There is agreement among most Muslim scholars that the contents of the sunna are also from Allah. Hence they have described it as also being the result of some form of inspiration.9 The contents of the sunna are, however, expressed through the Prophet’s own words or actions, while in the case of the Qur’ān the Angel Gabriel brought the exact wording and contents to the Prophet, who received this as revelation and then announced it, in the very same manner that he received it.
The difference between these two forms has been illustrated by Suyūṭī (following Juwalnī) in the following manner:
‘The revealed speech of Allah is of two kinds: As to the first kind, Allah says to Gabriel: Tell the Prophet to whom I sent you that Allah tells him to do this and this, and He ordered him something. So Gabriel understood what His Lord had told him. Then he descended with this to the Prophet and told him what His Lord had told him, but the expression is not this (same) expression, just as a king says to someone upon whom he relies: Tell so-and-so: The king says to you: strive in his service and gather your army for fighting … and when the messenger (goes and) says: The king tells you: do not fail in my service, and do not let the army break up, and call for fighting, etc., then he has not lied nor shortened (the message) …
‘And as to the other kind, Allah says to Gabriel: Read to the Prophet this (piece of) writing, and Gabriel descended with it from Allah, without altering it the least, just as (if) the king writes a written (instruction) and hands it over to his trustworthy (servant) and says (to him): Read it to so-and-so. Suyūṭī said: The Qur’ān belongs to the second kind, and the first kind is the sunna, and from this derives the reporting of the sunna according to the meaning unlike the Qur’ān.’10
It is generally accepted that the difference between Qur’ān and sunna is as follows:
The aḥādīth from or about the Prophet Muḥammad are:
— The words or actions of a human being, and not the speech of God as the Qur’ān is.
— Not necessarily reported in their precise wording, as the Qur’ān is.
— Not necessarily transmitted by tawātur, except in some instances.
Ḥadīth Qudsī 11
Qudsī means holy, or pure. There are some reports from the Prophet Muḥammad where he relates to the people what God has said (says) or did (does), but this information is not part of the Qur’ān. Such a report is called ḥadīth qudsī, e.g.:
Abū Huraira reported that Allah’s messenger said:
‘Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, said: If My servant likes to meet me, I like to meet him, and if he dislikes to meet Me, I dislike to meet him.’12
While the common factor between ḥadīth qudsī and the Qur’ān is that both contain words from Allah which have been revealed to Muḥammad, the main points of difference between Qur’ān and ḥadīth qudsī are as follows:
— In the Qur’ān the precise wording is from Allah, while in the ḥadīth qudsī the wording is given by the Prophet Muḥammad.
— The Qur’ān has been brought to Muḥammad only by the Angel Gabriel, while ḥadīth qudsī may also have been inspired otherwise, such as e.g. in a dream.
— The Qur’ān is inimitable and unique, but not so the ḥadīth qudsī.
— The Qur’ān has been transmitted by numerous persons, (tawātur) but the ḥadīth and ḥadīth qudsī often only by a few or even one individual. There are ḥadīth qudsī which are ṣaḥīḥ, but also others ḥasan, or even ḍa‘īf, while there is no doubt at all about any āya from the Qur’ān.
Another point is that ḥadīth qudsī cannot be recited in prayer.
Distinctive Features of the Qur’ān
The most important distinction between the Qur’ān and all other words or writings therefore is that the Qur’ān is the speech from Allah, revealed in its precise meaning and wording through the Angel Gabriel, transmitted by many, inimitable, unique and protected by Allah Himself against any corruption.
REVELATION AND HOW IT CAME TO THE PROPHET MUḤAMMAD
God guides His Creation
Allah the Creator has not only brought about the creation, but continues to sustain and direct it, in the way that He has created us and all that is around us. He has provided many forms of guidance, indeed, a system of guiding principles, of which the laws of ‘nature’ are a part.
But Allah has also granted a special form of guidance for mankind from the outset of its occupancy of the earth. He promised to Adam and his descendants: ‘Get ye down all from here; and if, as is sure, there comes to you guidance from Me, whosoever follows guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve’ (2: 38).13 This guidance comes through the prophets, whom Allah continuously sent to mankind, until the last messenger, Muḥammad received His final guidance.
Guidance through Revelation
We call a man to whom God in his own way communicates His guidance, a prophet or messenger (nabī, rasūl). Prophets receive the word of God through revelation and then communicate it to their fellow human beings:
‘We have sent thee inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and the messengers after him: We sent inspiration to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob and the tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron and Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms. Of some apostles, We have already told the story, of others We have not – and to Moses God spoke direct – apostles who gave good news as well as warning, that mankind after (the coming) of the apostles should have no plea against God: for God is exalted in power and ways’ (4: 163-5).
The two words italicised in the above translation are both derived from the Arabic root ‘waḥy’.
The Meaning of Waḥy
The word ‘awḥā’, from which ‘waḥy’ (revelation) is derived, occurs in a number of shades of meaning in the Qur’ān, each of them indicating the main underlying idea of inspiration directing or guiding someone. In each example below, the italicised words in the translation are forms of the root word ‘waḥy’ in the original text of the Qur’ān:
— Guidance in natural intuition:
‘so we sent this inspiration to the mother of Moses…’ (28: 7).
— Guidance in natural instinct:
‘and thy Lord taught the bee to build its cells in hills, on trees and in (man’s) habitations’ (16: 68).
— Guidance by signs:
‘So Zakaria came out to his people from his chamber: he told them by signs to celebrate God’s praises in the morning and in the evening’ (19: 11).
— Guidance from evil:
‘Likewise did we make for every messenger an enemy – evil ones among men and jinns, inspiring each other with flowery discourses by way of deception…’ (6: 112).
— Guidance from God:
‘Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message)…’ (8: 12).
Means of Revelation
Waḥy in the sense of ‘revelation’ is guidance from God for His creation, brought by the Prophets, who received the word from God through one of the means mentioned