Revelation signifies the opening of a window to the unseen...

Revelation signifies the opening of a window to the unseen world and new horizons of the heaven of meaning to the prophets ( ‘a ).

Nubūgh means extraordinary intelligence which makes some individuals understand certain “truths” without undergoing the normal pertinent learning processes. However, these types of “truths” are those that could be grasped by the intellect, not truths that are grasped as a result of the opening of new windows. Genius is like one who has extraordinary senses and can easily sense or feel what others could sense or feel with difficulty.

A prophet, on the other hand, is one who has normal senses like all people, in which geniuses are also included; however, in addition he has another sense endowed by God which the others including the geniuses do not have. Contrary to waḥī , some may acquire mystical intuition [ kashf ] or witnessing [ shuhūd ] as a result of contentment that stems from man himself.

If man were to focus his attention on his soul and after some time control his mutinous soul, he would perceive some truths within the depths of his self which others cannot perceive. He does not acquire these truths from others. Instead, control of the self effaces the indignation in his heart and uncovers the hidden truths within it. In regard to waḥī , however, the prophet only serves as the receiver of the message. He is an addressee of one who talks to with him.

It is said that Jibra’īl (Archangel Gabriel) ( ‘a ) was teaching the Prophet (ṣ): ﴿ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَى ٭ عَلَّمَهُ شَدِيدُ الْقُوَى ﴾ “It is just a revelation that is revealed [to him], taught him by One of great powers.” [^7] The prophets ( ‘a ) knew very well that somebody else was teaching them what to say, and on many occasions they could see their teacher, who was an angel of God (Jibra’īl) ( ‘a ). However, with kashf and shuhūd , this is not the case.

It is this pure perception which protects waḥī from any sort of mixture with human words.