The Dabistan

271

which no trace of himself remains, and no conscious-
ness whatever is preserved. It is not necessary that
the manifestation be colored in a vest of light, or
that every light be a light of manifestation. It may
happen that a light proceeds from a prophet, a
saint, or a creature. The symptom of manifesta-
tion is annihilation, or the science (that is intimate
knowledge) of the object manifested at the time of
manifestation. The evidence for the truth of mani-
festations is derived from the Koran, or from tradi-
tions.

" I am God, the Lord of creatures/'

Moses heard the voice from a bush,1 and the
chosen prophet said:

" I saw my Lord under the most excellent form."

1 The bush from whence Moses heard the voice of God is mentioned in
the Commentary upon the Koran in the following manner. Moses, tra-
velling with his family from Midiari to Egypt, came to the valley of Towa,
situated near mount Sinai; his wife fell in labor and was delivered of a
son, in a very dark and snowy night; he had also lost his way, and his
cattle was scattered from him, when on a sudden he saw a fire by the side
of a mountain, which on his nearer approach he found burning in a
green lush. The Koran (chap. XX. vv. 9-14) says: " When he saw fire
" and said to his family: Tarry ye here, for I perceive fire: peradven-
" ture I may bring you a brand thereout, or may find a direction in our
*' way by the fire. And when he was come near unto it, a voice called
" unto him, saying: 0 Moses! verily I am thy Lord: wherefore put off
44 thy shoes: for thou art in the sacred valley Towa. And I have chosen
" thee: therefore hearken with attention unto that which is revealed unto
" thee. Verily I am God; there is no God beside me: wherefore worship
" me, and perform thy prayer in remembrance of me."