Gabriel is believed to have been the medium of communication. This fact, however, is only once stated in the Quran:--"Say, whoso is the enemy of Gabriel--For he it is {4} who by God's leave hath caused the Quran to descend on thy heart" (Sura ii. 91.) This Sura was revealed some years after the Prophet's flight to Madina. The other references to the revelation of the Quran are:--"Verily from the Lord of the worlds hath this book come down; the Faithful Spirit (Ruh-ul-Amin) hath come down with it" (Sura xxvi. 192.) "The Quran is no other than a revelation revealed to him, one terrible in power (Shadid-ul-Qua) taught it him." (Sura liii. 5.) These latter passages do not state clearly that Gabriel was the medium of communication, but the belief that he was is almost, if not entirely, universal, and the Commentators say that the terms "Ruh-ul-Amin" and "Shadid-ul-Qua" refer to no other angel or spirit. The use of the word "taught" in the last Sura quoted, and the following expression in Sura lxxv. 18. "When we have _recited it_, then follow thou the recital," show that the Quran is entirely an objective revelation and that Muhammad was only a passive medium of communication. The Muhammadan historian, Ibn Khaldoun, says on this point:--"Of all the divine books the Quran is the only one of which the text, words and phrases have been communicated to a prophet by an audible voice. It is otherwise with the Pentateuch, the Gospel and the other divine books: the prophets received them under the form of ideas."[5] This expresses the universal belief on this point--a belief which reveals the essentially mechanical nature of Islam. The Quran thus revealed is now looked upon as the standing miracle of Islam. Other divine books, it is admitted, were revelations received under the form of ideas, but the Quran is far superior to them all for the actual text was revealed to the ear of the prophet. Thus we read in Sura lxxv. 16-19:-- {5} "Move not thy tongue in haste to follow and master this revelation; For we will see to the collecting and recital of it; _But when we have recited it_, then follow thou the recital; And verily it shall be ours to make it clear to thee."