Avicenna's Philosophical Explanation of Revelation

Avicenna, one of the eminent peripatetic philosophers in Islamic world, has provided a special explanation for revelation. In his view, the origin of revealed sciences is Active Intellect and a prophet's soul is connected to Active Intellect by interacting with sacred intellect and the knowledge of the Unseen is reflected in his soul. Then this knowledge which is received by the prophet's imaginative faculty reach his common sense in a particular manner having the form of words. The present paper examines the different aspects of Avicenna's theory about revelation analysis in terms of his ontological and epistemological principles contained in his different works and shows how this philosopher has used his peripatetic philosophical principles for explaining such theological phenomenon like revelation.