Avicenna on the Reality of Prophetic Revelation and Its Comparison with Quranic Doctrines

According to the Quranic teachings, prophetic revelation is the Word of God that is revealed to the prophets upon the prophets based on the special choice of the Lord. Thus, demonstration of prophetic revelation as the specific property of the prophets is among the most significant issues of the debates of revelation. Avicenna is one of the scholars who has sought to provide a new source of information for the demonstration of the stature of the prophets using two special advantages of the prophets – i.e. sacred intellect and powerful imagination – and also with an emphasis on the permission of God for the realization of the revelation. Sacred intellect as the special intellectual capacity of prophets sets the scene for the direct relation of the prophet with the active intellect (universal revelation) and the powerful imagination is a capability with the aid of which the prophetic soul is connected to the heavenly souls (particular revelation) and as a result of which he becomes informed of all details related to the material world. Moreover, this faculty helps the prophet to see the Arc Angel of Revelation and hear the Word of God. It seems that Avicenna's stance in such cases as the belief in the connection of the sacred power with the conjecture, exclusion of the revealed relation in the prophet's relationship with the Active Intellect as well as the role of the faculty of imagination in the formation of particular revelation is faced with some objections. In addition, Avicenna has not succeeded to reach a rigid distinction between the revelation of the Prophet and the charismatic gifts and knowledge of God's saints.