[3:144] Muhammad 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 (mawfūqūn) where they were stationed, and they spoke of what they have been taught according to what they knew. When they were supported by the lights of insights, they came to know the hidden things of the innermost self to the degree that they were given illumination (ishrāq) through the subtleties of allusion.
Why, if he should die or is slain, will you turn back on your heels: When Muṣ?afā (ṣ) passed away, the eyes of discernment of all went weak, except those of al-Ṣadīq (ra). God aided him with the power of the Spirit of Peace (sakīna) and inspired him with the power of governorship (al-tawallā). [Abū Bakr] said, 'Whoever worships Muhammad, Muhammad has died'. All were subdued by the authority of his words because of what spread to them from the light of his state, just as the sun by its rising incorporates in its rays the lights of the stars. The capacities of the places where the rays of each star fall are then concealed within [the sun's rays].
He said Why, if he should die or is slain because [the Prophet] (ṣ) was slain. [The Prophet] said: The meal of Khaybar comes to me yet again, but this time it has cut my aorta.