** - The Process of Revelation

 Ibn Khaldun mentions the difficulty during the revelation ( وحي) for messenger of Allah pbuh because he was elevated to a higher level to comprehend the message being transferred.

The state of revelation presents difficulties and pains throughout. Revelation means leaving one’s humanity, in order to attain angelic perceptions and to hear the speech of the soul. This causes pain, since it means that an essence leaves its own essence and exchanges its own stage for the ultimate stage. This is the meaning of the choking feeling which Messenger of Allah pbuh referred to in connection with the beginning of revelation in his statement: ‘And he (Gabriel) choked me until it became too much for me; then he released me. Then he said, “Read”, and I replied, “I cannot read.” ‘ He did this a second and a third time, as the tradition tells.

Gradual getting used to the process of revelation brings some relief. It is for this reason that the earliest passages, sûrahs, and verses of the Qur’ân, revealed to Muḥammad Sallalahu Alaihi wa Sallam in Mecca, are briefer than those revealed to him in Medina.

 

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Dr. Iqbal on Revelation

 

Dr. Iqbal, poet and philosopher was once asked by Professor Lucas, Principal of a local college, in a private discourse, whether, despite his vast learning, he too subscribed to belief in verbal revelation, Allama immediately replied that it was not a matter of belief with him but a veritable personal experience for it was thus, he added, he composed his poems under the spells of poetic inspiration - surely, Prophetic revelations are far more exalted.

 

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Rasool and Nabi

 

 

Every apostle (RASOOL) is a prophet (NABI) as well, but every prophet is not an apostle.

The designation ‘apostle’ ( rasool) is applied to bearers of divine revelations which embody a new doctrinal system (Shariah) or dispensation; a ‘prophet’ (nabi), on the other hand, is said to be one whom God has entrusted with enunciation of ethical principles on the basis of an already existing dispensation, or of principles common to all dispensations.

Isa (AS) was an exception. He was a rasool but he followed and dispensed Shariah of Musa (AS).

 

 

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