MEETING XI

THE BEGINNING OF REVELATION

Before becoming a prophet, Muhammad usually spent one month every year in a
cave on the top of a mountain near Mecca. There he meditated and thought about religion
of Abraham. This was done by him because he refused to accept the beliefs of the people of
Mecca who worshipped idols. This continued for a number of years. When he was forty
years of age the Archangel Gabriel came to him and convinced him.
It was clear that he was a prophet from God. He received the first revelation after
becoming a prophet. The first revelation said:
“Read in the name of thy Lord who created? Created man from a blood clot.
Read; thy Lord is most beneficial. He taught by pen. Taught man what he knew not.”
When the prophet received this revelation from God and when he became sure, then
he began to call people to accept the new religion. The new religion was based on the
oneness of God – worshipping only Allah and giving up the worship of idols. About
three years after Prophet received the first revelation he was told, “Warn your relatives.”
He started to speak to his close friends and his family. Khadija, his wife, was the first
woman to accept Islam, and Abu Bakar the first man. Ali bin Abu Thalib, his cousin was the
first boy to accpet Islam, and Zaid was the first servant to accept Islam. The number started to
increase slowly through the personal contact of the prophet and his close friend, Abu Bakar,
but when he received the verse mentioned, this was the sign for him to inform all the
people of Mecca of his cause.

A. Vocabulary
To meditate : bersemedi
Servant : pelayan, abdi
Beneficial : memberi manfaat
To increase : bertambah, meningkat
To convince : meyakinkan
Clot : gumpalan beku.

B. Grammar Used
PAST TENSE
Form : The past tense forms of verb such as : spent, meditated, refused, continued,
worshipped, convinced, etc.

Function : The most basic use of the past tense is to describe one completed action in
the past. The completed action in the past is generally indicated by the time markers
such as yesterday, two days ago, in 1961, etc, or simply by the use of the verb in the past
tense.

Examples :
1. Muhammad usually spent one month every year in a cave on the top of a mountain
near Mecca.
2. There he meditated and thought about religion of Abraham.
3. This was done by him because he refused to accept the beliefs of the people of
Mecca who worshipped idols.
4. This continued for a number of years.
5. When he was forty years of age the Archangel Gabriel came to him and convinced
him.
Sentence Transformation
To change the tense to the interrogative and negative, simply place the auxiliary verb “did”
for both singular and plural subjects in front of the sentence, followed by the main verb in
the simple form, the subject and the rest of sentence. Add the negation ‘not’ to form a
negative. Note the word order in the example below.

 Muhammad received the first revelation after becoming a prophet. (Statement).

 Did he warn his relatives? (Int.) Muhammad did not worship idols (Neg.)
 Why did Muhammad meditate in a cave? (Question with the question word “why”)