Then they lost the prophetic half of the Alif when they refused to listen to Hārūn (s) when he forbade them from worshipping the golden calf. Thus their hearts drank from the passions of the love of the lower world (dunyā). But when Sayyiduna Mūsā (s) returned and reconnected the upper part of the Alif with the lower part, and took hold of the beard of his brother, as the verse says, "How evil is the course you have followed after me! Would you hasten the command of your Lord? And he cast down the tablets and seized his brother by the head, dragging him toward himself" (Q Aʿrāf 7:150)....And then by God’s leave, he scattered the ashes of the calf in the sea and showed them the way of guidance, and said, "Your god is only Allah, except for whom there is no god. He encompasses all things in knowledge" (Q Ṭāhā 20:98). Thus, wherever the Alif manifests and dwells, there manifests guidance and rectitude (istiqāma).

This is why the Messenger of God (s) in the Sīra, drew a line in front of him in the sand and said, ‘This is the way of God’ (hādha sabīl Allāh). The line he drew was toward the very Essence of the human being, and towards nothing else; so understand that.

— Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari (qs)

Taratil al-Ha'iyya