وحي
Waḥy
Revelation: God’s communication to His prophets.
What it means
The Quran names three ways God speaks to a human being: by inspiration, from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger who conveys by His leave what He wills (42:51). Muslims hold that the Quran reached Muhammad through the angel Gabriel (26:192–195), in portions over about twenty-three years (17:106).
The first revelation came in the cave of Hira, as Aisha related (Sahih al-Bukhari, the first hadith in the collection).
Often misunderstood as
That Muhammad composed the Quran himself, perhaps from what a teacher told him.
What the sources say
The accusation is old, and the Quran records it: “It is only a human being who teaches him” (16:103). The reply is in the same verse: the language of the man they point to is foreign, while this is clear Arabic. The Quran also says Muhammad had not been reciting any book before it, nor writing one with his own hand (29:48).