involved
in revelation, the Quran and the earlier
revelations of the Torah, Psalms, and the g
ospel
are all believed to be earthly manifestations of
a heavenly book, known as “the mother of the
book” (umm al-kitab), “the preserved tablet” (al-
lawh al-mahfudh), and “the hidden writing” (
kitab
maknun). Muslims believe
that the Quran was not
sent down directly in the form of a physical book
of scripture, but that it was God’s speech, recited
(or read) to Muhammad. Only after Muhammad
died, according to conventional accounts, was it
assembled in the form of book.
Although some of the revelations Muhammad
had were of a visual nature, most were verbal. Pas-
sages in the Quran suggest that Muhammad had
a vision of God (Q 53:1–18). Others suggest that
g
abriel
was the conveyor of revelation, which
has become the conventional belief. According to
the
hadith
, on some occasions Muhammad saw
Gabriel approach as a young man and repeated
what he heard the
angel
say. The accounts of
Muhammad’s first revelation provided by the
Sira of i
bn
i
shaq
(d. 767) and Tabari’s history
(late ninth century) relate that while on retreat
in a mountain cave near Mecca he saw a supra-
mundane being, identified as Gabriel, who com-
manded him to recite the first lines of Sura 96.
When Muhammad expressed reluctance to recite,
the angel throttled and pressed upon him until
he accepted the call. After this he fled to his wife
k
hadiJa
who, together with her cousin Waraqa bin
Nawfal, confirmed the authenticity of his revela-
tory experience. Subsequent experiences of rev-
elation were less dramatic. The hadith relate that
instead of a vision Muhammad heard a sound like
a bell ringing or the buzzing of bees before hear-
ing the revealed message. He also received revela-
tion in the form of inspiration (wahy). Although
the sayings of Muhammad contained in the hadith
are not “revelations” per se, one group of them,
known as “sacred hadith,” contained divine state-
ments not found in the Quran that are credited
to Muhammad as the transmitter, unlike quranic
verses. The counterpart of quranic revelations that
“descended” upon Muhammad or were inspired
in him was his famed n
ight
J
oUrney
and
a
scent
,
an event during which he is said to have seen and
conversed with a number of former prophets,
angels, and God himself. The instructions for the
five daily prayers were given to him according to
conventional accounts of this event.
Although Muslims consider the Quran a
unique revelation, it is not the only kind of revela-
tion that has been claimed in Islamic history. Shii
Ulama
have attributed to their Imams the ability to
receive inspiration from God when a matter arose
that was not addressed in the Quran or Sunna.
They called this kind of inspiration ilham, and
sometimes wahy, a lesser kind of revelation than
that received by Muhammad. J
aaFar
al
-s
adiq
(d.
765), the sixth i
mam
, is credited with stating,
A messenger (
rasul) is one who sees an angel
who comes to him with the message from
his lord. He speaks with him just as one of
you would speak with your companion. And
the prophet (nabi) does not see the angel
but revelation (wahy) descends upon him
and he sees (the angel) in a vision . . . and
the speaker (the imam) hears the voice but
does not see anything (adapted from Momen
150).
The Shii Imams are
also identified with the
“signs” (ayat) of God mentioned in the Quran (for
example, Q 29:49–50; 36:46). This suggests that
they embody revelation.
A further elaboration of notions of revelation
occurred within the circles of the Sufis, the vir-
tuosos of Islamic mysticism. Many acknowledged
that saints could receive divine inspiration, called
ilham, but that this differed in kind and degree
from the kind of revelation received by prophets
(wahy, tanzil). In contrast to the Shia, some held
the view that this inspiration was meant for the
individual rather than the community as a whole,
though most saints were looked to as authorities
and examples to be emulated by their disciples and
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