Reverence To The Holy Prophet

    Q. Ulema (or religious scholars) say that the Holy Quran was revealed to the Messenger of Allah through (the agency of) Gabriel.

    A. Allah says in the Quran:

(He has sent both the Messenger and the Book of them at the same time)

    While the religious scholars say that the Holy Quran was revealed to the Prophet, when he was forty. “Here they are wrong”. Christians say that their Prophet came and brought the book with himself. Now if we accept the Ulema's proposition, Jesus Christ emerges as a greater Prophet than our Prophet. But this is certainly not the case.

    The Quran was already there treasured in the blessed heart of the Prophet at his birth but the divine decree for its revelation/proclamation to the people came 40 years later.

    How? Allah says' "My Messenger, every Prophet before you proclaimed his Prophethood as soon as he came to the world and was therefore denied by the people. But first you tarry among your people for forty years and demonstrate your trustworthiness (or integrity), honesty, nobility and truthfulness while conducting the affairs of the world so that they are convinced that there is none like you in the world."

    When the people were thus convinced, the Prophet gathered them together and asked: "How did you find me in all respects during these forty years?"

    They all replied, "We found you highly reliable and very truthful." Then the Prophet asked; "Do you see this Mount Uhad"? All of them said; "Yes, we do." He asked "What is it composed of?" They replied." Of stones" He asked "If I say it is composed of gold, would you believe me?" They all said, "Although our eyes can see it to be a mass of stone, we would, relying on you, believe it to be made of gold because we have never heard you tell lies."

    The Prophet again asked "If I say there is an army marching behind this mountain which is about to attack you, will you believe it also?" To it they replied "Yes" He asked; "O People, if you know me to be truthful, accept me as the Prophet and Messenger of Allah." Some accepted, while others did not.

    “Messenger he was at his very birth but the prophethood was declared after forty years”.

    The mode of the Revelation of the QURAN

    If we say that the Quran was revealed through Gabriel, then let us look at Moses, with whom God spoke directly without the intervention of an angel. Did this enhance the status of Moses? No. This is not so. It was rather the manifestation of God Almighty on Mount Sinai. Now let us take a look at the prestige of the Holy Prophet.

    The revelation was brought to the Holy Prophet wherever he was. For Moses Mount Sinai was chosen as the site of divine revelation whereas the revelation reached the Holy Prophet through divine refulgence where he was.

    Since God is above the need of using the medium of language, therefore we shall first explain how the Holy Prophet understood/grasped the intent of revelation through divine refulgence/Light.

    For Instance:

    In a dark night a person sitting in a bush directs a beam of torch at us which draws our attention. When the light falls on us it neither pricks nor touches us, nor does it write any word across our body. It only draws our attention instantly to where it emanates from.

(With the help of reason God gave us and the wisdom the Holy Prophet taught us)

    We inferred the presence of something unseen. Then we assumed that there must be someone holding a torch with four battery cells, because the light was very bright. We found out all this by inference and then we proceeded for verification. Upon reaching the spot where the light came from, we found that a person was in fact sitting there with a torch and the torch had four battery cells. Just as we have come to know all this without actually seeing anything except light, in the same way the Holy Prophet inferred the intent of the Divine revelation by observing the Light or refulgence of God. And this divine Light is not words. Just as we could describe all the things involved through our observance of light so also the Holy Prophet described God by observing the Divine Refulgence. That word is the Quran in Arabic.

    The Holy Quran in its entirety was there but whenever and wherever the Divine guidance was needed, it was revealed piece-meal. Allah said, “My Messenger, the opportunity is now ripe for the recitation/revelation, therefore proclaim this verse. This Divine Light reached the Prophet without any agency.” Gabriel is only to serve the Prophet.

    It is like a Prime Minister visiting a place. When he leaves for that place his DSP's car runs ahead of his honking its horn, but when they reach their destination the DSP says that he has brought the Prime Minister, while in fact they drove separately. But the DSP being the Prime Minister's servant has to clear the path.

    In exactly the same manner at the time of revelation, Gabriel rushes from the Havens announcing that no creature living in space or the spheres of air should come or cross this way because God's personal manifestation is going to beam through here. (The divine Manifestation which burnt the Mount Sinai to ashes was metaphorical or attributive, while this one is real or personal). Upon reaching the earth Gabriel sits for a while at the feet of the Prophet and then dashes back. He too is afraid of being blazed by this Divine manifestation or refulgence.

    “Then after a while Allah manifests Himself into the heart of the Prophet and fills it with the inspiration to the effect that verse so and so most suits the given occasion, etc. and it must therefore be recited But the Quran was, however, there in the heart of the Prophet with its verses in the same order and sequence.”

    Let's take an example:

    Someone who has committed the entire Holy Quran to his memory is called a Hafiz but while he is memorizing it he is never called Hafiz he is said to be a Hafiz in the making. Similarly, our Messenger, who brought us a complete code of life and whose message completed the Divine Mission, came as a Messenger and did not become one later. A chosen one who does not bring a Divine Book with himself is called a prophet and not a messenger. Our Messenger holds the key to everything as it has been given in the Holy Quran

    and himself has the all-encompassing authority. He does not depend on angels. Didn't he perform the miracles of splitting the moon and ordering the sun back to the late afternoon time (or Asr time). He did all that only by pointing his finger at the moon and the sun respectively. If he stood in need of an angel he would have asked Gabriel to split the moon and bring the sun back. But no, he did it himself.

     

    When we come across a Hafiz we request him to recite us Surrah Rehman, although we know that the Quran begins with Fateha and not with Al-Rehman. We do it because we want to listen to. 'Al-Rehman'. Similarly Allah decreed the periodic proclamation of the verses of the Quran in accordance with His Will and Plan.

     

    The Holy Quran was thus gradually revealed in accordance with the needs of the time and place. And this is the very refulgence which Allah refers to in the Quran as

(This Divine Light or refulgence flooded the heart of the Messenger and he expressed (or dressed) it in words for us.)

    So this Light lies preserved and treasured in the heart of the Prophet, who is a mercy/blessing for all the worlds. And this word (or the Divine Light) is found in the Muslim houses and the mosques in the form of the Quran. But this never burns anything to ashes because it is wrapped in blessing. The gradual revelation of the Quran started on Lailatul Qadr (or the Blessed Night) in the Month of Ramadhan.

Back To Home

    All rights reserved.

    Published by:

    A Humble Servant of the lovers of the Messenger of Allah, Makhdoomzada, Syed Mohammad Amir Qasim Shah

    Translated from Urdu to English By:

    Mr. Abdul Qayum, Chief Interpreter, Mr. Jahanzeb Shah, Interpreter, National Assembly Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan.