Does God Speak to Human Beings?

It has become a habit among Muslims to think of God speaking to people exclusively in terms of prophetic revelation. Therefor this verse is often understood as referring to prophecy: inspiration (wahy) is then identified with a verbal infusion of God's message into a prophet's heart, the veil (hijâb) is described as phenomena like the Burning Bush through which God addressed Moses, and the messenger (rasûl) is understood to be the angel delegated to transmit revelation. This is very interesting for all those who wonder how prophetic revelation works.

The text, however, talks about human beings in general, and the Qur'an does mention a number of cases of God speaking to men and women who do not have an obvious prophetic task. I would therefore like to explore the verse from this perspective and in "reverse" order, progressing from more familiar experiences to that kind of experience that is special for prophetic persons.

I The Messenger

From time immemorial, human beings have asked questions and learned trough observation, imitation and experience as well as from human teachers. The latter is important here because the abundance of impressions and information demands a perspective. In the course of human history, there have repeatedly been wise teachers, most significant among them e.g. the founders of the world religions. In Muslim tradition, they are called messengers of God because in Islamic thought everything that is good for creation is referred back to the Creator. In Muslim theology a messenger is first of all a human being capable to be a teacher and a model for others, who can understand and encourage them. The Qur'an outlines their task in the following prayer attributed to Abraham:

Our Creator and Sustainer, awaken among them a messenger from themselves to present Your signs to them and to instruct them in Scripture and wisdom and to purify them. You are the Mighty Friend, the Wise. (Surah 2:129)

"Presenting God's signs (âyât)" is often taken to refer to the verses of the Qur'an (or other Holy Scriptures). But signs are messages in a much wider sense: marks that guide us on our way through the life in this world. Observation and research of God's signs in nature, in history and within the human self lead to valuable insights both for our life on earth and for the life to come. A teacher's task is here therefore to open people's eyes and to help understanding them in the context of human responsibility.

In religions based on a Holy Scripture, the "signs" of the text do have a central meaning for spiritual and ethical orientation but they does not exist in a vacuum. Rather they are meant to be keys for other signs in creation. Besides, Scripture (kitâb) means more than a written or printed book. It also means pre-scription in the sense of ethical principles. "Instructing them in Scripture" therefore means ethical guidance concerning the relationships within the network of creation in order to achieve a measure of harmony that is beneficial for all. Beyond that, wisdom (hikmah) is taught that helps to see proportions and the development of things and to make decisions that lead to valuable, lasting ends.

But the messenger's task does not end here. Purification is a process of education that goes beyond cognitive learning. In fact it is nearly an act of creation where the prophetic teacher shapes and refines the "raw material" of a human being with sympathy and loving guidance. A prophetic person has already achieved a state that is expressed in the stories of men and women pure enough to see angels (Arab. malâ'ika, forces that are sent as God's messengers to perform certain tasks in creation), like e.g. Abraham and Sarah when angels came as guests to announce the birth of Isaac, or Hagar when an angel helped her to survive in the desert.

II The Veil

Depending on how tight a veil is, it can hide or reveal what is behind it. Al-Ghazzâli (d. 1111 C.A.) describes "seventy thousand veils of light and darkness" behind which God is hidden and which are lifted step by step depending on a person's state of purification - an image repeatedly found in mysticism.

The tightest veil consists of the phenomena of creation if they are understood in their superficial, material sense only. Then everything described as "God's signs" in the Qur'an is just "world" and their spiritual dimension is not perceived. The materialist will be able to exploit them for some technology, but he will hardly be able to see them in connection with moral responsibility, not to mention God's voice speaking through them. But many a scientist who started off as a materialist atheist gradually discovered that there was more to creation than mere science, history etc.: an insight into the background of existence. This is the meaning of stories about wise people who could understand the language of animals and plants. And finally there are mystics who, having practised a discipline of inner purification, experience God's activities and His presence everywhere, only a very thin veil separating them from the Ultimate Light.

III Inspiration

In Qur'anic language, the word wahy is not yet the technical term that is nowadays used for prophetic revelation but denotes various kinds of inspiration. Divine inspiration (wahy), we are told in Surah 16:68-69, is even the impulse that causes the bee to produce honey; or that causes the earth itself to tell its story on the Day of Judgement (Surah 99:1-5). On the other hand, inspiration can come from different sources including negative ones, e.g. "... The evil powers do inspire their friends to quarrel with you ..." (Surah 6:121). Apart from this, attempts by various people to back up their authority with the claim of having received divine inspiration often resulted in fanaticism and extremism.

Therefore the word wahy gradually came to be used exclusively as a technical term for prophetic revelation while other experiences were described e.g. as ilham (the inspiration given by God to human beings who are close to Him without being prophets), or kashf (the uncovering of hidden truths for mystics). Inspirations by evil powers were termed waswâs, whispering. Knowing the source of an inspiration and whether it is light or delusion is a matter of self-knowledge and sincerity. Very often a very soft voice pointing out how to help a fellow human being in need, how to care for an animal or a plant, or how to do a seemingly insignificant thing that spreads hope and happiness, where we can hear God's voice in our time and age.

And if My servants ask you about Me: I am near. I respond to the call of the caller when he calls upon Me. Therefore they should also respond to Me and have faith in Me that they may be guided. (Surah 2:186)

God, I never listened to the voice of an animal or the rustling of a tree or the murmur of water or the twittering of a bird or the roaring of the wind or the rumbling of the thunder without discovering that they bear witness for Your unity and point out that there is no one like You, that You are the Ruler who is not ruled, the Wise who is far from ignorance, the Gentle who does not put to shame, the Just who is not unjust, the True who does not deceive.

The supplication was transmitted from the mystic Dhun-Nûn Misri.

(c) Halima Krausen, 2006