In Islamic belief, revelations are God's word delivered by his chosen individuals – known as messenger prophets – to mankind.
The word awha (أوحى awḥá) occurs in a number of shades of meaning, each of them indicating the main underlying idea of directing or guiding someone or something.
Based on this, Islamic scholars have described three ways in which God's revelation can reach his chosen individuals, especially prophets.
[4][5] According to Islamic scholar Muhammad Shafi Usmani, God has created three media through which human receive knowledge: the senses, the faculty of reason, and the divine revelation; and it is the third one that addresses the liturgical and eschatological issues, answers the questions regarding God's purpose behind creating mankind, and acts as a guidance for the mankind as to choosing the correct way.
The common mode was that Muhammad would hear sound like "the ringing of a bell" after which he found the message committed to his memory.