e
to the angelic state where they become like angels. In a moment of time
such {153} a soul perceives the sublime company (of angels) in the sphere
which contains them. It, there and then, hears the speech of the soul and
the divine voice. Such are the souls of the prophets. God has given to
these souls the power of leaving the human body. Whilst thus separate from
it God gives to them His revelation. The prophets are endowed by God with
such a purity of disposition, such an instinct of uprightness, that they
are naturally inclined to the spiritual world. They are animated by an
ardour quite peculiar to their order. When they return from the angelic
state they deliver to men the revelations they have received. Sometimes the
revelation comes to the prophet as the humming of confused discourse. He
grasps the ideas and, as soon as the humming ceases, he comprehends the
message; sometimes an angel in human form communicates the revelation, and
what he says the prophet learns by heart. The journey to, the return from
the angelic state, and the comprehension of the revelation received there
occupy less time than the twinkling of an eye. So rapidly do the souls of
prophets move. So instantaneously do they receive and understand God's
revelations. This is why inspiration is called Wahi, a word which,
according to Ibn Khaldoun, means to make haste.

The first way of delivering a message is adopted when he who receives it is
only a Nabi (prophet), and not a Rasul (apostle or messenger.) The second
mode is employed towards a Rasul who, on the principle that the greater
contains the less, is also a Nabi. A Hadis records that Muhammad said:
"Revelation came to me sometimes like the ticking of a clock and fatigued
me much. When it stopped I learnt the meaning of what had been delivered to
me. Sometimes an angel in human form spoke to me and, whilst he was
speaking, I learnt what was said." That a prophet should feel oppressed on
such occasions is hinted at in "With measured tone intone the Quran, for we
shall devolve on thee mighty words." (Sura lxxiii. 5.)

{154}

A Nabi, (who must be a wise and a free man, that is, one who is not a slave
of another, and one also who is free from imperfection either of body or
mind), receives Wahi but has not necessarily to deliver to men the orders
of God. A Rasul who must possess the same qualifications as a Nabi, is one
who is commanded to deliver God's message to men, though he does not
necess