http:\/\/maxwellinstitute.byu.edu\/publications\/books\/?bookid=46&chapid=253<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the hadith<\/em>:<\/p>\nSeeing God and the sun on the horizon.<\/p>\n
Moses and God\u2019s index finger.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Watt and Bell, 23, there are four phases in Muhammad\u2019s understanding of revelation:<\/p>\n
\n- God himself appears and speaks.<\/li>\n
- A spirit implanted within him speaks.<\/li>\n
- Angels and intermediaries speak.<\/li>\n
- Gabriel is the angelic intermediary who speaks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth the visible appearance of God and the hearing of his voice are excluded by 42.51\/0:\u00a0 \u2018it is not fitting for any human being that God should speak to him except by \u201crevelation\u201d [illa wahyan<\/em>] or from behind a veil [hijab<\/em>], or by sending a messenger to \u201creveal\u201d [fa-yuuhiya<\/em>] by his permission what he will\u2019\u201d (Watt and Bell 19-20).<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Arabic verb and noun, awha<\/em> and wahy<\/em>, have become the technical terms of Islamic theology for the communication of the messages or revelations to Muhammad\u201d (Watt and Bell, 20).<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bell\u2019s translation renders awha\/yuuhi<\/em> as \u201cto suggest.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
But, in the Qur\u2019an, the word awha<\/em> is also used in 19:11\/12 with regard to Zechariah or Zacharias, who had been stricken dumb, making a \u201csign\u201d or \u201cindicating\u201d to the people that they should glorify God.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Satans or demons among jinn and men \u201csuggest\u201d specious ideas to one another, according to 6:112.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moreover, the recipient of wahy<\/em> from God isn\u2019t always a prophet, nor even human.\u00a0 In 16:68\/70, God \u201csuggests\u201d to the bee to take houses for herself in the hills and trees and in the arbors that men erect.\u00a0 At the Last Day, according to 99:2-5, the earth will yield up its burdens because its Lord has \u201csuggested\u201d that it do this.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 41:12\/11, God \u201csuggested\u201d its specific function to each of the seven heavens.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even when the recipient of wahy<\/em> is a human prophet, the \u201csuggestion\u201d may not be a verbal revelation, but, rather, a practical course of action.\u00a0 Something to do, not something to say.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 11:36\/8 and 23:27, for example, it is \u201csuggested\u201d to Noah that he build the ark, and he is to build it under God\u2019s eyes and at God\u2019s \u201csuggestion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
To Moses, it is \u201csuggested\u201d that he set out with his people by night (20:77\/9; 26:52), strike the sea with his staff (26:63), strike the rock with his staff ((7:160).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
To Muhammad himself, it is \u201csuggested\u201d that he should follow the religion of Abraham (16:123\/4).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, these practical \u201csuggestions\u201d are often formulated in direct speech, as if a form of words had been put into a person\u2019s mind (see, for example, 17:39\/41 and the verses preceding it).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sometimes, the terms appear with reference to doctrine rather than conduct.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cyour God is one God\u201d (18:100; 21:108; 41:6\/5\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually the formula is short, the sort of phrase which after consideration of a matter might flash into a person\u2019s mind as the final summing up and solution of it. . . .\u00a0 The fundamental sense of the word as used in the Qur\u2019an seems to be the communication of an idea by some quick suggestion or prompting<\/em>, or, as we might say, by a flash of inspiration.\u00a0 This agrees with examples given in the dictionaries (such as Lisan al-\u2018Arab<\/em>, s.v.) where it is implied that haste or quickness is part of the connotation of the root\u201d (Watt and Bell, 20-21).<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are, however, a few passages in which the verb seems to refer to the communication of relatively lengthy matters to the Prophet.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
For example, in 12:102\/3 the phrase \u201cstories of what is unseen [or absent]\u201d may refer to the entire story of Joseph.\u00a0 \u201cEven in such passages, however, the actual verbal communication of the stories is not certainly implied\u201d (Watt and Bell, 21).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAn explanation of the frequent use of this term in connection with the Prophet\u2019s inspiration might be that there was something short and sudden about it.\u00a0 If Muhammad was one of those brooding spirits to whom, after a longer or shorter period of intense absorption in a problem, the solution comes in a flash, as if by suggestion from without, then the Qur\u2019anic use of the word becomes intelligible.\u00a0 Nor is this merely a supposition.\u00a0 There is evidence to show that the Prophet, accessible enough in the ordinary intercourse of men, had something withdrawn and separate about him.\u00a0 In the ultimate issue he took counsel with himself and followed his own decisions.\u00a0 If decisions did come to him in this way, it was perhaps natural that he should attribute them to outside suggestion\u201d (Watt and Bell, 21).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Richard Bell hypothesized that \u201coriginally the wahy<\/em> was a prompting or command to speak.\u00a0 The general content of the utterance was perhaps \u2018revealed\u2019 from without, but it was left to Muhammad himself to find the precise words in which to speak\u201d (Watt and Bell, 22).<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSura 73.1-8 was interpreted by Bell of the Prophet taking trouble over the work of composing the Qur\u2019an, choosing the night-hours as being \u2018strongest in impression and most just in speech\u2019, that is, the time when ideas are clearest and when fitting words are most readily found\u201d (Watt and Bell, 22).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA similar experience when after effort and meditation the words in the end came easily as if by inspiration, may well have led him to extend to the actual words of his deliverances this idea of suggestion from without\u201d (Watt and Bell, 22).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA curious isolated passage\u00a0 [75:16-19] seems to encourage him to cultivate this deliberately: \u2018Move not thy tongue that thou mayest do it quickly; ours it is to collect it and recite it; when we recite it follow thou the recitation; then ours it is to explain it\u2019.\u00a0 This has always been taken as referring to the reception of the Qur\u2019an, and if we try to get behind the usual mechanical interpretation we can picture Muhammad in the throes of composition.\u00a0 He has been seeking words which will flow and rhyme and express his meaning, repeating phrases audibly to himself, trying to force the continuation before the whole has become clear.\u00a0 He is here admonished that this is not the way; he must not \u2018press\u2019, but wait for the inspiration which will give the words without this impatient effort to find them.\u00a0 When his mind has calmed, and the whole has taken shape, the words will come; and when they do come, he must take them as they are given him.\u00a0 If they are somewhat cryptic\u2014as they may well happen to be\u2014they can be explained later\u201d (Watt and Bell, 22).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that be the proper interpretation of the passage, it throws light on a characteristic of the Qur\u2019an which has often been remarked on, namely, its disjointedness.\u00a0 For passages composed in such fashion must almost of necessity be comparatively short\u201d (Watt and Bell, 22).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some such way, then, Muhammad\u2019s claim to inspiration might be understood.\u00a0 It has analogies to the experience which poets refer to as the coming of the muse, or more closely to what religious people describe as the coming of guidance after meditation and waiting upon God\u201d (Watt and Bell, 22).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Muhammad was genuinely convinced that his inspiration came from God (Watt and Bell, 23, 24-25).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But he may also have been aware of the danger that his \u201cinspiration\u201d could come from a non-divine source\u2014e.g., from the devil or even from within himself.\u00a0 He had to be reassured that he was not majnun<\/em> (that is to say, not mad, or not jinn<\/em>-possessed).<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The matter of the \u201cSatanic verses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is a danger of trying to hasten things.\u00a0 (See 18:24.)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some questions should perhaps not even be asked.\u00a0\u00a0 (See 5:101; 22:52.)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
A\u2018isha\u2019s complaint that the Lord hastens to do Muhammad\u2019s desire (Watt and Bell, 24).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But there are revelations that criticize him, that urge him to do things he didn\u2019t want to do (Watt and Bell, 24).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nazzala<\/em> and anzala<\/em> also need to be examined, though.\u00a0 They are three times as common as awha<\/em>.\u00a0 Bell\u2019s hypothesis doesn\u2019t account for them.\u00a0 But they\u2019re probably compatible with his hypothesis about wahy<\/em>.\u00a0 (Watt and Bell, 24.)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Park City, Utah<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 *** \u00a0 \u201cThe great religious leaders of the world such as Mohammed, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of God\u2019s light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[22411,22396,2181,870,8160,1809,22405,6891,14955,14952,22435,22438,764,14786,66,2950,3973,2905,1812,1815,22381,22384,8394,189,22429,788,55,1667,186,1769,22414,22423,22426,5286,1637,82,15397,22402,22387,3967,22393,7647,20092,16046,22420,22417,22441,22390,22432,22408,6558,22399],"class_list":["post-90874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-awha","tag-bell-and-watt","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-christians","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-edinburgh","tag-first-presidency","tag-inerrancy","tag-inerrant","tag-infallibility","tag-infallible","tag-inspiration","tag-inspired","tag-islam","tag-islamic","tag-kimball","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-latter-day-saints","tag-lds","tag-mohamad","tag-mohamed","tag-mohammad","tag-mohammed","tag-montgomery-watt","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-mormons","tag-muhammad","tag-muslim","tag-nazzala","tag-nuzul","tag-nuzuul","tag-president","tag-prophet","tag-quran","tag-quranic","tag-r-bell","tag-revealed","tag-revelation","tag-richard-bell","tag-spencer","tag-spencer-kimball","tag-spencer-w-kimball","tag-tanzeel","tag-tanzil","tag-verbal","tag-w-m-watt","tag-w-montgomery-watt","tag-wahy","tag-watt","tag-watt-and-bell"],"yoast_head":"\n
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