Virtues & Sins
Not till the age of forty did he receive the Commission to stand forth and proclaim the Bounty of God, and His gift, to lowly Man, of knowledge by Word and Pen; but all through his years of preparation he did search the Truth: he sought it in Nature's forms and laws, her beauty and her stern unflinching ways; he sought it in the inner world of human lives, men's joys and sorrows; their kindly virtues and their sins of pride, injustice, cruel wrong, and greed of gain; scarce checked by the inner voice that spoke of duty, moral law, and higher still, the Will Supreme of God, to which the will of man must tune itself to find its highest bliss.
Seeking the Light
But he grew steadfastly in virtue and purity; untaught by men, he learned from them, and learned to teach them; even as a boy of nine, when he went in a trade caravan with Abu Talib to Syria, his tender soul marked inwardly how God did speak in the wide expanse of deserts, in the stern grandeur of rocks, in the refreshing flow of streams, in the smiling bloom of gardens, in the art and skill with which men and birds and all life sought for light from the Life of Lives, even as every plant seeks through devious ways the light of the Sun.
The Heavenly Mirror
Nor less was he grieved at Man's ingratitude when he rebelled and held as naught the Signs of God, and turned His gifts to baser uses, driving rarer souls to hermit life, clouding the heavenly mirror of pure affections with selfish passions, mad unseemly wrangles, and hard unhallowed loathsome tortures of themselves.
Honesty & Integrity
He worked, and joyed in honest labor; he traded with integrity to himself and to others; he joined the throngs of cities and their busy life, but saw its good and evil as types of an inner and more lasting life hereafter; people gladly sought his help as umpire and peacemaker because they knew his soul was just and righteous: he loved the society of old and young, but oft withdrew to solitude for Prayer and inward spiritual strength; he despised not wealth but used it for others; he was happy in poverty and used it as his badge and his pride when wealth was within his reach but not within his grasp, as a man among men.
Life-long Helpmate
At twenty-five he was united in the holy bonds of wedlock with Khadijah the Great, the noble lady who befriended him when he had no worldly resources, trusted him when his worth was little known, encouraged and understood in his spiritual struggles, believed in him when with trembling steps he took up the Call and withstood obloquy, persecution, insults, threats and tortures, and was a life-long helpmate till she was gathered to the saints in his fifty-first year -- a perfect woman, the mother of those that believe.
Peaceful Contemplation
There is a cave in the side of Mount Hira' some three miles north of the city of Mecca, in a valley which turns left from the road to 'Arafat. To which Muhammad used to retire for peaceful contemplation: often alone, but sometimes with Khadijah. Days and nights he spent there with his Lord. Hard were the problems he revolved in his mind -- harder and more cross-grained than the red granite of the rock around him -- problems not his own, but his people's, yea, and of human destiny. Of the Mercy of God, and the age-long conflict of evil and righteousness, sin an abounding Grace.
Earthly Life
Not till forty years of earthly life had passed that the veil was lifted from the Preserved Tablet and its contents began to be transferred to the tablet of his mind, to be proclaimed to the world, and read and studied for all time -- an fountain of mercy and wisdom, a warning to the heedless, a guide to the erring, an assurance to those in doubt, a solace to the suffering, a hope to those in despair -- to complete the chain of Revelation through the mouths of divinely inspired Prophets.
Sublime Knowledge
The Chosen One was in the Cave of Hira'. For two years and more he had prayed there and adored His Creator and wondered at the mystery of man with his corruptible flesh, just growing out of a clot, and the soul in him reaching out to knowledge sublime, new and ever new, taught by the bounty of God, and leading to that which man himself knoweth not. And now, behold! a dazzling vision of beauty and light overpowered his senses, and he heard the word "Iqra'!"
A Clear Mission
"Iqra'!" which being interpreted may mean "Read!" or "Proclaim!" or "Recite!" The unlettered Prophet was puzzled; he could not read. The Angel seemed to press him to his breast in a close embrace, and the cry rang clear "Iqra!" And so it happened three times; until the first overpowering sensations yielded to a collected grasp of the words which made clear his Mission; its Author, God, the Creator, its subject, Man, God's wondrous handiwork, capable, by Grace, of rising to heights sublime; and the instruments of that mission, the sanctified Pen, and the sanctified Book, the Gift of God, which men might read, or write, or study, or treasure in their souls.
Lifting the Veil
The veil was lifted from the Chosen One's eyes, and his soul for a moment was filled with divine ecstasy... when this passed, and he returned to the world of Time and Circumstance and this world of Sense, he felt like one whose eyes had seen a light of dazzling beauty, and felt dazed on his return to common sights. The darkness now seemed tenfold dark; the solitude seemed tenfold empty; the mount of Hira', henceforth known as the Mountain of Light, the mere shell of an intense memory. Was it a dream? Terror seized his limbs and he straightway sought her who shared his inmost life, and told her of his sense of exaltation, and the awful void when the curtain closed.
Not till the age of forty did he receive the Commission to stand forth and proclaim the Bounty of God, and His gift, to lowly Man, of knowledge by Word and Pen; but all through his years of preparation he did search the Truth: he sought it in Nature's forms and laws, her beauty and her stern unflinching ways; he sought it in the inner world of human lives, men's joys and sorrows; their kindly virtues and their sins of pride, injustice, cruel wrong, and greed of gain; scarce checked by the inner voice that spoke of duty, moral law, and higher still, the Will Supreme of God, to which the will of man must tune itself to find its highest bliss.
Seeking the Light
But he grew steadfastly in virtue and purity; untaught by men, he learned from them, and learned to teach them; even as a boy of nine, when he went in a trade caravan with Abu Talib to Syria, his tender soul marked inwardly how God did speak in the wide expanse of deserts, in the stern grandeur of rocks, in the refreshing flow of streams, in the smiling bloom of gardens, in the art and skill with which men and birds and all life sought for light from the Life of Lives, even as every plant seeks through devious ways the light of the Sun.
The Heavenly Mirror
Nor less was he grieved at Man's ingratitude when he rebelled and held as naught the Signs of God, and turned His gifts to baser uses, driving rarer souls to hermit life, clouding the heavenly mirror of pure affections with selfish passions, mad unseemly wrangles, and hard unhallowed loathsome tortures of themselves.
Honesty & Integrity
He worked, and joyed in honest labor; he traded with integrity to himself and to others; he joined the throngs of cities and their busy life, but saw its good and evil as types of an inner and more lasting life hereafter; people gladly sought his help as umpire and peacemaker because they knew his soul was just and righteous: he loved the society of old and young, but oft withdrew to solitude for Prayer and inward spiritual strength; he despised not wealth but used it for others; he was happy in poverty and used it as his badge and his pride when wealth was within his reach but not within his grasp, as a man among men.
Life-long Helpmate
At twenty-five he was united in the holy bonds of wedlock with Khadijah the Great, the noble lady who befriended him when he had no worldly resources, trusted him when his worth was little known, encouraged and understood in his spiritual struggles, believed in him when with trembling steps he took up the Call and withstood obloquy, persecution, insults, threats and tortures, and was a life-long helpmate till she was gathered to the saints in his fifty-first year -- a perfect woman, the mother of those that believe.
Peaceful Contemplation
There is a cave in the side of Mount Hira' some three miles north of the city of Mecca, in a valley which turns left from the road to 'Arafat. To which Muhammad used to retire for peaceful contemplation: often alone, but sometimes with Khadijah. Days and nights he spent there with his Lord. Hard were the problems he revolved in his mind -- harder and more cross-grained than the red granite of the rock around him -- problems not his own, but his people's, yea, and of human destiny. Of the Mercy of God, and the age-long conflict of evil and righteousness, sin an abounding Grace.
Earthly Life
Not till forty years of earthly life had passed that the veil was lifted from the Preserved Tablet and its contents began to be transferred to the tablet of his mind, to be proclaimed to the world, and read and studied for all time -- an fountain of mercy and wisdom, a warning to the heedless, a guide to the erring, an assurance to those in doubt, a solace to the suffering, a hope to those in despair -- to complete the chain of Revelation through the mouths of divinely inspired Prophets.
Sublime Knowledge
The Chosen One was in the Cave of Hira'. For two years and more he had prayed there and adored His Creator and wondered at the mystery of man with his corruptible flesh, just growing out of a clot, and the soul in him reaching out to knowledge sublime, new and ever new, taught by the bounty of God, and leading to that which man himself knoweth not. And now, behold! a dazzling vision of beauty and light overpowered his senses, and he heard the word "Iqra'!"
A Clear Mission
"Iqra'!" which being interpreted may mean "Read!" or "Proclaim!" or "Recite!" The unlettered Prophet was puzzled; he could not read. The Angel seemed to press him to his breast in a close embrace, and the cry rang clear "Iqra!" And so it happened three times; until the first overpowering sensations yielded to a collected grasp of the words which made clear his Mission; its Author, God, the Creator, its subject, Man, God's wondrous handiwork, capable, by Grace, of rising to heights sublime; and the instruments of that mission, the sanctified Pen, and the sanctified Book, the Gift of God, which men might read, or write, or study, or treasure in their souls.
Lifting the Veil
The veil was lifted from the Chosen One's eyes, and his soul for a moment was filled with divine ecstasy... when this passed, and he returned to the world of Time and Circumstance and this world of Sense, he felt like one whose eyes had seen a light of dazzling beauty, and felt dazed on his return to common sights. The darkness now seemed tenfold dark; the solitude seemed tenfold empty; the mount of Hira', henceforth known as the Mountain of Light, the mere shell of an intense memory. Was it a dream? Terror seized his limbs and he straightway sought her who shared his inmost life, and told her of his sense of exaltation, and the awful void when the curtain closed.
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