The Qur’an and Revelation

The Qur’an & Revelation

Terminology & Core Concepts

  • Waḥy (وحي)
    • Literally “inspiration / divine communication.”
    • Central Qur’ānic term for revelation; denotes information that reaches a human recipient from God in a manner inaccessible to normal sense perception.
  • Qur’ān (القرآن)
    • Considered identical to revelation; the Arabic wording is viewed as the exact, unaltered speech of God.
    • Article of faith: Belief in “Books revealed by God” is one of the six foundational pillars of Islam.
  • Revelation v. Prophecy
    • Revelation = God’s speech or will communicated.
    • Prophecy = the office or function of one who receives revelation and conveys it.

Nature of Revelation in Islam

  • Divine origin & verbal exactness
    • “Qur’ān is verbally revealed, not merely its meaning or ideas.”
    • Arabic language is the vessel chosen by God; thus, divine speech manifests inside a human linguistic and social context.
  • Metaphors used by the Prophet
    • Sound “like the ringing of a bell.”
    • Experiencing presence/vision of the angel Gabriel (Jibrīl).
  • Centrality
    • Memorized, recited daily; forms the heart of ritual devotion.

Principal Modes / Forms of Revelation (Islamic taxonomy)

  1. Direct, non-mediated communication
    • Recipient comprehends without sound or sensory contact.
  2. Speech from behind a veil
    • Example: Prophet Mūsā (Moses) at Sinai; hears God but does not see Him.
  3. Through a messenger (most Qur’ānic waḥy)
    • Angel Gabriel conveys words in Arabic that the Prophet understands instantly.

Prophet Muḥammad’s Revelatory Experience

  • Prelude
    • Series of vivid dreams & heightened premonitions.
  • First revelation (cave of Ḥirāʾ)
    • Command: “Iqraʾ — Read/Recite.”
    • Prophet replies: “I cannot recite,” grasped tightly three times.
    • Angel then recites the first five verses of Sūrah 9696 (al-ʿAlaq):
      > “Read in the name of your Lord who created… taught by the pen… taught man what he knew not.”
  • After-effects
    • Trembling, rush home; reassurance “Lā takhaf — Do not fear.”

Spoken Word vs Written Word

  • Qur’ān self-described as “spoken.”
  • Simultaneously, early verses connect revelation to “the pen,” anticipating eventual inscription.
  • By the Prophet’s death, Qur’ānic passages already treated as sacred scripture; complete compilation occurred post-mortem.

Qur’ānic Self-Assertions

  • Sūrah Yūnus 10:37–3810:37\text{–}38 challenges doubters:

“Produce a sūrah like it…”

  • Categorically denies prophetic authorship; insists on separateness of the Messenger from the divine source, eliminating possibility of human error.

A Broader Framework for Understanding Revelation

  1. God’s will (not essence) disclosed to Muḥammad through Gabriel in Arabic.
  2. Clear otherness: God’s Word ≠ Prophet’s word.
  3. Termination: Revelation ceases at Prophet’s death; no new waḥy afterwards.
  4. Timelessness & transcendence: Revelation is independent of socio-historical flux yet engages it.

Four Levels of Revelation (Saeed)

  • Level 1 – Unseen Realm
    • Preserved Tablet, heavens, Gabriel → beyond human comprehension.
  • Level 2 – Prophetic Utterance
    • Spoken to 7th-century Arabian society; shaped by context yet addresses all humankind.
  • Level 3 – Social Text
    • Written down, memorized, recited; integrated into daily Muslim life; variably performed in societies.
  • Level 4 – Ongoing Interpretation
    • Communities continually elaborate meaning; divine guidance remains available to those who seek justice.

Possibility of Revelation / Inspiration Beyond Prophets

  • Common human experiences
    • Intuition, “sixth sense,” righteous dreams.
  • Dreams taxonomy
    • From God, from self, from Satan (confusing visions).
    • Prophetic-quality dreams: 146\frac{1}{46} of prophethood.
  • Ideas / ilhām
    • Inspirations granted to learned individuals without conscious intellectual process.
  • Historical continuity: God’s messages to a chain of messengers across eras.

Comparative Scriptural Views

Judaism
  • God is self-disclosing; seeks relationship.
  • Revelation via prophets: “When they speak, ‘It is I, Yahveh, who speak.’”
  • Emphasizes deity’s deeds, words, intentions for nation & humanity.
Christianity
  • Revelation = self-communication in Jesus Christ—supreme, unsurpassable.
  • Old Testament a “vehicle,” but fullness in the Son: God reconciles humankind to Himself through Christ.

Western Scholarship & Waḥy

  • Spectrum: from respectful literary study to radical historical-critical challenges.
  • Scholars must be read with awareness of cultural subjectivities & biases.
Gerd Puin
  • Studied ~15,00015,000 Yemeni palimpsest fragments (discovered 19721972).
  • Claims:
    • Variant orderings & textual differences show the Qur’ān “has a history.”
    • Perhaps “a cocktail of texts,” some older than Islam by up to 100100 years.
    • Estimates ≈20%\approx 20\% of text “incomprehensible.”
  • Aim: open discourse devoid of presupposition that Qur’ān is “just God’s unaltered word.”
Richard Bell (d. 1952) & W. Montgomery Watt (d. 2006)
  • Bell:
    • Qur’ān a complex literary product; based on written materials from Prophet’s lifetime.
    • Believed substantial editorial activity during Muḥammad’s final Madīnan years (“Book Period”).
  • Watt:
    • Accepted divine inspiration but contextualized: Word of God for a particular time & place.
    • Drew analogy with the Bible’s culturally bound commands.

Ethical & Practical Implications

  • Understanding revelation shapes legal application, interfaith dialogue, and contemporary interpretation.
  • Maintaining transcendence plus contextual engagement allows a living, dynamic Qur’ānic ethic.

Reference & Further Resources

  • Abdullah Saeed, The Qur’an: An Introduction (Routledge, 20082008).
  • Lecture code: RKQS 1371 – Introduction to Qur’an.
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