That there should be a human as well as a divine side to inspiration is an idea not only foreign, but absolutely repugnant to Muhammadans. The Quran is not a book of principles. It is a book of directions. The Quran describes the revelation given to Moses thus:--"We wrote for him upon the tables a monition concerning every matter and said: 'Receive them thyself with steadfastness, and command thy people to receive them for the observance of its most goodly precepts.'" (Sura vii. 142). It is such an inspiration as this the Quran claims for itself. Muhammad's idea was that it should be a complete and final code of directions in every matter for all mankind. It is not the word of a prophet enlightened by God. It proceeds immediately from God, and the word 'say' or 'speak' precedes, or is understood to precede, every sentence. This to a Muslim is the highest form of inspiration; this alone stamps a book as {39} divine. It is acknowledged that the Injil--the Gospel--was given by Jesus; but as that, too, according to Muslim belief, was brought down from heaven by the angel Gabriel during the month of Ramazan, it is now asserted that it has been lost, and that the four Gospels of the New Testament are simply Traditions collected by the writers whose names they bear. Their value is, therefore, that of the second foundation of the Islamic system. The question next arises as to the exact way in which Gabriel made known his message to Muhammad. The Mudarij-un-Nabuwat, a standard theological work, gives some details on this point.[42] Though the Quran is all of God, both as to matter and form, yet it was not all made known to the Prophet in one and the same manner. The following are some of the modes:-- 1. It is recorded on the authority of 'Ayesha, one of Muhammad's wives, that a brightness like the brightness of the morning came upon the Prophet. According to some commentators this brightness remained six months. In some mysterious way Gabriel, through this brightness or vision, made known the will of God. 2. Gabriel appeared in the form of Dahiah, one of the Companions of the Prophet, renowned for his beauty and gracefulness. A learned dispute has arisen with regard to the abode of the soul of Gabriel when he assumed the bodily form of Dahiah. At times, the angelic nature of Gabriel overcame Muhammad, who was then translated to the world of angels. This always happened when the revelation was one of bad news, such as denunciations or predictions of woe. At other times, when the message brought by Gabriel was one of consolation and comfort, the human nature of the Prophet overcame the angelic nature of the angel, who, in such case, having assumed a human form, proceeded to deliver the message. {40}