132. The allusion here is to the event which took place when Moses proclaimed
God's Divine Law at the foot of Mount Sinai.
Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God; and they took their
stand at the foot of the mountain. And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because
the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke
of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. (Exodus 19: 17-18.)
This awesome atmosphere was created by God at the time when He made the people
of Israel enter into a covenant with Him in order to impress upon them the gravity
of the event and the supreme importance of the covenant. It should not be mistakenly
assumed, however, that the people of Israel, who were reluctant to make the
covenant, were forced to enter into it. In fact they were all believers and
had gone to the Mount merely to make the covenant. The extraordinary conditions
which God created were such as to make the Israelites realize that making a
covenant with God was not an ordinary matter. They were rather made to feel
that they were entering into a covenant with none other than Almighty God and
that violating it could spell their disaster.
This concludes the discourse especially addressed to the Israelites. From here
on the discourse is directed to all mankind, and particularly to the people
whom the Prophet (peace be on him) addressed directly.