46 AN INTRODUCTION TO SUFI DOCTRINE

character not only as regards the mental picture but also
in the very sound of the phrases, in which the spiritual
power which made them ring out still vibrates.

In order to prevent any misunderstanding, it must
again be emphasised that this has no connection with
certain modern speculations about an unconscious
source from which a psychic impulse arises. What is
here called cosmic, in the traditional meaning of that
word, in no wise implies the unconscious, at any rate
as regards the principle which brings about such a
““descent.”’! Moreover, the traditional theory of the
revelation of the Quran is in essence the same as that of
the revelation of the Veda in Hinduism. The Veda, like
the Quran, subsists from all eternity in the Divine Intel-
lect and its ““descent ’ is brought about by virtue of the
primordiality of sound. The rishis, like the prophets,
received it by inspiration, visual and auditory, and
transmitted it just as they had seen and heard it without
any mental discrimination on their part. In this con-
nection it may be pertinent to refer to another Hindu
theory concerning revelation which can also help us to
understand certain characteristics of the Quran. Since
the revealed text has for its aim nothing but the know-
ledge of God the things of this world which it cites by
way of example or parable must be understood accord-
ing to ordinary experience, that is according to the

1. Revelation is * supernatural’ because it is divine, but in another
relationship it is also ‘“ natural.”” Even in the sensory domain there are events
which, though they are natural, break its ‘“ normal *’ continuity and are like
images of revelation. Lightning has already been mentioned : snow also is an
image of a divine ‘“ descent >’ that transfigures the world and wipes out its
impurities, expressing not s» much inspiration as a state of sanctity.