Islām this is called “revelation that is recited” (waḥy matluww) and the Holy Qur’ān was, from beginning to end, delivered in this form to the Holy Prophet, as the quotations earlier given from the Book itself make it abundantly clear. It does not contain any other form of revelation. It is in its entirety waḥy matluww or revelation recited to the Holy Prophet distinctly in words, and is thus wholly the highest form of Divine revelation.
As stated above, prophets also received the lower forms of Divine revelation. For example, we are told in reports that before the higher message came to the Holy Prophet Muḥammad — i.e., before he received the first Quranic revelation — he used to have clear and true visions. “The first of revelations that came to the Messenger of Allāh were good visions so that he did not see a vision but it came out true as the dawn of the day” (Bu. 1:1). The Holy Prophet’s hearing of certain voices as mentioned in the Ḥadīth7 belongs to the same category, while the details of laws as expounded by him, and as met with in his Sunnah,8 belong to the first form of revelation, an idea instilled into the mind. This is called “inner revelation” (waḥy khafiyy). In the lower forms, revelation is still granted to the righteous from among the followers of the Holy Prophet and even to others, for, as will be shown later, in the lowest form revelation is the universal experience of humanity. There is also a difference as to the method in which the different kinds of revelation are received. While the two lower forms of revelation involve but little change in the normal condition of a man, whether awake or asleep, and he is only occasionally transported to a state of trance, the highest form, which is that peculiar to the prophets, brings with it a violent change; it does, in fact, require a real passing from one world to the other, while the recipient is in a state of perfect wakefulness, and the burden of revelation is not only felt by him but is also visible to those who see him.
The Holy Prophet first experienced the higher revelation while he
7 Ḥadīth, Sayings of the Holy Prophet.
8 Sunnah, Practice or doings of the Holy Prophet.