The learned possess a great number of versions on this subject, but the best of all interpretations is that of the lord raís, the wise Abu Alí Síná, who declares: “So said the prophet of God, Muhammed, the selected (peace be upon him):[130] “One night I slept in the house of my father’s sister;[131] it was a night of thunder and lightning; no animal uttered a sound; no bird was singing; no man was awake; and I slept not, but was suspended between sleep and waking: the secret meaning of this might have been, that it was a long while before I became desirous of understanding the divine truth. Under the shield of the night, men enjoy greater freedom, as the occupations of the body and the dependence of the senses are broken. A sudden night fell then, and I was still between sleep and waking; that is, between reason and sensuality. I fell into the sea of knowledge; and it was a night with thunder and lightning, that is, the seven upper agents prevailed, so that the power of human courage and the power of imagination sunk from their operation, and inactivity manifested its ascendancy over activity. And lo! Jabrííl came down in a beautiful form, with much pomp, splendor, and magnificence, so that the house became illuminated; that is, the power of the holy spirit came upon me in the form of the command, and made such an impression upon me, that all the powers of the rational soul were renewed and enlightened by it. And what the prophet said in the description of Jabrííl, “to have seen him whiter than snow, with a lovely face, black hair, and on his forehead the inscription: ‘There is no God but one God;’ the light of his eyes charming, the eyebrows fine, having seventy thousand curls twisted of red rubies, and six hundred thousand pearls of a fine water,” that is, he possessed so many beauties in the eyes of pure reason, that if an impression of these beauties was made upon a sense, it was able to perceive those which have been described, and the purport of the words: “there is no God but one God,” appeared in a determined light: that is he whose eyes fall upon his perfections is removed from the darkness of infidelity, and doubt, and worldly connection; and in such a manner he feels himself fortified in the certitude of the Creator, and attains such a degree of virtue, that hereafter, upon whatsoever creature he looks, his faith in God’s unity will be enhanced by it. And such were the charms of the angel that, if one possessed seventy thousand curls, he would not attain to his beauty; and such was his rapidity, that thou wouldst have said, he was flying with six hundred wings and arms, so that his progress knew neither space nor time.” “What he said came upon me, and he took me to his bosom, and gave me kisses between the eyes, and said: ‘O thou sleeper, how long sleepest thou? rise!’ That is, when the power of holiness came upon me, it caressed me, opened the road of its revelation, and exalted me; a