he in the first part of the report. In both cases the Holy Prophet was transported, as it were, to another world, and this transportation caused him to go through a severe experience which made him perspire even on a cold day, but this experience was harder still when the deliverer of the message did not appear in human shape and there remained no affinity between the deliverer and the recipient. But whether the angel appeared in human shape or not, whether the message was delivered in a hard or soft tone, the one thing certain is that it was a message delivered in words; and the Quranic revelation is thus entirely one message delivered in one form. It should be noted that the Holy Prophet often received the message while sitting with his companions, but the latter never saw the angel nor ever heard the words of revelation.10 It was, therefore, with other than the normal human senses that the Holy Prophet saw the angel and heard his words, and it was really the granting of these other senses that is called transportation to another world.
Though the Holy Qur’ān was revealed in portions, yet it is a mistake to suppose that it remained long in that fragmentary condition. As its name implies, it was a book from the first, and though it could not be complete until the last verse was revealed, it was never without some form of arrangement. There is the clearest testimony, internal as well as external, that every single verse or part of a verse and every chapter that was revealed had its own definite place in the Book.11 The Holy Qur’ān is itself clear on this point: “And those who disbelieve say: Why has not the Holy Qur’ān been revealed to him all at once? Thus (it is) that We may strengthen thy heart by it, and We have arranged it well in arranging” (25:32). The arrangement of the Holy Qur’ān was thus a part of the Divine scheme. Another verse showing that the collection of the Book was a part of the Divine scheme runs thus: “Surely on Us rests the collection of it and the reciting of it” (75:17). It appears from this that just as the Holy Qur’ān was recited by Gabriel to the Holy Prophet, in like manner, the collecting of its various parts was effected by the Holy Prophet under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. History also bears testimony to the
10 There is only one report which seems to convey the idea that the Companions who were sitting with the Holy Prophet once saw Gabriel in human shape, but that incident is not related in connection with a Quranic revelation. A certain man, according to that report, whom no one recognized, came to the Holy Prophet and asked him several questions about īmān, Islām and iḥsān, and lastly, when the Hour would come. He then disappeared and the Holy Prophet is reported to have said: “That was Gabriel who came to teach you your religion.” (Bu. 2:37). These words might mean that the answers given by him were of Gabriel’s teachings, not that the man who put the questions was Gabriel.
11 This subject has been fully dealt with in a separate booklet, in the Holy Qur’ān series, Collection and Arrangement of the Holy Qur’ān.