Wahy

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Wahy is the Arabic word for revelation. In Islamic context, it refers to the revelations and inspirations of God (Arabic: Allah) to his prophets, for all humankind. In Islam, the Qur'an is considered a Wahy given to Muhammad.

1 Awha
2 The origin of the Qur'an and the question of sincerity of Muhammad
- 2.1 Reports of graphical descriptions of Muhammad at the moments of inspiration
3 See also
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Awha

The word awha occurs in a number of shades of meaning in the Qur'an, each of them indicating the main underlying idea of inspiration directing or guiding someone. The word 'wahy' (revelation) is derived from awha.

[edit] The origin of the Qur'an and the question of sincerity of Muhammad

A number of historians have addressed the question of whether Muhammad was sincere when he reported receiving revelations. Around a hundred years ago, Thomas Carlyle in his lectures On Heroes vigorously alleged that Muhammad was "an impostor, who to satisfy his ambition and his lust propagated religious teachings which he himself knew to be false."^[1] The contemporary historians reject this interpretation and say that as far as can be ascertained Muhammad did believe that he was hearing the word of God. ^[2] ^[3]

According to Rudi Paret, "The accusation of dishonesty which has been laid down against the Prophet time and again over the centuries up to the most recent times with varying degrees of vehemence is relatively easy to refute." Annemarie Schimmel states that most recent studies of Muhammad indicate that Muhammad devoutly believed that he was God's instrument. William Montgomery Watt argues that only Muhammad's sincerety can explain his "readiness to endure hardship and persecution during the Meccan period when from a secular point of view there was no prospect of success."^[1]

William Montgomery Watt presents the following possibilities for the sources of Qur'an: ^[2],

Sometimes he [Muhammad] may have heard the words being spoken to him, but for most part he seems simply to have "found them in his heart". Whatever the precise "manner of revelation"-and several different 'manners' were listed by Muslim scholars- the important point is that the message was not the product of Muhammad's conscious mind. He believed he could easily distinguish between his own thinking and these revelations. His sincerty in this belief must be accepted by the modern historian, for this alone makes credible the development of a great religion. The further question, however, whether the messages came from Muhammad's conscious, or the collective uncounscious functioning in him, or from some divine source, is beyong the competence of the historian.

[edit] Reports of graphical descriptions of Muhammad at the moments of inspiration

Muhammad is reported to have mysterious seizures at the moments of inspiration. Welch, a scholar of Islamic studies, in Encyclopedia of Islam states that the graphic descriptions of Muhammad's condition at these moments may be regarded as genuine, since they are unlikely to have been invented by later Muslims. According to Welch, these seizures should have been the most convincing evidence for the superhuman origin of Muhammad's inspirations for people around him. Muhammad's enemies however accused him as one possessed, a soothsayer, or a magician since these experiences made an impression similar to those soothsayer figures well known in ancient Arabia. Welch states it remains uncertain whether Muhammad had such experiences before he began to see himself as a prophet and if so how long did he have such experiences. ^[4]