Surah al-A`raf (The Elevated Places) 7 : 144

Overview (Verses 143 - 144)

A Request to See the Lord
 
Then we come to the ninth scene which is unique. In this scene we find that God has chosen His Prophet Moses [peace be upon him] to talk to him directly, without any intermediary. It is a scene where an insignificant mortal makes contact with the everlasting existence, without any catalyst or intermediary. A human being is thus able to receive instructions directly from God, the eternal, when that human being is still on earth. As for us, we do not know how this took place. We do not know how God spoke to His servant Moses, nor do we know with what sense or organ Moses received God’s commandments. To try to describe this for certain is impossible for us, human beings, because we are limited by our own experience and confined within our own practical world. What we can do is to utilize that aspect of our constitution which results from the fact that God has breathed of His soul into man in order to look up to that great horizon. When we do this, we must not ruin that experience by asking how it all took place, trying to limit it to our own experience. When Moses came for Our appointment and his Lord spoke to him, he said: “My Lord, show Yourself to me, so that I may look at You.” Said [God]: “You shall not see Me. But look upon the mountain; if it remains firm in its place, then, only then, you shall see Me.” When his Lord revealed His glory to the mountain, He sent it crashing down. Moses fell down senseless. When he came to himself he said: “Limitless You are in Your glory. To You I turn in repentance. I am the first to truly believe in You.” He said: “Moses, I have chosen you of all mankind and favoured you by entrusting My messages to you and by My speaking to you. Take then what I have given you and be thankful.”(Verses 143-144)

We need to concentrate all our mental ability into visualizing this great and unique scene in order to begin to understand what Moses must have felt: “When Moses came for Our appointment and his Lord spoke to him, he said: ‘My Lord, show Yourself to me, so that I may look at You.’” (Verse 143) In that awesome scene when Moses was receiving his Lord’s commandments, his soul was looking up to something greater, eager to reach out to what is most desirable. He forgets himself and his nature, and requests what no one can have or can tolerate while on earth. He requests to see the Lord Himself, prompted by his hope, genuine love and keenness to have the greatest prize of all. But he is brought back to reality by a decisive word: “Said [God]: ‘You shall not see Me.’” (Verse 143)
 
But then the great Lord is kind to him, so He explains to him why he cannot see Him. His constitution cannot tolerate it: “But look upon the mountain; if it remains firm in its place, then, only then, you shall see Me.” (Verse 143) A mountain is certainly much firmer and less affected by outside powers than a human being. But what happened? “When his Lord revealed His glory to the mountain, He sent it crashing down.” (Verse 143) How did God reveal His glory to the mountain? We simply cannot describe or understand this. We can only have a feeling of it when we use that secret aspect of our constitution which holds a bond between us and God, when our souls are purified, with all filth purged away, and we concentrate all our thinking and understanding on God and His power. Simple words cannot express it at all. Therefore, we will not try to describe with words how God revealed His glory to the mountain. We prefer to discount all the reports that try to explain it, because none of them is authentically attributed to the Prophet himself, while the Qur’ān has said nothing on it.
 
“When the Lord revealed His glory to the mountain, He sent it crashing down.” (Verse 143) The whole mountain was thus levelled down with no obtrusions on the surface of the earth. Moses was overawed and “Moses fell down senseless.” (Verse 143) He was completely unconscious. “When he came to himself” realizing the limits of his ability, and recognizing that he overstepped his limits when he made his request, “he said: ‘Limitless You are in Your glory.’” He thus realized that God is too glorious to be seen by the naked human eye. “To You I turn in repentance,” for having overstepped my limit in making such a request. “I am the first to truly believe in You.” (Verse 143) God’s messengers are always the first to believe in the greatness of their Lord and in His revelations. God commands them to declare that they are the first to believe. The Qur’ān reports in several instances that they comply and make that declaration.
 
Once more God’s grace was bestowed on Moses in abundance. He soon received the happy news of his being chosen to carry God’s message to his people after they had been saved. His message to Pharaoh and his people focused on that deliverance: “He said: Moses, I have chosen you of all mankind and favoured you by entrusting My messages to you and by My speaking to you. Take then what I have given you and be thankful.” (Verse 144)
 
We understand from this statement that Moses was favoured over all his contemporaries. Messengers were sent before Moses and other messengers were sent after his time. It is, then, a favour over a whole generation of mankind. What was unique to Moses alone was the fact that God spoke to him directly. Moses was also commanded by God to take what he was given and to be grateful for being favoured and for having been given God’s message. Thus he was instructed how to react to God’s favour. All messengers [peace by upon them] provide guidance to people and present them with a good example. Hence, all people should accept whatever is given to them by God and show their gratitude for it so that they can receive more blessings and guard against arrogance and conceit, and maintain a good relationship with God.