Ilhām is knowledge cast into the heart by effusion, prompting action without inference from a sign or examination of an argument.
In ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Works
In the reviewed al-Manāmāt distinction, ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī uses ilhām for received cognition cast into the soul when its cause is unknown. He explicitly separates it from the witnessed mode called waḥy and notes that the call of an unseen caller, though belonging to the latter broad class, is not itself called ilhām.
Source: Risālat al-Manāmāt wa-l-Nubuwwāt
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