Malfuzat – Volume I — Page 235
Malfuzat - Volume I The Wisdom Behind a Temporary Cease in Revelation 235 Upon learning of this subject-matter one can accept with great ease that the Holy Quran discusses profound subjects in a most beautiful style and manner. At another instance in the Holy Quran, the night has been taken as an oath. It is said that this oath was taken at a time when the flow of revelation to the Holy Prophets had come to a temporary halt. It ought to be remembered that this is a phase which all such people experience who receive the blessings of ongoing revelation. Constant revelation increases one in love and yearning, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, which elevates a person to the highest levels of love. Allah the Exalted has made this a means of progress as well, because a temporary cessation in revelation increases an individual in pain and distress and increases the soul in restlessness and anxiety, by which a spirit of prayer is blown into them. The soul hastens towards the threshold of God crying out, 'O Lord! O Lord!' with sentiments of extreme zeal and fervour. This may be likened to a child who helplessly runs to its mother wailing, after being separated from her bosom for some time. In the same manner, or rather, with intensely greater anxiety, the soul hastens towards Allah. This great effort and toil, restlessness and agony possesses a pleasure and joy that I cannot explain in words. Remember! The more restless- ness and anxiety that is experienced by the soul for God Almighty, the more an individual is enabled to offer supplications that attain to the level of acceptance. Hence, this is a period in time that dawns upon those divinely commissioned and sent by God, and upon those who are blessed with divine converse. The purpose of Allah the Exalted in this respect is so that such people may partake of the sweet flavour of love and the joy of the acceptance of prayer; and so that God: may el- evate them to the highest ranks. Hence, by taking oath on the forenoon and the night, the lofty ranks of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, have been alluded to along with his degrees of love. Then, the Messenger of God has been absolved by Allah, Who says that one ought to observe the creation of the day and night, and the distance in time that exists between the alternation of the two, considering the time of the forenoon and the time of darkness. Then the Quran states: 1, i. e. God Almighty has not forsaken you and has not disliked you. On the contrary, God says, this is Our law; just as We have created 1 ad-Duha, 93:4