The first revelation

Late one Monday night, just before sunrise on the twenty first of Ramadan (August 10, 610 C.E.), an event transformed the life of the man chosen to deliver Allah’s Message, just as it would change the lives of countless beings, most of whom were yet to be born. According to the lunar calendar, Muhammad was forty years, six months and twelve days old, and according to the 2 Mount Hira is now known as Jabal Al-Noor (Mountain of Light). It is located about two miles from Makkah, and its peak is visible from a distance. It is a little less than four meters in length and a little more than one and a half meters in width.

solar calendar, he was thirty-nine years, three months and twenty two days old.

He was alone in the cave of Hira, engaged in worshipping Allah just like he had done the previous two Ramadans. Aishah, who has narrated so many of the Prophet’s words and deeds, relates Muhammad’s transition from an ordinary man to someone who would forever be known simply as “the Prophet”.

The Prophet first began to have revelations in the form of good dreams which came true. Then he began to like solitude. He would go to the cave of Hira and meditate there in solitude for a number of days and nights. He would take provisions with him to stay an extended period, and then he returned to Khadeejah. He would stock up again and go back to the cave. This was his practice until ‘Truth’ was revealed to him by an angel while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel said to him, “Read!” “I cannot read,” Muhammad replied.

The angel then took hold of him and pressed him until he could not endure it any longer. The angel let him go and said once again, “Read!” “I cannot read,” Muhammad replied. The angel took hold of him a second time and pressed him until he could not endure it any longer. After letting him go, the angel said, “Read!” I cannot read Muhammad repeated. For a third time, the angel took hold of him and said, “Read in the name of your Lord, the Creator. He Who created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Bounteous.” The Prophet was terrified and his heart was pounding hard. He returned home to Khadeejah and said, “Cover me! Cover me!” Khadeejah covered him and helped him calm down.

He related what had happened in the cave, and said, “I fear that something has happened to me.” “Never,” Khadeejah replied. “I swear by Allah, Allah would never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your family, help the feeble and destitute, serve your guests generously, and assist those who deserve help.” Khadeejah then took the Prophet to her cousin, the old venerable Warqa bin Naufal. He knew Hebrew and was familiar with the Gospels, having left paganism for Christianity.

“O my cousin,” Khadeejah began. “Listen to your nephew.” “What have you seen my nephew?” asked the old man. The Prophet told Waraqa what had happened in the cave. “The angel that was sent to you is the same angel that Allah sent to Musa. I wish I were young and could live to see the day your own people will drive you out of this city.” “Will they drive me out?” the Prophet asked. “Yes,” replied Naufal.

“Never has a man brought something such as what you have without meeting with hostility. If I live to see the day you are expelled, I will support you with all my might.” A few days later, however, Waraqa died, and a long time passed before the Prophet received a second revelation. The Qur’an tells us that the first revelation descended in Ramadan on the “Night of Power.” “The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Qur’an was revealed.” (2: 185) And: “We have indeed revealed this Message during the Night of Power.” (97: 1)