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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Qur'an and Hadith Chapter One : Revelation 1.Meaning of Wahyi & Ilham "WAHYI" (وحي) literally means inspiration, revelation suggestion, to point out a thing to someone, to put a thing into the mind of someone secretly; letter, writing: something revealed or written or the idea inspired or revealed; saying; commandment; to dispatch a messenger to someone; to speak with someone secretly; to urge; voice.

In Islamic terminology, wahyi means communication of idea, command and information from Allah to a chosen human being, conveyed either directly or through supernatural agencies like angels. "ILHAM" (الهام) literally means to inspire: to put a thought or an idea into the mind of someone. In Islamic terminology, ILHAM means inspiration of an idea or information from Allah to any chosen person.

It will appear from above that while ILHAM is limited to unspoken and unwritten inspiration, WAHYI is used for spoken as well as unspoken and written as well as unwritten inspiration and revelation. Every religion which believes in God believes in revelation.

2.modes of Revelation According to the Qur'an, there are three basic methods of revelation: "It is not possible for a man that he should receive the message of Allah except either by inspiration or from behind a curtain, or Allah sends angels and the angels bring the message of Allah, whatever Allah wishes. Verily Allah is High, Omniscient". (42-51). INSPIRATION There are two types of inspirations; 1.True Dreams; this method is not new.

There are at least four instances in the Bible where Israeli prophets received the divine message in dreams. The Dictionary of the Bible records under the word "Dream" about divine dreams: "Dreams, employed by God for the purpose of His Kingdom… they are (a) intended to effect the spiritual life of individuals; (b) Directive and prophetic dreams… they seem to have carried with them credentials of their divine origin".

Our (s.a.w) even before he was commanded to proclaim his prophethood, used to receive divine messages through this medium. In later days, he saw two dreams, which are mentioned in the Qur'an. In the first dream, he saw that the Umayyads were climbing his pulpit like monkeys. He was so grieved by that dream that he did not smile from then on till his last breath. This sorrow was based upon the sure knowledge that Umayyads would destroy his religion, as they actually did.