________________
Cleanse your ears that are filled with the wax of arrogance and skepticism, and then you will hear the sound in every direction coming from the heavens above. It is a mystery why we wait to hear the divine trumpet resounding on the Day of Judgment when the sweet sound of the divine trumpet resounds unceasingly. (Risala-E-Haq-Numa, 16)
Dara Shikoh also states that before Muhammad became a prophet, as well as after, he practiced the meditation of divine inner sound or Word.
Prophet Muhammad and the Divine Vision of
the Angel Gabriel
By the grace of God, and through the power of spiritual discipline, the angel Gabriel appeared before Muhammad during a spiritual retreat in the cave of Heera. Muhammad was forty years of age. At the time of this divine vision of the angel Gabriel, the verses that would become the Holy Koran, were also revealed to Muhammad. After these events he became known as a prophet. He had full faith that Allah was the only God, and was the only true master. He told other people about the divine message he had received, and that Allah had made him a messenger for the benefit of humanity. Sometimes he was faced with distressing reactions from those who did not believe him. Such people were engrossed in traditional beliefs and found such
232
