Revelation, Inspiration, Vision and Dream
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The Promised Messiah (as) wrote over 80 books in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian. Excerpts of his collected works have been translated into English and organised by topic.
The Review of Religions is pleased to present these excerpts as part of a monthly feature. Here, the Promised Messiah (as) explains why one cannot truly understand the unity of God without divine revelation. This is the tenth part of a multi-part series.
Extracts from The Essence of Islam – Vol. II, pp. 121-127.
All historians know well that in past ages whenever anyone acquired full knowledge of God and His perfect attributes, he did so through revelation and that the unity of God was never propagated through reason. That is why those people who had no acquaintance with revelation remained unaware of the name of God and remained uncultured and uncivilised like animals. Who can present to us a book written in the past about knowledge of the divine and comprised of real verities, the author of which might have claimed that he did not discover the straight path of the recognition of God through revelation, nor was he informed through his sense of hearing of the existence of the One God, and that in discovering God and learning about divine attributes he derived help only from his reason and reflection and diligence and that, without having recourse to any other resource, he discovered the unity of God and that his mind of itself arrived at the true recognition and understanding of God Almighty? Who can prove to us that there was an age when divine revelation was unknown and there was no holy book and the people of that age believed in the unity of God and recognised Him merely through contemplation of the book of nature? Who can inform us of the country whose people, being unaware of revelation, were guided to God by their reason alone and believed in the unity of the Divine by the exercise of their reflection and observation?
—Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, pp. 219-220, footnote 11
True Unity of God Cannot Be Realised Without Divine Revelation
Why the pure unity of God cannot be learnt without divine revelation, and why one who denies revelation is not cleansed of paganism? This matter becomes apparent when one reflects upon the reality of divine unity. Unity means that one should believe that the Being and attributes of God are free of any association and that we should believe that the tasks which can be accomplished by God’s power cannot be accomplished by the power of anyone else. It is because of letting go of this unity that fire-worshippers, sun-worshippers and idol-worshippers, etc., are called pagans inasmuch as they supplicate their idols and divinities concerning matters the bestowal of which is in the hands of God alone. It is obvious that those who deny revelation also believe, like the idol worshippers, that creatures are invested with the attributes of the Divine. They believe that the powers of the All-Powerful are possessed by human beings. They imagine that they discovered God through their reason and that in the beginning it was human beings who thought of appointing a God and that it was by their efforts that God emerged from the state of being unknown and was recognised and was worshipped; that He was unknown before and no one was aware of His existence and it was through wise people that He came to be known. Is this anything different from the belief of the idol worshippers? Indeed not. The only difference is that the idol worshippers appoint other things as their benefactors and these people consider their smoky reason as their guide and benefactor. In one way, these latter go beyond the idol worshippers. Though the idol worshippers believe that God has bestowed great powers on their deities and that on accepting a variety of offerings they bestow upon their worshippers that which they ask for, yet they have never alleged that God was discovered by these deities and that the existence of God was known only through them. It was left to those who deny revelation to claim God as one of their inventions and to announce that God has never affirmed: I am present; and that it was their great achievement that, without being told and informed, they found Him on their own. He was silent like one asleep or dead and they discovered His track by the exercise of their own reflection. Thus, in effect they repudiate any obligation to God, but in a way put Him under an obligation to themselves, in that, without having been informed that God exists and without full certainty that disobedience of Him would subject them to such-and-such torment and obedience to Him would attract such and such bounty, they have submitted to this fictitious god. According to them God was so weak and infirm that He could not announce His Own existence and could not furnish any reassurance concerning His promises. He was hidden and these people disclosed Him; He was unknown and they made Him known; He was silent and they worked on His behalf. His Godhead has become known only since a short time and that also through their efforts.
Every wise person would appreciate that such an affirmation goes beyond that which the idol worshippers allege. The idol worshippers believe in their deities as their benefactors, but those who deny revelation allege that reason, which is their deity, is the benefactor not only of people but also of God inasmuch as God became known only through the exercise of reason. It is thus clear that by denying revelation they not only believe in God in a doubtful way and are involved in diverse errors, but they are also deprived of belief in the perfect unity of God and are stained with paganism. What is the association of partners with God? Only to attribute to others the favours and bounties bestowed by God.
—Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, pp. 165-167 Footnote 11
The Type of People Who Experience Heavenly Signs
There are three types of people who experience heavenly signs. First, those who possess no merit and have no relationship with God Almighty, but who on account of their intellectual appropriateness, see some true dreams and are granted some true visions which contain no indication that they are accepted of God and are loved by Him, nor do they derive any benefit from their dreams and visions. Thousands of the wicked and evil ones share with them such smelly dreams and visions…
Secondly, there are those who have some relationship with God Almighty, but that relationship is not perfect. Their dreams and revelations resemble the experience of a person who on a dark and very cold night espies the glow of a fire from afar and thereby is able to avoid walking along a path which is full of pits and thorns and rocks and along which serpents and wild beasts abound. But the glow of the fire cannot safeguard him against the cold and death. If he cannot reach the warm circle of the fire, he is destroyed like the one who walks in the dark.
Thirdly, there are people whose experience of dreams and revelations resembles that of a person who on a dark and very cold night not only finds the bright glow of the fire and walks in its light, but entering its warm circle is safeguarded fully against the cold. This stage is reached by those who burn up their passions in the fire of divine love and adopt a life of bitterness for the sake of God. They perceive death ahead of them and run towards it and choose it for themselves. They accept every torment in the cause of God and for the sake of God they become the enemies of their ego and treading contrary to it, exhibit such power of faith that even the angels are surprised at the strength of their faith. They are spiritual champions and all attacks of Satan come to naught in opposition to their spiritual power…
The perfect revelation, which is of the third type and descends upon perfect individuals, resembles the ray of the sun that falls on a clean mirror which is adjusted towards it…Then that ray is magnified ten times and its light becomes unbearable for the eye.
When revelation descends in the same way on a purified soul its extraordinary light shines forth and the reflection of divine attributes is exhibited in that soul and the countenance of the Divine One is fully disclosed…
The lights of divine revelation are accepted in their perfect condition by a soul which is perfectly purified. Mere dreams or revelation do not indicate any excellence in the recipient unless, his soul being perfectly purified, he exhibits this reflection and the countenance of the True Beloved is displayed in his soul.
—Haqiqat al-Wahi, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 22, pp. 22-26
Three Kinds of Dreams
Dreams are of three kinds – egoistic, satanic and divine. Egoistic dreams are a reflection of one’s own thoughts like a cat dreaming of flecks of meat. A satanic dream is wild and frightening. A divine dream is a message from God; their proof is a matter of experience. These are divine matters which are far distant from this world. If we judge them by reason another person cannot understand them and we cannot make him understand. These are signs of the existence of God Almighty which He casts upon the heart from the unseen. When we find that what we were told has come to pass, we begin to believe in it. An instrument of this world cannot recognise these things. These are spiritual matters and are recognisable only spiritually. A true dream bears witness to its own truth.
—Malfuzat, vol. IV, pp. 368-369
Dreams and visions of all are not alike. The perfect vision, which in the Holy Qur’an is described as the disclosing of the unseen, is like a perfect circle and is not bestowed upon everyone, but only upon the elect. The vision or revelation that comes to a defective person is itself defective and puts him to shame. Disclosing the unseen is an experience like that of a person who mounts to the top of a high building and observes the surroundings and can easily distinguish everything. A person who desires to see the same things from a low level misses many of them. It is the way of God with His elect that He elevates their sight to a height whence they can observe everything easily and are able to give information of the end. One standing at a low level cannot predict the end. That is how Bal‘am was deceived concerning Moses (peace be on him) and he failed to discern his high status which would have induced him to be respectful.
—Haqiqat al-Mahdi, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 14, pp. 442-443
Revelation of Trial and Revelation of Exaltation
It should be borne in mind that revelation is of two kinds, the revelation of trial and the revelation of exaltation. The revelation of trial sometimes brings about the ruin of the recipient as happened with Bal‘am, but the recipient of the revelation of exaltation is never ruined. Even the revelation of trial is not bestowed upon everyone. Some human temperaments are deformed as some people are born deaf and dumb and blind. In the same way, the spiritual faculties of some are extinct and they carry along as a blind person carries along with the guidance of others.
—Haqiqat al-Wahi, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 22, p. 11
