Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 62
62 HAQIQATUL-WAḤI—THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIVINE REVELATION However, on account of them not accepting the verdict of the Ḥakam, and not deriving any benefit from his Signs, they were held to account and none of their excuses were accepted. This point is also worth remembering that the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was raised [as a Prophet] seven centuries after Ḥaḍrat Īsā, peace be upon him, because God Almighty saw that, by the 7th century, a great deal of perversion had developed within the Christians and Jews. Therefore, God Almighty raised the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, as the Hakam for both nations. However, the time for the appear- ance of the Hakam who was destined for the Muslims was made twice as long as that of the first period; in other words, the 14th century. This was to point to the fact that it took only seven [centuries] for the Christians to go astray, but the condition of the Muslims would deteri- orate in twice as much time and their Ḥakam would appear at the head of the 14th century. Reverting to my earlier discussion, I would like to state, as I have already explained, that, of the three kinds of revelations, the most perfect and complete is the one that belongs to the third category of knowledge, whose recipient is fully immersed in divine light, and that third category is designated as ḥaqqul-yaqin [true certainty]. And I have presently explained that the first kind of revelation or dream merely takes one to 'ilmul-yaqin [knowledge by inference], just like a person who observes some smoke on a dark night and he con- cludes, as a hypothesis, that there must be a fire at that place. However, such reasoning is not at all based on certainty, for it is possible that it is not smoke, for it could be a dust cloud that resembles smoke; or it could very well be smoke, albeit emanating from such a terrain that contains some volcanic material. Thus, such knowledge cannot free an intelligent person from his doubts nor help him progress, for it is no more than a conjecture produced within his own mind. Thus, the dreams and revelations of such people, which they receive merely due to their mental constitution, are limited to this extent of