Al-A'raaf (The Heights)

143. “And when Moses came to Our appointed tryst and his Lord spoke with him, he said: ‘My Lord, show me (Yourself), that I may look towards You!’ He (Allah) said: ‘Never shall you see Me, but look towards the mountain: if it remains firm in its place, then you will see Me.’ So when his Lord manifested (His) glory to the mountain, He sent it crashing down, and Moses fell down senseless. Then when he recovered, he said: ‘Glory be to You! I turn to You (repentant), and I am the first of the believers’.”

The Qur’ānic word /dakkah/ means ‘a level land’, and, therefore, in this verse the text means that the mountain was turned into dust so that it became level as the land.

That Divine Power, whatever it was, pounded the mountain into dust. Was it the great atomic power, or the power of waves, or some other mystic power? It is unknown.

There were two times that observing Allah was asked for. One time Moses (as) himself asked Allah to see His True Essense. Then, in answer to him (as), this very current verse was revealed and manifested that Moses (as) had not its capacity. The verse says:

“And when Moses came to Our appointed tryst and his Lord spoke with him, he said: ‘My Lord, show me (Yourself), that I may look towards You!’ He (Allah) said: ‘Never shall you see Me, but look towards the mountain: if it remains firm in its place, then you will see Me.’ So when his Lord manifested (His) glory to the mountain, He sent it crashing down, and Moses fell down senseless. Then when he recovered, he said: ‘Glory be to You! I turn to You (repentant), and I am the first of the believers’.”

Another time was when the Children of Israel were seeking the pretext, and ignorantly asked Moses to see Allah by the eyes of head. This meaning has been referred to in verse No.155 of the current Surah, which will be explained later.

This fact should be noted that Allah can never be seen by the outword eyes, neither in this world nor in the Hereafter. As the verse says:

“…‘Never shall you see Me,’…”

But He must be known by means of His effects, where His manifestations can be looked at. The verse says:

“…so when his Lord manifested (His) glory to the mountain, He sent it crashing down…”