Brothers Beyond Time

Muhammad said, "Oh! how I miss my brothers!"
His companions asked, "O Messenger of God! Did you want us who are your brothers?"
"No, you are my friends," he said.
"Then your brothers are the prophets who have come before you and have now passed from the world?" they asked.
The Blessed Prophet said, "No, it is not those brothers of mine that I am missing, either. I am missing the graceful servants--the saints of God--who will come after me."

Translated from the Maqalat of Shams of Tabriz by Refik Algan and Camille Adams Helminski (Rumi's Sun, pp. 109-110).