ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Seal of the Prophets and His Message Lesson Six: What is Revelation? Within the overall scheme of being, revelation is the precise, complex and unique relationship that links the Prophets to God. It is the sole source for the knowledge of prophethood, the basis for the cognition and insights of the Prophets, and the vehicle for their exalted mission of bringing about fundamental and positive change in human society.

Through their superior, clear and direct awareness of the realities of being, the Prophets are inspired by God with heavenly teachings and laws, which they then present to the human beings as messages from the realm of the unseen. The process of revelation consists of an angel softly conveying certain matters to the hearing of a Prophet. Sometimes the Prophet sees the angel and exchanges words with him.

If matters are conveyed only to the heart, this is a question of inspiration, not of revelation. Prophets who shone forth in the darkness at a time when discrimination, injustice and disunion had reached their height, began their missions with a command received through revelation.

By arousing human beings' minds, they directed their attention to the subtle perceptions latent within their own primordial nature and attempted to cleanse them of the effects left by the beliefs and customs they had acquired from their environment. Thus they were able to make blossom the higher capacities and urges of the human being and to guide them towards happiness and the good.

Of course, the ultimate nature of revelation and the type of perception that leads to it is not known to us, because it lies beyond the categories accessible to normal perception and the forms of awareness that are available to the human being through the operation of his creative intellect on the data and knowledge that he acquires.

Despite the spiritual and intellectual legacies that have been passed down to us, we are unable to perceive the particular characteristics of this relationship with God. This has always remained a dark corner inaccessible to our thought and imagination, and it may always remain so.

Nonetheless, it is certain that abundant spirituality and extraordinary inward purity in a given individual may create in him a certain receptivity that fits him to receive God's abundant revelation and to be chosen for undertaking the mission of a Prophet.