Beginning of the Prophethood

when Muhammad nearly forty, he had been wont to pass long hours in retirement meditating & speculating over all aspects of creation around him.this meditative temperament helped to widen the mental gap between him & his compatriots.he used to provide him self with sawiq(barley porridge) &water and then directly head for the hills & ravines in neighbourhood of Makkah.one of his favorite resort was a cave named Hira, in the mount An-Nour.it was only 2miles from Makkah,a small cave 4yards long & 1.75yards wide.he used to devote most of his time, and Ramadan in particular, to worship and meditation on the universe around him.In Ramadan in his third year of solitude in the cave of Hira,Allah’s will desired his mercy to flow on earth and Muhammad was honoured with prophethood, and the light of revelation burst upon him with some verses of the noble Qur’an on Monday,21st Ramadan at night,i.e.10th August 610 A.D. with prophet Muhammad extractly 40years,6months & 12days of age,i.e.39Gregorian years,3monthes & 22days.when he was meditating on that day Gabrial,the angel who brings down the orders of the god,Allah, came to him & said;”recite”,”I cann’t recite” Muhammad said.the prophet described:” then he took me & squeezed me vehemently and then let me go and repeated the order ‘recite’,’I cann’t recite’ said I, and once again he squeezed me and let me till I was exhausted.then he said’recite’, I said ‘I cann’t recite’. he squeezed me for athird time and then let me go and said:’READ! IN THE NAME OF YOUR LORD,WHO HAS CREATED(ALL THAT EXISTS),HAS CREATED MAN FROM A CLOT(A PIECE OF THICK COAGULATED BLOOD).READ! YOUR LOAD IS THE MOST GENEROUS’ “[96;1-3]Muhammad repeated these verses.he was trembling with fear.at this stage,he came back to his wife khadijah, and said ”cover me,...cover me” they covered him until he restored security.he apprised khadijah of the incident of the cave & added that he was horrified.his wife tried to soothe him &reassured him saying,”Allah will never disgrace you.you until uterine relations; you bear the burden of the weak; you help the poor & needy, you entertain the guests & endure hardship in the path of truthfulness”.She set out with him to her cousin, Waraqa bin Nawfal, who had embraced christianity in the pre-Islamic period, and used to write the bible in Hebrew. he was a blind old man. Khadijah said “my cousin! Listen to your nephew!” Waraqa said “o my nephew! What did you see?” Muhammad said him what had happened to him. Waraqa replied “this is Namus(the angel who is entrusted with divine secrets)i.e. that Allah sent to Moses. I wish I were younger. I wish I could live up to the time when your people would turn you out.” Muhammad asked “will they dive me out?” Waraqa answered in the affirmative & said “any one who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated hostility; and if I should be alive till that day, then I would support you strongly”. A few days latter Waraqa died & the revelation also subsided.

next page>>Interruption of revelation & then again Gabriel brings Allah’s revelation

previous page>>Rebuilding Al-ka’bah & the Arbitration issue