Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 13
CHAPTER I 13 discourse and converse with that Creator and by observing His mag- nificent Signs directly, they should see His countenance and observe with the eye of certainty that, indeed, that Creator does exist. But the nature of most people is not free from the veils-they are afflicted with the love of this world and its temptations, pride, arrogance, conceit, hypocrisy, self-indulgence, and other moral vices; wilful neglect and delinquency in discharging the rights of God and rights of people; deliberate violation of the norms of sincerity, fidelity, and fine points of love and loyalty [to God]; and deliberate severance of the bond with God Almighty. On account of all types of veils, obstructions, desires, and passions, they are not capable of being the recipients of a worthy grace of divine converse and discourse, which should exhibit anything of the light of their being acceptable to God. * Yet the eternal favour of God, which does not desire that the innate faculties of human nature should go to waste, has ordained, by way of planting a seed, that most human beings should occasionally see true dreams or receive true rev- elations so that they should be aware that there is a path open for their progress. But their dreams and revelations do not have any signs of God's acceptance, love, and grace; nor are such people free from the impurities of their egos. They are shown these dreams only so that an argument for believing in God's holy Prophets is established against them. For, if they were totally devoid of understanding the reality of true dreams and true revelations, and they had no definite knowledge of them, they could plead before God Almighty that they could not 1. Bear in mind that Prophets as and Messengers as also experience physical desires and passions, but the difference is that these holy people first re- nounce their desires and carnal sentiments and slaughter their self before the Almighty in order to win His pleasure. Then, what they lose for God is returned to them as grace. They are granted everything and they do not become destitute. But, the desires of those who do not sacrifice their self for the sake of God become veritable veils for them. Like worms, they ultimately perish in filth. The difference between them and God's holy people can be described as follows: A prison is home for both the warden and the prisoners, but we cannot say the warden is like the prisoners. (Author)