As evident, the disclosure of the Quran to our Master was in the form of Divine Revelation. Revelation occurred in eight different forms.
Let us now explore these…
The first form: As authentic dreams. As per the hadith narrated above, during the first six months of Nubuwwah our Master saw authentic dreams that actualized exactly as he saw them the next day. In fact, sometimes revelations were disclosed to him directly in his dreams…
The second form: In hypnagogia (the transitional state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep). In this state the angel Gabriel would inspire the verses to Muhammad’s heart without exposing himself. As a matter of fact:
Abu Umamah reports that the Rasul said, “Ruhul Qudus (angel Gabriel) blew into my heart that no soul will ever die until it has fully received its provision. Therefore, seek your provision in a good way. Let not delay in the provision coming your way lead one of you to seek it by sinful means; because what Allah will not grant what is with Him except through obedience.” (Majma’ azZawaa’id)
The third form: Gabriel would appear in the form of a human and convey the verses to him. The angel generally preferred to take the form of Dihyah ibn Khalifah al-Kalbi, an extraordinarily handsome disciple of Muhammad.
The fourth form: Here are a few hadith from our Master regarding this form of revelation.
“When Allah decrees a matter in the heavens, the angels will beat their wings out of awe, like chains on a slippery rock, then fall to prostration… And when the awe is lifted, they ask each other, ‘What did our Rabb decree?’ and they answer ‘Our Rabb has decreed the Truth and to Him belongs the attribute of Greatness.’”
Narrated Ibn Masud (r.a.):
“When Allah wants to decree a matter, He speaks through revelation, which makes the heavens tremble out of awe for Allah. When the inhabitants of the heavens hear this, they faint and fall to prostration. The first to recover and look up among them is Gabriel, so Allah speaks the revelation to Gabriel and Gabriel takes the revelation to where it needs to go. As he passes through one heaven to the other, the angels ask him: What has our Rabb decreed O Gabriel? Gabriel replies ‘He decreed the Truth and He is the Most High’ and all of the angels repeat what Gabriel says…”
As can be seen this is how the angels also receive revelation.
This form of revelation made our Master sweat even on the coldest days, if he happened to be on a camel when revelation came the camel would fall to the ground due to the intensity and weight of the revelation… One day at Mount Arafat revelation came to our Rasul while he was on his camel and the camel, unable to bare the weight of the revelation, collapsed to the ground…
At another time Zayd ibn Thabit reported:
“I was sitting to the side of the Rasul (saw) one day as the revelation came to him. The Rasul was overcome with heaviness and his knees were touching my knees as the heaviness overtook him. By Allah, I have never found anything heavier than the knees of the Rasul of Allah, then he was released from it. He said to me “Write O Zayd! I picked up a scapula and wrote…”
Zayd further reports:
“I used to write the revelation that came to the Rasul of Allah. When revelation came the Rasul he would start to sweat and feel discomfort but after some time this state would disappear… He would recite and I would write… Sometimes it would be extremely difficult to complete the task of writing the verses, it would feel like my feet are breaking and that I will never be able to walk again. When the chapter al-Maida was being revealed the weight of the surah was so intense that I felt like my wrists were going to literally break…”
Abu Hurairah (ra) narrates:
“When a verse was being revealed none of us could look at the face of the Rasul of Allah (saw)… When divine revelation came first of all the Rasul’s body would start to shiver, then a state of gloom and discomfort would overtake him, the color of his face would fade away he would close his eyes and start breathing heavily…”
Sometimes those near him could also hear sounds. Hadhrat Omar (ra) reports:
“When divine revelation came, we used to hear a sound similar to the buzzing of bees around the Rasul of Allah (saw)…”
The fifth form: Gabriel would deliver the revelation in his original form with 600 wings, each big enough to cover the entire horizon… This form of revelation only took place twice. The first was at the beginning of Risalah; the first revelation that came after the period of pause. When our Master saw Gabriel in his original form a state of trance overtook him… The second time was on the Night of Ascension, when they reached the Sidrat al-Muntaha…
The sixth form: This is the revelation that took place during Miraj regarding the daily salat practice which was revealed to our Master directly from Allah without the intervention of an angel, just as Moses (pbuh) had spoken to Allah… This type of revelation consists only of talking and hearing; there is no vision involved.
The seventh type: This is the most intense form and it is difficult to explain it. We may only say it is the direct contact our Master had with Allah at Miraj with no veils in between. Nobody who has not tasted death can conceive this therefore it is useless to state opinions regarding this. Only those who die as believers may understand this state.
Here is a hadith to validate this:
“There is none among you who, on the day of judgement, will not see and speak directly to his Rabb with no translator, intercessor or any form of veil in between!”
The eighth form: The observation of Allah and the revelation given directly in his dreams.