A051
Surah: 042 - Ayah: 051
Click here to see the translations
42:51
Think also about this verse: "And it is not possible for a man that God should speak to him except by inspiration ( wahy ) or from behind a veil, or by the sending of a messenger to reveal what He wills by His permission. Lo'. He is exalted, Wise." (42:51). The main meaning of wahy is indication, allusion. Thus wahy or allusion is of three kinds: The first is visionary indication (ru'yat, didar), which is the supreme indication; the other is verbal indication (qawli lsharah), in which countless spiritual examples are hidden; and the third, is the practical indication ( amali lsharah), in which there are innumerable examples of the demonstration of the Intellect. The veil implies that at this second level of Indication or wahy or kalam, there is no vision but only the voice of the Divine light. And sending messenger is the third level of wahy or kalam. It should be remembered that, although, wahy, at the highest level is used in an extremely special sense, it is applicable to all levels of revelation (tanzil), for each and every verse contains a spiritual and ta'wilic indication.
The above-mentioned law of wahy and kalam was common to all prophets. According to this law, the spirit of the Qur'an was revealed to the Holy Prophet from the Divine Command (kalimah-i kun). In fact, it was the same spirit which was breathed into Hazrat Adam in the beginning. And you can see in the verse (42:52), the same spirit is also the living light. It is worth pondering: wahy is the light of the Qur'an linked to a living personality? A great wisdom is hidden in this. Otherwise, God would have given the Qur'an to the Prophet in the form of an external book, instead of revealing it to his blessed heart, in the form of a spirit and spirituality (26:194). But God did not do so, rather, He has revealed the Qur'an, with such a light, which was speaking with its sacred tongue. Then the Glorious Qur'an was given the written form and the light resided in the Holy Personality of the Prophet. Now the question arises here, should the light of the Qur'an be extinguished with the physical demise of the Prophet? No, never i It is against the Divine will. Thus it is true that God, by His perfect power, has transferred the light of the Qur'an to the chain of imams from the progeny of Muhammad (s.a.), so that His light may also continue and last with His Book. And this is the law of the religion of nature.
Thus according to the will of God, as a result of the remembrance of ism-i azam in the heart, the door of spirituality opened to the Holy Prophet and revelation began to come down to his heart. The spirituality of the Prophet had numerous forms and many stages. With respect to revelation, as mentioned in the Wise Qur'an (42:51), spirituality is divided into three major parts:
First, is the general revelation (wahy-i am) which comes through Jibril and other angels; then is the speech of God, which is heard from behind the veil; and finally there is the special allusion (wahy-i khas) which happens through the supreme vision (didar) of God.
After this, it is not necessary for the same order to be continued. The unveiled supreme vision of God, the Exalted, is granted only twice, in which is hidden the treasure of pre-eternal and post-eternal wisdoms of the Divine Word (kalimah-i bari) and the Pearl of Intellect (gawhar-i aql).
Every precious treasure can remain hidden and safe only behind a strong and firm veil. In connection with this law, the most important point is that, God Himself is pleased to have a veil for Himself (42:51), due to which, all Qur'anic treasures have also been concealed in veils. Among these Qur'anic veils, one is the veil of the word "jinn". In this connection, for the time being, let us examine only maharib (fortresses) and tamathil (pictures) (34:13) in the Qur'anic story of Hazrat Sulayman. Maharib or living fortresses are the angels, who are the shirts of Hazrat Qa'im, who work like Flying Saucers, and tamathil or living pictures are the angels of knowledge, who are the shirts of Hazrat Qa'im, who work as luminous bodies.
Developed Soul
Q. 34. It is extremely important to say that certain souls who obey God, the Prophet and the sahib-I amr (the one who is the custodian of the Devine command), are in the position of angels, or they are going to become angels. The statement that “every developed soul is an angel” needs more elaboration, so that it may be understood more clearly.
A. Nobody can doubt that Hazrat Jibrail is an angel (Firishtah in Perian and malak in Arabic). You can see in the Quran that, Jibrail is an angel (42:51) and you can also see that Jibrail is the Holy Sipirit (16:102) and the Trustworthy Spirit (26:193). Not only in these, but in many other Quranic verses, the word ruh (soul) is used in the sense of an angel. Take this verse, for instance: “Then We sent unto her Our Spirit (Jibrail) and it assumed for her the likeness of a Perfect Man” (19:17). From this it is clearly evident that every developed soul is an angel. In addition to this, we would also like to mention that the verses (such as 16:2) in which a special spirit (ar-ruh) is mentioned with many angels (al-malaikah), there are two aspects of the reality in it: one, by angels (al-malaikah) are meant angels and by the Spirit (ar-ruh), the great angels. Secondly, by angels are meant souls and by the Spirit, the chief soul. It should always be noted that the more facets the pearl of reality (gawhar-I haqiqat) has, the more value it has.
Proof 8: Verse (42:51) testifies to the fact that it is not given to man that Allah should speak to him save by revelation (in which His light itself makes wahy or sign directly) or from behind a veil, or (that) He sends an angel who reveals by His permission what He wills. This shows that this is the way of God speaking or revealing to His Prophets. All this has happened in this life,in which is included miraj, as well as other ranks of closeness to God.
It is necessary to know that the above-mentioned verse is such a comprehensive principle of spirit and spirituality that it comprises all levels of Devine guidance, such as special revelation (wahy-I khass), speaking from behind a veil, general revelation (wahy-I amm) and inspiration (ilham, ilqa). It is obvious that this principle which comprises all the levels of spirituality is common to all Prophets. It is a different matter if our sight cannot penetrate the reality, otherwise according to this wisdom-filled verse the highest rank or level of the spirituality of the Prophets is that in which the light of God makes wahy or sign to them directly without any veil, then the next level is speaking from behind a veil and the third is revelation by sending an angle. All these ranks of spirituality are included in the spiritual miraj of the Holy Prophet and with respect to them he had several mirajs, not only one.
The shadow of veil is cast not in light, but on the disobedient people. The shadows of the earth and clouds are no cast upon the sun, but on the people of the world, because no material darkness reaches the sun. It is true that each of the external and internal senses has a veil. In verse (42:51) there is mentioned of a visual veil, because above it is mentioned the vision.
In the above-mentioned verse (42:51) are mentioned three levels of the entire spirituality. The supreme level consist of luminous manifestation, vision, observation and comprehensive allusions, in which are included ibad, inbisth, azal, abad and other extremely great miracles; the second level is the one, the miracles of which are heard from behind the veil and the third level which is the lowest, is the one in which are observed all the miracles of souls and angles.
Study carefully the wisdom of verses (42:51) that God, not only has veil, but also a mazhar and a zuhur (manifestations). There are also many veils of His supreme veil. This law should be remembered that it is the supreme veil which also preforms the sacred duty of his being His mazhar. It is also necessary to know that God is light, therefore, His immediate veil, namely the supreme veil, is also nothing but light, just as the sun is material light and its outer part is the veil and representative of its inner part. Otherwise, in this material world there is nothing powerful enough to be able to remain in front of the stormy luminous waves of the world- illumining sun and act as its immediate veil or cover.
Wahy (Sign, sign of vision)
Regarding wahy, verses (42:51-53) are extremely worthwhile to reflect upon and full of the secrets of recognition. Verse (42:51) says: "And it is not (vouchsafed) to any mortal that Allah should speak to him except by sign, or from behind a veil or that He sends a messenger to reveal by His permission whatsoever He wills. Verily, He is High, Wise."
Since it has always been the sunnat (law) of God, the Knowing, the Seeing, that He does not speak to any human being without a veil (42:51), how can the places where there are great secrets in the noble Qur’an, be without a veil? Thus, in the Qur’an, the great secrets of knowledge, wisdom and spirituality are behind veils. Therefore, the holy Qur’an emphatically invites us to think and reflect. Among these veils, one is in the form of reprimand, just as the seventy men of the children of Israel were reprimanded (2:55), while in their story there is a great treasure of secrets (2:55; 7:155).
Q40 Would you be able to tell us something about the ranks of wahy? When the holy Prophet was experiencing the Divine vision during micraj, were there not numerous signs: signs in the Divine Word, in the light of Intellect or the Divine Pen? Were there not also many signs of God’s Hand?
A40 According to verse (42:51) wahy is in three great ranks. First, there is the general wahy, which takes place through Jibra’il and other angels. Then there is the Divine speech, which is heard from behind the veil, and finally there is the special wahy, which takes place through the supreme didar. Wahy means a sign. When the holy Prophet used to have didar, then indeed there were many signs, which were in the Divine Word, the light of Intellect and the Divine Pen and there were also many signs of the Hand of God.
Q369 Do the carifs/saliks who die before physical death, that is, attain the rank of fana’ fi’llah (merged in God), have God’s vision and does God speak to them?
A369
- Yes, an carif/salik attains the supreme bliss of the Divine vision, and thus he can recognise Him and can be called an carif. God speaks to him, due to which he has the treasure of knowledge and recognition.
- Study verse (42:51) very carefully, in which it is said: “It is not (vouchsafed) to any mortal that God should speak to him save by a sign (of didar) or from behind a veil …”.
- The holy didar is the great treasure of the silent signs of recognition, in which lies the eternal wealth of the secrets of recognition and wisdom.
Q512 Would you kindly shed more light on the realities and esoteric meanings of az-zahir (the manifest) and an-nur(the light)?
A512 It is a great unveiling (kashf) when He, may His glory be glorified, appears and grants His "didar" at a sublime place, and then instantly conceals Himself in a veil (42:51). This shows that when He is without a veil, He is manifest and when He is in a veil He is hidden.
- The luminous sun has several veils: the external light of the sun is the veil of the internal light; the light in front is the veil for the light at the back; every kind of shadow, cloud, night, etc. is among the sun’s veils. If someone is blind, their blindness is a permanent veil for them.
- Among the numerous veils of the manifest (az-zahir) there are veils of light, veils of knowledge, angelic veils and human veils.
This verse has been referred 21 times.