The Third Verse: [“And it is not for any human that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil or that He sends a messenger to reveal, by His permission, what He wills. Indeed, He is Most High, Most Wise.”] 1
Footnotes
1Surah Ash-Shura – Verse 51.From Abu Abd Allah—Exalted is His might—who said: "The Messenger of Allah—Exalted is His might—conferred privately with Ali on the day of Ta'if. His companions said: 'You conferred privately with Ali from among us, and he is the youngest of us in age.' He said: 'It is not I who is conferring with him; rather, it is Allah who is conferring with him.'" (Source: Basa'ir al-Darajat)From Jabir bin Abd Allah who said: "On the day of Ta'if, the Messenger of Allah conferred privately with Ali. Abu Bakr and Umar said: 'He conferred with him privately instead of us.' He said: 'It is not I who is conferring with him; rather, it is Allah who is conferring with him.'" (Source: Basa'ir al-Darajat)Muhammad bin al-Husayn, from Ja'far bin Bashir and Ibn Faddal, from Muthanna al-Hannat, from Mansur bin Hazim, from Abu Abd Allah who said: "The Messenger of Allah conferred privately with Ali on the day of Ta'if. His companions said: 'You conferred privately with Ali from among us, and he is the youngest of us in age.' He said: 'It is not I who is conferring with him; rather, it is Allah who is conferring with him.'" (Source: Al-Ikhtisas by Al-Mufid)In this narration, there is clear and manifest evidence that Allah speaks from behind the veil of humanity, and the veil is the visible form. Secondly, the Master Muhammad—Exalted is His might—indicated his own self by his saying: "Rather, it is Allah who is conferring with him," because he is the Name—Majestic is His praise—and he is the Messenger who confers with the Sent-One, and the meaning is the Commander of the Faithful—Exalted is His might. At the end of the noble verse, He points to the Revealer by His saying: "Indeed, He is Most High, Most Wise." This is a direct declaration, not an allusion, for those who possess intellects and insight. As for what is reported in the books of the Unitarians (al-Muwahhidin), from Jabir bin Abd Allah al-Ansari, he said: "The Messenger of Allah conferred privately with the Commander of the Faithful—Exalted is His might—at Ta'if. They questioned him about that, and he said: 'It is not [merely] the son of Abi Talib as you have seen him to be; rather, [it is] Allah, my Lord and my God.'" (Source: Haqa'iq Asrar al-Din)