But Allah has informed us that He speaks to human beings through revelation, or through an angel who reveals, by His permission, whatever He wills; the third way is to speak from behind a veil. Some commentators have said that revelation here means revelation in dreams, and Abū al-Faraj mentioned no other interpretation. Yet this is not so. Dreams sometimes come from Allah, sometimes from one’s own self, and sometimes from Satan. The same applies to what is cast into one’s heart while awake. The prophets, however, are protected from error both while awake and in dreams.

For this reason, the prophets’ dreams are revelation, as Ibn ‘Abbās and ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Umayr stated, citing His words:

“I have seen in a dream that I am sacrificing you.”

Not everyone who sees a dream receives revelation through it. Likewise, not everyone into whose heart something is cast receives revelation through it. A person’s soul may be in a more perfect state while awake than while asleep—as with someone praying and communing privately with his Lord. If he may receive revelation while asleep, why should he not receive it while awake, just as Allah revealed to the mother of Moses, the disciples, and the bees? Nevertheless, no one may declare without qualification that what occurs within him is revelation, whether awake or in a dream, unless there is evidence establishing this, for whisperings prevail among people. And Allah knows best.