The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 475
474 Ā'ĪNA-E-KAMĀLĀT-E-ISLĀM―DĀFI‘UL-WASĀWIS What should make thee know to what this mentioning together of two kinds of points out? Know for certain, Allah, indeed, points out that sending down the souls of the holy ones, repeatedly-by way of reflection from heaven (that being the source of returning rain) to the earth is within Allah's omnipotence just as it is His power to raise the dead on the Day of Resurrection. This indeed is a great and sublime point of wisdom. Hold it fast and grasp it with all your strength, and may Allah bestow upon you the best guidance. This is the secret of descent about which they differ. This, in fact, is a command from Him decreed and bound to occur. Know that Allah has different ways of disclosing the tidings of the unseen. At times, He discloses the desired facts in clear words, watches over them, and manifests what He wills and desires. Sometimes He speaks in allegories and metaphors in order to keep the matter con- cealed and try people with it. This, in fact, is the Divine way and prac- tice that He keeps those happenings in secret and under a veil as per the demands of His wisdom, and He allows misconceived desires to arise. Consequently, the contrary views continue to develop. When He wills to conceal the true nature of an event, He, some- times, on those occasions makes great incidents appear small and insig- nificant, while a small event appears great and unique; and a blessed event to be fearful, while a frightening one heralds glad tidings. These are the four old practices of Allah as mentioned above. As far as an example of a great and magnificent event which Allah desired to appear I small and trivial is the event of Badr, mentioned in the Quran for those who ponder and reflect. Verily, Allah made the enemies of Islam to appear small in numbers in the dream of His Prophet sas so that He might remove the fear from the hearts of the Muslims and let hap- pen what He had decreed. As far as examples of the magnification of a small event to appear great and unique is concerned, we have the glad tiding of the contem- poraneous support of angels mentioned in the Holy Quran, so as to