Revelation
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Revelation in monotheism is the medium by which a god, such as the Islamic Allah, is claimed to communicate his word to his prophets and followers so that they may inform the people of his will, what he wants from them and what they must do for him in order to be saved from eternal damnation or otherwise reprieved from his wrath.
Revealed Books according to the Islamic tradition
Throughout history, the Qur'an claims, Allah has sent four books as revelations. These are:
1. Taurat: This was revealed to Musa (Moses) and was sent by Allah for the Jews to follow.
2. Zabur: This was revealed to David and is known as the Book of Psalms in today's Bible.
3. Injil: This was revealed to Isa (Jesus) and was sent by Allah for the Jews and non-Jews. Although in reality there many gospels some in and some outside of the Bible, the Qur'an treats the Injil as though it were a single book.
4. Qur'an: This was revealed from the Angel Jibreel (Gabriel) to Muhammad. Muslims claim that the Qur'an is for all mankind to follow for all times. It allegedly 'confirms' all of the books that came before it.
The Quran also implies in surah 87:18-19 that a book was revealed to Abraham[1] though the Qur'an offers no further detail and it is not readily apparent to which book the Qur'an is referring here.
Method of Revelation
The method of Revelation in the Abrahamic religions (Judaism/Christianity/Islam) usually took the form of internal inspiration, that is, those who wrote the texts and heard the voice of God, heard it in their heads and there was usually no external indication of the inspiration/message. There are of course, exceptions such as the Talmudic tradition that YHVH narrated each word of the Torah to Moses.
Muhammad's Revelations
According to the traditional narrative, the Qur'an was a continuous revelation, formed over 23 years. Muhammad received these 'revelations' sometimes through an angel that came to him in the shape of a man, and on other occasions whilst he was having a seizure, and the inspiration was like 'a bell clanging in his head.'
Angels and Satan
Despite the fact that Muhammad's revelations were like bells, hadith exist to the effect that bells are "the musical instrument of the Satan."
See Also
- Muhammad's Revelations - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Muhammad's Revelations
- ↑ "And this is in the Books of the earliest (Revelation),- The Books of Abraham and Moses.Quran 87:18-19