This term is sometimes used to reference common individuals...

This term is sometimes used to reference common individuals: ﴿ وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى أُمِّ مُوسَى أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ وَلا تَخَافِي وَلا تَحْزَنِي إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ ﴾ “We revealed to Moses’ mother, [saying], ‘Nurse him; then, when you fear for him, cast him into the river, and do not fear nor grieve, for We will restore him to you and make him one of the apostles.” [^2] There are also times when it is applied to animals: ﴿ وَأَوْحَى رَبُّكَ إِلَى النَّحْلِ أَنِ اتَّخِذِي مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا وَمِنَ الشَّجَرِ وَمِمَّا يَعْرِشُونَ ﴾ “And your Lord revealed to the bee [saying]: Make your home in the mountains, and on the trees and the trellises that they erect.” [^3] Even inanimate objects sometimes receive “divine revelation”: ﴿ يَوْمَئِذٍ تُحَدِّثُ أَخْبَارَهَا ٭ بِأَنَّ رَبَّكَ أَوْحَى لَهَا ﴾ “On that day she (the earth) will relate her chronicles for her Lord will have inspired her.” [^4] The meaning of waḥī common in all these verses is “guidance or instruction which is hidden from others.” God “guides” the mother of Mūsā (Moses) ( ‘a ), the honeybee and the earth, but we do not fully understand the nature of this “guidance”.

There is also the guidance for mankind through revelation to special individuals chosen for this purpose: ﴿ إِنَّا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ كَمَا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى نُوحٍ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالأسْبَاطِ وَعِيسَى وَأَيُّوبَ وَيُونُسَ وَهَارُونَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُدَ زَبُورًا ﴾ “We have indeed revealed to you as We revealed to Noah and the prophets after him, and [as] We revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, Jesus and Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon—and We gave David the Psalms.” [^5] Our analysis or knowledge of revelation is only based on the prophets’ ( ‘a ) descriptions of it.