REQUEST TO SEE THE LORD (VERSE NO. 143)

      This is another important verse that can teach us important lessons, and serve to increase our knowledge about God.

      Some of the ignorant Israelites told Moses that they would not believe in God unless they see him with their eyes! ``So when you go up on the mountain for supplication,'' they said: ``Convey our request to your Lord!''

      Although Moses was sure enough that he could never see Allah with his sense of sight, what did he think then? We don't know; but he did convey the Message of his ignorant people to his Lord, saying:

      ``My Lord! Show me that I may look upon you.''

      He said: ``You shall never see Me; but look at the mountain! Then if it stayed firm in its place, soon may you see Me. But when his Lord manifested to the mountain, He crushed it to dust, and Moses fell into a swoon.''

      When Allah manifested a little of His Glorious Power to the huge mountain, it trembled and the stony top of it turned to dust and soil, and Moses (AS) fell down into a swoon. The ignorant Isralelites who wanted to see God with their eyes, were on watch at the foot of the mountain. When they heard the thunder and the trumpet blast, and saw the lightning and the smoking mountain, they trembled with fear and stood a long way off. (EXODUS 20: 18)

      This incident proved that even the reflected Glory of God is too great for the strongest and stoutest of the material objects to withstand in our world!