Tadhkirah — Page 85
1883 85 1883 Then the revelation defined the spiritual status of that spiritual A dam: 102 When this noble verse 103 , which is a verse of the Holy Qur’an, was revealed to me, I pondered over its meaning and significance. In this condition, I was overcome by a light slumber and therein the meaning was made clear to me, which may be described as following. Danuww [ascent] here means nearness to God … Tadall a [descent] means that having equipped oneself with the likeness of divine attributes, one should descend towards God’s creatures with mercy and compassion, as does the Most Gracious, Ever Merciful One. As the degree of danuww and tadall a are adjusted to each other and are mutually conditioned, the degree of tadall a will correspond to the degree of danuww. The perfection of danuww is that there should be a perfect reflection of divine attributes in the heart of the seeker and that God should manifest Himself in the heart and spirit of the seeker to a perfect degree. This is the essence of vicegerency and of the breathing of the Spirit of God into a person and equipping oneself with divine attributes. As the descent is dependent upon equipment with the likeness of divine attributes, the perfection of this equipment demands that such an individual should strive in compassion for God’s creatures and in seeking their 102 [Arabic] Then he drew nearer to God ; then he came down to mankind , So that he became, as it were , one chord to two bows or closer still. [Publishers] 103 ( an-Najm , 53:9–10) [Publishers]