Revelation in Islam

Abstract

Revelation (waḥy) plays an important role in the Islam based on the Quran. Muslims maintain that their Holy Book is the Word of God (Allah). The formation of Islamic concept of revelation was considerably influenced by two factors. One of them was the concept of revelation widely accepted in the Near East. Certain verses of the Quran themselves allude to the pre-Islamic Arabia religious tradition of inspiration. Islamic religious and philosophical thought developed various teachings of revelation. Among them were Peripatetic Arab School’s theory of revelation and Ibn Arabi’s Sufi doctrine of “Sainthood”. Muslim philosophers and mystics who philosophized rethought Abrahamic concept of revelation. Muslim Theology, moderate Sufism and Islamic traditionalism, however, generally rejected doctrines of revelation advanced by Peripatetic Arab School and philosophical Sufism.