THE FLASHES

The Twenty-Eighth Flash

THE EIGHTH SUBTLETY

This too is beautiful.

When the words

اَلْفُ اَلْفِ صَلاَةٍ وَ اَلْفُ اَلْفِ سَلاَمٍ عَلَيْكَ يَارَسُولَ اللّٰهِ

were recited during the tasbīḥāt after prayer, I perceived, as though from afar, a subtle and delicate meaning unfolding within them. Although I could not grasp it fully, I shall convey a few sentences of it by way of indication.

I saw that the world of the night was like a dwelling newly opened before me. During the night prayer, I entered that world. Owing to the extraordinary breadth of the imagination, and because human nature is connected with the entire world, I saw the vast world of that night as a single dwelling.

Living beings, including human beings, became so small as to be almost invisible. In my imagination, I saw that the spiritual personality of Muhammad (saw) alone brought life, familiarity, and light to that dwelling.

Just as a person entering a new dwelling greets its inhabitants, I felt an overwhelming urge to say: “May thousands of salutations be upon you, O Messenger of Allah!” It was as though I were offering as many salutations as there are human beings and jinn.

That is to say, through this salutation, we renew our allegiance to you, acknowledge your prophethood, obey the laws you have brought, and submit to your commands. Thus, it was as though I had given voice to all the jinn and human beings—the conscious inhabitants of my world—offering a salutation on behalf of each of them, bearing all these meanings.

And just as he illuminates my world through the light and gift he has brought, so too does he illuminate and enrich the world of every other person. Therefore, in gratitude for that gift, I said: “May thousands of blessings descend upon you!”

That is to say, I felt in my imagination that we could never adequately repay this favour. We therefore express our gratitude by praying that mercies as numerous as the inhabitants of the heavens may descend upon him from the treasury of our Creator’s mercy.

The Noble Messenger (saw), through his servanthood, as the representative of all creation before Allah, seeks salāt—mercy; and through his prophethood, as Allah’s messenger to all creation, he seeks salām—peace.

Just as he is worthy of salutations of salām as numerous as the jinn and human beings, and just as we offer a universal renewal of allegiance on behalf of them all, so too is he worthy of blessings of salāt from the treasury of mercy as numerous as the inhabitants of the heavens.

For through the light he has brought, the perfection of all things becomes visible, the worth of every being is revealed, the Divine duty of every creature is made manifest, and the Divine purposes embodied in them are disclosed.

Therefore, if every being could speak not only through the language of its state but also with an articulate tongue, it would surely say:

اَلصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ

Therefore, on behalf of them all, we say:

اَلْفُ اَلْفِ صَلاَةٍ وَ اَلْفُ اَلْفِ سَلاَمٍ عَلَيْكَ يَا رَسُولَ اللّٰهِ بِعَدَدِ الْجِنِّ وَاْلاِنْسِ وَبِعَدَدِ الْمَلَكِ وَالنُّجُومِ

فَيَكْفِيكَ اَنَّ اللّٰهَ صَلّٰى بِنَفْسِهِ وَ اَمْلاَكَهُ صَلَّتْ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَتْ

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