A Letter to a Dear One — Page 35
Muhammad Zafrulla Khan 35 misunderstanding in this age, and you should instill it in your mind; there are many ways with which Allah lets man know His Will. The elementary way is through righteous dreams and visions, where man has pure dreams and his condition is such that he can feel that they are from Allah. Such dreams come true in their apparent nature or according to their interpretation. If the dream has a harmful factor, then Allah either evades it through prayer and almsgiving or fulfills it. It is Allah’s object to let His servants be apprised through such dream so that they are attentive towards prayer and alms-giving and reformation. If they do so, then at times Allah evades the imminent danger. He has declared that His Mercy surpasses everything. A Divine vision comes next to dreams. Such a vision takes place when a person is in the state of semi-wakefulness or fully awake and has a vision in a manner as if a curtain has been lifted off and a vision is presented to him. This is either fulfilled in its original or in its interpretational form. At times the dream or inspiration does not indicate towards an episode in the future but is a mere expression of Allah’s Love and Affection for man. It thus fills a person’s soul with happiness and the spark of the love of God gets stronger in his heart and he goes about seeking the Pleasure of Allah with more vigor and zeal. Further advanced from Divine inspiration is revelation. A revelation can be of many kinds. It can come in a weak state or in a most majestic, grand state. At times one hears a sound as if someone speaks from behind a veil and at times it is as if a person is there, who speaks. Other times, the words directly descend on the heart like the sounding of a bell and at times man simply speaks out in the revealed message. The point to remember, however, is that the words of revelation are purely from Allah and that it is Allah’s discourse. Indeed, it also happens that at times Allah puts His Will in a human heart as if like lightening, and that Divine Will is thus intensely established in the person’s heart. In this instance although the tenor is Divine, the words are the person’s own. A study of old religious books tells us that in early times the prophets of God mostly had their revealed knowledge through righteous visions or inspiration. They indeed had the honor to receive Divine revelation, but preserved texts of these revelations are few and far between. As the Divine law became more detailed and grander, it was revealed in words, rather than in imagery and vision. Therefore, we