وكذلك حال الوحي في نفسه فقد كان يصعب عليه ويقاسي منه شدّة كما هي في الصّحيح، حتّى كان القرآن يتنزّل عليه آيات مقطّعات. وبعد ذلك نزل عليه (براءة) في غزوة (تبوك) جملة واحدة، وهو يسير على ناقته. فلو كان ذلك من تنزّل الفكر إلى الخيال فقط، ومن الخيال إلى الحسّ المشترك، لم يكن بين هذه الحالات فرق
The same follows from the process of revelation itself. It was a very difficult matter for the Prophet, as is stated in sound tradition (the Sahih). The Qur'an was (at the beginning) revealed to him in individual verses. Later on, the (long) ninth surah (al-Bara'ah) was revealed to him in one piece during the expedition to Tabuk while he was riding on his camel. If the revelation had merely been the result of a process whereby thinking descends to the imagination and from the imagination to the common sense, there would not have been any difference between those stages (of the revelation