and nurture them through it.” The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“I spend the night with my Lord, who feeds me and gives me drink.”

Allah Most High has told us that the Quran is a healing for what is in the hearts. Yet people’s hearts and bodies need nourishment even more than they need healing. In the two Sahīh collections, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The guidance and knowledge with which Allah has sent me are like rain falling upon land. One part retained the water and produced abundant pasture and grass. Another part retained the water, so people drank from it and used it for watering and cultivation. Another part was merely barren, level ground that neither retained water nor produced pasture. Such is the likeness of one who gains understanding of Allah’s religion and benefits from the guidance and knowledge with which Allah has sent me, and the likeness of one who pays it no heed and does not accept Allah’s guidance with which I was sent.”

He thus explained that what he was sent with is to hearts what water is to the earth: sometimes it drinks it in and produces growth, sometimes it retains it, and sometimes it does neither. The earth drinks water and is nourished by it until it yields its bounty. Allah Most High has also told us that it is a spirit through which hearts come to life. He said:

“And thus We have revealed to you a spirit by Our command. You did not know what the Book was, nor faith, but We made it a light by which We guide whom We will of Our servants. And indeed, you guide to a straight path.”

Since what He reveals to His servants is sometimes conveyed through an angel and sometimes without an intermediary, this applies to all believers without exception; it is not exclusive to the prophets. He said: