إِن هُوَ إِلّا وَحيٌ يوحىٰ
It is just a revelation that is revealed [to him].
EXEGESIS
Waḥy (revelation) in a general sense means to transfer information to another in a secret manner. Hence, it can cover a wide range of meanings such as communication through signs: So he … signalled (awḥā) to them that they should glorify [Allah] morning and evening (19:11). It can have the meaning of an innate instinct: your Lord inspired (awḥā) the bee (16:68). It can also mean a type of divine inspiration that is not direct revelation: We revealed (awḥaynā) to Moses’ mother (28:7).
Here, it is denoting the revelation of the Quran to the Prophet, like in the verse, We have revealed (awḥaynā) to you of this Quran (12:3). The revelation received by the prophets can be of different types, though usually the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (s) via angel Gabriel. For more on this, see the commentary on verse 42:51.
It is referring to the Quran. If we assumed that star in the first verse is a metaphor for the Quran, then the referent of It could be that, otherwise it is simply understood that the referent of the word It is the Quran even though there is no previous mention of the Quran in the surah. This is allowed because of the obviousness that the Quran is that which has been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (s).
It has been said that the addition of the passive verb that is revealed after the expression revelation is to clarify that it has come to the Prophet from another source. In other words, it is not some inspiration that occurred to him from his own soul and self, but rather from an outside source.
EXPOSITION
To clarify what is meant by the previous verse, we are told that the Prophet does not speak based on his own reasoning or rationale, and any verse, word, or letter of the Quran that the Prophet speaks is just a revelation that is revealed.
This and the previous verse have been used by some to argue that Prophet Muhammad (s) never said anything as an ordinary human in his daily life and everything he said was a matter of revelation. In this case, It would be referring to anything the Prophet said. It should be noted that even if we assume that It is referring to the speech of the Prophet, the apparent meaning of this would still be that it refers to the Quran, as spoken by the Prophet, or anything related to the shariah which was revealed to him other than the Quran.
It makes little sense to argue that everything the Prophet spoke was revelation. Can one really claim that when he, for example, would say to his wife ‘please pass me the bread’ that this would be something that was revealed to him? This would rob him of any true free will and he would simply be reduced to a conduit for revelation. We could note as well that this goes against the usage of the term Your companion in verse 2, which emphasises that he is a human, just like his audience.
Furthermore, there are also clear examples of when the Prophet spoke and acted in a way that was later addressed by revelation, such as, O Prophet! Why do you prohibit [yourself] what Allah has made lawful for you (66:1), or, May Allah excuse you! Why did you grant them leave (9:43). If one wishes to argue that everything the Prophet says is based on revelation then that would mean that God first revealed to the Prophet to prohibit something for himself, and then subsequently addressed the matter. Obviously, such contradictory behaviour cannot be attributed to God.
It should be added that neither is it correct to assume that the Quran was the only matter revealed to him. There are clear examples of this, such as, He said: ‘The All-Knowing and the All-Aware informed me’ (66:3), and verse 10 of this surah: Whereat He revealed to His servant whatever He revealed. There is also the hadith from ʿAbd-Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ: ‘I used to write everything I heard from the Messenger of God (s), wishing to safeguard it. Quraysh forbade me, saying: “You write everything you hear from the Messenger of God and the Messenger of God is a human being who speaks in anger and in pleasure.” So I stopped writing and I mentioned that to the Messenger of God (s), and he said: “Write, I swear by the one in whose hand is my soul, nothing but truth comes out of me.”’
This hadith again means that the Prophet would never speak about matters related to religion based on his own desires, but rather whatever he said would be in line with the truth that has come to him from God. This report should not be understood in the sense that every single word spoken by the Prophet was revelation, but rather that the Sunna is based on revelation. Similar to this is the hadith from Ḥammād ibn ʿUthmān, that Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘My hadith is the hadith of my father, and the hadith of my father is the hadith of my grandfather, and the hadith of my grandfather is the hadith of al-Husayn, and the hadith of al-Husayn is the hadith of al-Hasan, and the hadith of al-Hasan is the hadith of the Commander of the Faithful, and the hadith of the Commander of the Faithful is the hadith of the Messenger of God (s), and the hadith of the Messenger of God (s) is the word of God, mighty and glorious.’
This report expands the same principle that applied to the Prophet to the Ahl al-Bayt, meaning the Imams never spoke out of desire (verse 3) either.
In conclusion, not everything the Prophet said was revelation, nor was revelation only limited to the Quran.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- From Abū al-Ḥamrāʾ and Ḥabbah al-ʿUranī: ‘The Messenger of God (s) ordered that the doors [of all chambers] that opened to the mosque be blocked and this was hard on them [to bear]. Ḥabbah said: “I looked at Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib who was wearing a red velvet cloth and his eyes were flowing with tears, saying [to the Prophet]: ‘You threw out your uncle and Abū Bakr and ʿUmar and Abbas, and have settled your cousin [Ali ibn Abī Ṭālib].’ A man said that day: ‘He spares no effort to elevate his cousin.’ The Messenger of God (s) came to know that it was hard on them, so he called a congregational prayer and once they had gathered, he climbed the pulpit, and no one had heard the Messenger of God (s) give a more eloquent sermon in praising and glorifying the oneness [of God] than that. Thereafter, he said: ‘O people! I did not close them [the doors], nor did I open them, nor did I drive you out and settle him.’ He then recited, By the star when it sets, your companion has neither gone astray, nor gone amiss. Nor does he speak out of [his own] desire, it is just a revelation that is revealed [to him].”’
Whether or not we wish to accept this specific hadith, the event of the closing of the doors to the mosque except the door of Imam Ali (a), and the Prophet’s reply to the people’s surprise – that he was ordered to do so – is a famous one and is thus a good example of his actions being guided by revelation. In other words, receiving the Quran is not the only type of revelation that was given to him.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
- All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
- Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
- Jesus answered, ‘My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.’
[1] Tibyan, 9/421-422.
[2] Tabrisi, 9/261; Mizan, 19/27; Alusi, 14/46.
[3] Razi, 28/235.
[4] Mudarrisi, 14/144.
[5] Zamakhshari, 4/418; Qurtubi, 17/85; Alusi, 14/47; Shawkani, 5/126; Furqan, 27/391-392.
[6] Razi, 28/235.
[7] Razi, 28/236.
[8] Ahmad, 2/162; Darimi, 1/125; Abu Dawud, 2/176; Ibn Kathir, 7/411.
[9] Kafi, 1/53; Nur, 5/147-148.
[10] Suyuti, 6/122. The same hadith has been transmitted with some variation (that does not mention Sūrat al-Najm) through other chains of transmission. See for example Ahmad, 4/369; Haythami, 9/114.
[11] John 16:13.
[12] 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
[13] 2 Peter 1:20-21.
[14] John 7:16-18.