Chapter: On Visions of Light and Voices

باب فی رؤیۃ الانوار وسماع الصوت — انوار کے دیکھنے اور آوازوں کے سننے کے بارے میں

بَابٌ فِيْ رُؤْيَةِ الْاَنْوَارِ وَسَمَاعِ الصَّوْتِ — Chapter on seeing lights (anwār) and hearing voices

قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: فَلَمَّا قَضٰى مُوْسَى الْاَجَلَ وَسَارَ بِاَهْلِهٖٓ اٰنَسَ مِنْ جَانِبِ الطُّوْرِ نَارًا ۚ قَالَ لِاَهْلِهِ امْكُثُوْٓا اِنِّيْٓ اٰنَسْتُ نَارًا لَّعَلِّيْٓ اٰتِيْكُمْ مِّنْهَا بِخَبَرٍ اَوْ جَذْوَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَصْطَلُوْنَ ۔ فَلَمَّآ اَتٰىهَا نُوْدِيَ مِنْ شَاطِئِ الْوَادِ الْاَيْمَنِ فِي الْبُقْعَةِ الْمُبٰرَكَةِ مِنَ الشَّجَرَةِ اَنْ يّٰمُوْسٰٓى اِنِّيْٓ اَنَا اللّٰهُ رَبُّ الْعٰلَمِيْنَ ۔

(al-Qaṣaṣ 28:29–30)

Vocabulary: fa-lammā qaḍā Mūsā al-ajal — then when Mūsā completed the term; wa sāra bi-ahlihī — and he set out with his wife, with his household; ānasa — he saw (ins — that which is seen; jinn — that which stays hidden); min jānibi'l-ṭūri nāran — a fire from the direction of the mountain; qāla li-ahlihī — Mūsā said to his wife; umkuthū — you stay; innī ānastu nāran — I have seen a fire;

laʿallī ātīkum minhā bi-khabarin — perhaps I may bring you some news from there; aw jadhwatin mina'l-nār — or a blazing ember, a piece of fire; laʿallakum taṣṭalūn — so that you may warm yourselves, obtain warmth; fa-lammā atāhā — then when he came near the fire; nūdiya — he was called, a voice was given; min shāṭiʾi'l-wādi'l-ayman — from the right-hand side of the edge of the plain; fi'l-buqʿati'l-mubāraka — which was in a blessed place; buqʿa — that part of the ground whose colour differs from the part around it (its plural is buqaʿ); when one part of a cloth is washed, the colour of the wet part differs from the dry part, and that wet part too is called a buqʿa; mina'l-shajara — from the tree; an yā Mūsā — that, O Mūsā; innī ana'llāh — I am Allah; rabbu'l-ʿālamīn — the Lord of the worlds.

Translation: Allah Most High says: Then when Mūsā had completed his term and set out with his wife, he saw a fire towards the mountain. He said to his wife, "Stay; I have seen a fire. Perhaps I may bring you some news of it, or a piece of fire (a blazing ember), so that you may warm yourselves." Then when he came near the fire, a voice came from the tree on the right-hand edge of the plain, which was in a blessed part of the ground: "O Mūsā! I am Allah, the Lord of the worlds."

Sirs! When a person's thought becomes fixed on a single point, and whisperings (wasāwis) and distraction of mind go away, then a link with the World of Images (ʿālam al-mithāl) comes into being. It is for this reason that the fuqarāʾ (the Sufi poor) strive hard to repel stray thoughts (khaṭarāt). Mūsā (peace be upon him) wanted fire for his wife to warm herself, and his whole attention was on the thought of fire; at once this very thought carried him to the World of Images.

عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا قَالَ اَقَامَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بِمَكَّةَ خَمْسَ عَشْرَةَ سَنَةً يَسْمَعُ الصَّوْتَ وَيَرَى الضَّوْءَ سَبْعَ سِنِيْنَ وَلَا يَرٰى شَيْئًا وَّثَمَانَ سِنِيْنَ يُوْحٰى اِلَيْهِ وَاَقَامَ بِالْمَدِيْنَةِ عَشْرًا وَّتُوُفِّيَ وَهُوَ ابْنُ خَمْسٍ وَّسِتِّيْنَ سَنَةً ۔

(Agreed upon (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) — Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ.)

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both); he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stayed in Mecca for fifteen (15) years. He kept hearing the voice, and for seven years he kept beholding light and saw nothing [else], and for eight (8) years revelation kept coming to him; and he stayed in Medina for ten (10) years, and he passed away at the age of 65 years.

كَانَ النَّبِيُّ مِنَ الْاَنْبِيَاءِ مَنْ يَّسْمَعُ الصَّوْتَ فَيَكُوْنُ بِذٰلِكَ نَبِيًّا وَّاِنَّ جِبْرَئِيْلَ يَاْتِيْنِيْ فَيُكَلِّمُنِيْ كَمَا يَاْتِيْ اَحَدَكُمْ صَاحِبُهٗ فَيُكَلِّمُهٗ ۔

(Abū Nuʿaym — Kanz [al-ʿUmmāl].)

Translation: Among the prophets, some prophets used to hear a voice, and by this means they were prophets; and Jibrāʾīl comes to me and speaks with me just as a friend comes to one of you and speaks with him. (This is the narration of Abū Nuʿaym in the Kanz.)

اَحْيَانًا يَاْتِيْنِيْ فِيْ مِثْلِ صَلْصَلَةِ الْجَرَسِ وَهُوَ اَشَدُّهٗ عَلَيَّ فَيُفْصَمُ عَنِّيْ وَقَدْ وَعَيْتُ عَنْهُ مَا قَالَ وَاَحْيَانًا

يَاْتِيْنِي الْمَلَكُ رَجُلًا فَيُكَلِّمُنِيْ فَاَعِيْ مَا يَقُوْلُ وَهُوَ اَهْوَنُهٗ عَلَيَّ ۔

(Mālik, Aḥmad, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, al-Ṭabarānī and Abū ʿ… [reading uncertain] — Kanz al-ʿUmmāl, vol. 6.)

Vocabulary: ṣalṣalatu'l-jaras — the jingling of a bell; fa-yufṣamu ʿannī — then it goes away from me; wa qad waʿaytu — I have memorized, it becomes memorized by me.

Translation: Sometimes revelation comes to me like the jingling of a bell, and that is the hardest on me; then it is cut off from me in such a state that whatever he said has been memorized by me. And sometimes the angel comes to me in the form of a man; then he talks with me, and I keep memorizing what he keeps saying, and that is easier on me. (Kanz al-ʿUmmāl.)

عَنِ ابْنِ مَسْعُوْدٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى عَنْهُ قَالَ اِذَا تَكَلَّمَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى بِالْوَحْيِ سَمِعَ اَهْلُ السَّمَاءِ صَلْصَلَةً كَجَرِّ السِّلْسِلَةِ عَلَى الصَّفَا فَيُصْعَقُوْنَ ۔

(This hadith was transmitted by Abū Dāwūd.)

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him): When Allah Most High speaks with revelation, the people of the heavens hear a jingling like the dragging of a chain over a rock, and they fall unconscious.