is a universal experience of the whole of humanity. The Holy Qur’ān tells us of the vision of a king, who was apparently not a believer in God (12:43) — a vision which had a deep underlying significance. This shows that, according to the Holy Qur’ān, revelation in its lower forms is the common experience of all mankind, of the unbeliever as well as the believer, of the sinner as well as of the saint.
The third kind, which is peculiar to the prophets of God, is that in which the angel (Gabriel) brings the Divine message in words. This is the surest and clearest form of revelation, and such was the revelation of the Holy Qur’ān to the Holy Prophet. This is called revelation that is recited in words (waḥy matluww). It is the highest and most developed form; and it was in this manner that revelation was granted to all the prophets of God in every nation.7 The revealed books are a record of this highest revelation, and technically the word revelation (waḥy) is applied to this form as distinguished from the lower forms.
Speaking of Adam, the Holy Qur’ān has stated the reason why revelation from God was needed, and the purpose which it fulfilled. Man had two objects before him, to conquer nature and to conquer self, to bring under his control the powers of nature and his own desire. In the story of Adam as the prototype of man, as related in the Qur’ān8, we are told that Adam was given the knowledge of things, that is to say that man was endowed with the capacity to obtain knowledge of all things; he was also gifted with the power to conquer nature, for the angels (beings controlling powers of nature) were made to submit to him; but Iblīs (the inciter of lower desires in man) did not make obeisance, and man fell a prey to his evil suggestions. Man was powerful against all, but weak against himself. He could attain perfection in one direction by his own exertions; he could conquer nature by his knowledge of things and the power granted to him; but the greater conquest and the greater perfection lay in the conquest of his inner self, and this conquest could only be brought about by a closer connection with the Divine Being. It was to make this perfection possible for him that revelation was needed. Thus,
8 See (2:30-38). I quote here the more important passages of this section: “And when thy Lord said to the angels, I am going to place a ruler in the earth, they said: Wilt Thou place in it such (beings) as make mischief in it and shed blood? And we celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy holiness. He said, Surely I know what you know not. And he taught Adam all the names (i.e., gave Adam knowledge of all things) … And when We said to the angels, Be submissive to Adam, they submitted but Iblīs did not. He refused and he was proud, and he was one of the disbelievers. And We said, O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the garden, and eat from it a plenteous (food) wherever you wish, and approach not this tree, lest you be of the unjust. But the devil made them slip from it, and caused them to depart from the state in which they were … Then Adam received (revealed) words from his Lord, and He turned to him mercifully. Surely He is Oft-returning to mercy, the Merciful. We said, Go forth from this state all, so surely there will come to you a guidance from Me, then whoever follows My guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve.” Light is thrown on this subject by what is stated elsewhere in the same connection: “And We indeed created you, then We fashioned you, then We said to the angels, Make submission to Adam. So they submitted except Iblīs; he was not of those who submitted … And We said: O Adam! dwell thou and thy wife in the garden … But the devil made an evil suggestion to them that he might make manifest to them that which had been hidden from them, of their shame” (7:11-20). The latter passage shows that in the story of Adam, the story is related of every son of man, that it was by his evil suggestion that the devil misled man and that this suggestion was in connection with man’s own evil inclination. This is made yet more clear by a warning to all sons of man: “O children of Adam! Let not the devil seduce you as he expelled your parents from the garden, pulling off from them their clothing that he might show them their shame. He surely sees you, he as well as his host, from whence you see them not” (7:27).
7 Some Muslims have been misled, by the Christian conception of revelation, into the belief that revelation means only an illumination of the mind, and that to say that God speaks is merely a metaphor, because it is only the recipient of the revelation who speaks under a certain Divine influence. Unfortunately, the original Gospel, the revelation of Jesus Christ, having been lost, there arose four men who at different periods wrote four gospels containing the life-story of Jesus together with remnants of his teachings. These were believed to have been written under Divine influence and therefore the Christian conception of revelation could go no further. According to the Holy Qur’ān, the illumination of the mind, or the inspiration of the mind of man with a certain idea, or, as it is called in the Holy Qur’ān, the putting of a hasty suggestion into the mind, is only the lowest form of revelation, common both to the prophet and to him who is not a prophet, the only difference being that, in the case of the prophet, it is a very clear idea while in the case of others it may be clear or vague, according to the capacity of the recipient. Revelation, in which words are communicated to the prophet through the angel Gabriel, is the highest and most developed form of revelation, while next to it in force and clarity come the words communicated to the righteous among the Muslims, or the visions shown to them.