Blessings of Khilafat — Page 149
Objects of Human Life 149 everything. What a fine point of divine wisdom is contained in the verse: 10. . . Slumber seizes Him not, nor sleep. . . In elegant composition the order in which the minor and major points are arranged is a key to eloquence and elegance of expression. For instance, we can say that a person is not seriously ill, and as a matter of fact, he is not ill at all. But if we say that a person is not suffering a minor illness, and that he is not seriously ill either, such a construction would be obviously wrong. This is the reason why major things are mentioned first and minor things later. And here God makes a point by saying that He neither suffers slumber nor does He fall asleep. In denying slumber, His falling deep asleep has already been denied. So what was the reason that He also had to deny falling asleep? Remember that the words of God are never without wisdom. There is a point of deep wisdom in it, namely, that denotes the time when one’s eyes close involuntarily because one is totally overpowered by sleep. One slumbers when feeling very sleepy, and does not slumber until he is completely overwhelmed by sleep. So here God has clearly denied that His work can ever cause Him any tiredness, which would cause Him to suffer even the slightest episode of slumber; nor can He ever feel so 10 Ibid.