The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 266
MISCONCEPTION IN NUR AFSHAN 265 of certainty and spiritual insight. His tongue and speech, all his actions and words, and his states of movement and rest become blessed. He is granted extraordinary courage, perseverance, and resolve. He is granted a position of great eminence in the realization of truth. He is freed from the narrow-mindedness, meanness, and stinginess caused by the veils of humanness. He is no longer prone to repeated stum- bling, narrowness of vision, the bondage of lust, lowliness of morals, and removing all kinds of the darkness of spirit fully from him; he is filled, instead, with the light of godly moral qualities. Thus, he is com- pletely transformed and is adorned with the garment of a new birth. He hears through God Almighty, sees through God Almighty, moves with God Almighty, and rests with God Almighty. His wrath becomes the wrath of God Almighty, and his mercy becomes the mercy of God Almighty. His prayers at this stage are chosen for acceptance and not by way of trial. He is the embodiment of Allah's manifest argument and protection on earth, and his very being is the cause for joy in heaven. The loftiest of lofty gifts that are granted to him is conversation with Allah and the discourses from the Omnipotent God, which con- tinue to descend upon his heart—pure like the light of the moon and free from the dust of doubt or misgiving. This experience is highly pleasurable, and gratifies, satisfies, and comforts the soul. And the difference between this discourse and revelation is that the spring of revelation is, so to speak, constantly flowing among the Holy and Elect [of God]. They speak with the speaking of the Holy Spirit, they see with the sight of the Holy Spirit, and they hear with the hear- ing of the Holy Spirit, and all their desires arise out of the very breath of the Holy Spirit. The affirmation is true—and absolutely true!—that they are the figurative fulfilment validating the following verse: وَ مَا يَنْطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَى إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَى 10 1. Nor does he speak out of his own desire; it is nothing but pure revelation that has been revealed by God (Sūrah an-Najm, 53:4-5). [Publisher]