All great appointments require preparation. When Allāh promised Musa a.s. a meeting to speak to him directly and to bestow upon him the Tawrāh, He appointed it after 40 days in total. (وَوَٰعَدْنَا مُوسَىٰ ثَلَـٰثِينَ لَيْلَةً وَأَتْمَمْنَـٰهَا بِعَشْرٍ فَتَمَّ مِيقَـٰتُ رَبِّهِۦٓ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً ۚ) (We appointed thirty nights for Moses, then added ten more: the term set by his Lord was completed in forty nights.) al-Aʿrāf:142 Sheikh ʿAbdur-Raḥmān as-Saʿdī said, “Thus these forty nights were for Musa a.s. to prepare…
