ভূমিকা
“And We made an appointment with Moses for thirty nights, and completed them with ten (more),so the appointed time of his Lord was completed forty nights. And (before going there) Moses said to his brother Aaron: ‘Be my successor among people, and set the (people’s) affairs right and do not follow the way of mischief-makers’.”*** In Surah Al-Baqarah, No.
2, verse 50, the statement denotes that Allah (s.w.t.) appointed forty nights for Moses (as): “And (remember) when We appointed forty nights for Moses…”, but here, in this verse, the appointment is thirty nights added with ten more nights. As Imam Bāqir (as) said*:* “The philosophy of that manner was to try the Children of Israel”.
[^1] The length of this time has been forty nights and days, yet the reason that the verse says ‘forty nights’, maybe, is that supplications are often performed at night. Or, perhaps, its reason is that in old times the formation of calendar was based on the appearance of the moon at night. The number of nights has also been used in counting days.
The verse says: “And We made an appointment with Moses for thirty nights, and completed them with ten (more), so the appointed time of his Lord was completed forty nights…” There are some secrets hidden in this figure, i.e. ‘forty’. This figure has a special position in the cultures of different religions. The Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (S), was appointed to prophethood when he was forty years old.
He kept aloof from Khadijah for forty nights in order that the heavenly food to be sent down and the preparation of the birth of Hazrat Zahrā (as) to be supplied. The descent of Divine revelation unto the Holy Prophet (S) was ceased for forty days. The people of Moses (as) were wandering bewildered in the deserts for forty years. At the time of Noah, it rained for forty days. To learn forty Islamic traditions by heart causes this person to be raised among the experts of Muslim law in Hereafter.
The preparation of spiritual perfection of man develops until the person becomes forty years old.