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attested in the Qur’ân, as it is attested to our Prophet (Peace be upon him) in the
Sûrah Al-
Isrâ’
(Chapter 17 - The Journey by Night) of the Noble Qur’ân.
Some religious scholars added a controversial eighth stage in which they state that Allâh spoke to
the Prophet (Peace be upon him) directly without a curtain in between. This issue remains however
unconfirmed.
PROCLAIMING ALLAH, THE ALL-HIGH; AND THE IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENTS
The first Revelation sent to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) implied several injunctions, simple in
form but highly effective and of serious far-reaching ramifications. The angel communicated to him
a manifest Message saying:
·
“O you [Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ] enveloped (in garments)! Arise and warn! And
your Lord (Allâh) magnify! And your garments purify! And keep away from
Ar-Rujz
(the
idols). And give not a thing in order to have more (or consider not your deeds of Allâh’s
obedience as a favour to Allâh). And be patient for the sake of your Lord (i.e. perform your
duty to Allâh)!” [74:1-7]
For convenience and ease of understanding, we are going to segment the Message into its
immediate constituents:
1. The ultimate objective of warning is to make sure that no one breaching the pleasures of
Allâh in the whole universe is ignorant of the serious consequences that his behaviour
entails, and to create a sort of unprecedented shock within his mind and heart.
2. ‘Magnifying the Lord’ dictates explicitly that the only pride allowed to nourish on the earth is
exclusively Allâh’s to the exclusion of all the others’.
3. ‘Cleansing the garments and shunning all aspects of abomination’ point directly to the
indispensable need to render both the exterior and interior exceptionally chaste and pure, in
addition to the prerequisite of sanctifying the soul and establishing it highly immune against
the different sorts of impurities and the various kinds of pollutants. Only through this
avenue can the soul of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) reach an ideal status and become
eligible to enjoy the shady mercy of Allâh and His protection, security, guidance and ever-
shining light; and will consequently set the highest example to the human community,
attract the sound hearts and i nspire awe and reverence in the stray ones in such a manner
that all the world, in agreement or disagreement, will head for it and take it as the rock-bed
in all facets of their welfare.
4. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) must not regard his strife in the way of Allâh as a deed of
grace that entitles him to a great reward. On the contrary, he has to exert himself to the
utmost, dedicate his whole efforts and be ready to offer all sacrifices in a spirit of self-
fogetfulness enveloped by an ever-present awareness of Allâh, without the least sense of
pride in his deeds or sacrifices.
5. The last verse of the Qur’ân revealed to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) alludes to the
hostile attitude of the obdurate disbelievers, who will jeer at him and his followers. Theyare
expected to disparage him and step up their malice to the point of scheming against his life
and lives of all the believers around him. In this case he has got to be patient and is
supposed to persevere and display the highest degree of stamina for the sole purpose of
attaining the pleasure of Allâh.
These were the basic preliminaries that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) had to observe, very
simple injunctions in appearance, greatly fascinating in their calm rhythm, but highly effective in
practice. They constituted the trigger that aroused a far-ranging tempest in all the corners of the
world.
The verses comprise the constituents of the new call and propagation of the new faith. A warning
logically implies that there are malpractices with painful consequences to be sustained by the
perpetrators, and since the present life is not necessarily the only room to bring people to account
for their misdeeds or some of them, then the warning would necessarily imply calling people to
account on another day, i.e. the Day of Resurrection, and this per se suggests the existence of a life
other than this one we are living. All the verses of the Noble Qur’ân call people to testify explicitly to
the Oneness of Allâh, to delegate all their affairs to Allâh, the All-High, and to subordinate the
desires of the self and the desires of Allâh’s servants to the attainment of His Pleasures.
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