WEEK 01

DAY 03(Paper 01)

Call to Prophethood / First Revelation
 With age and growing understanding Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.U.H) became more
aware of the corrupt society around him and it disturbed him greatly. He could not
believe the polytheistic ideas of the pagans of Makkah and often thought of God of his
forefathers, Ibrahim and Ismail. He realized that there is a force of truth beyond this
world which must have power and control over the whole universe.
A few years before the conferment of prophethood, he became more and more fond of
solitude. He started retiring for days with a supply of dates, oatmeal and water into a
cave in a mountain (Jabal e Noor) outside Makkah, known as cave of Hira. There he
pondered and mediated over the condition of his people. These spells of loneliness and
mediation became more frequent as he approached the age of forty.
 One day towards the end of Ramadan(27th) in 610 AD, he was in the cave of Hira,
when angel Jibrael appeared before him and asked him to read. This was so sudden
and unexpected that startled by the strange voice, he answered’ “I cannot read”.
Then he felt that he was being hugged and squeezed so hard that he thought that he
would die of suffocation. He was then released and the request to read was
repeated. “I cannot read”, said Muhammad (P.B.U.H) again. The angel again hugged
him asked him to read. Muhammad (P.B.U.H) was afraid of being squeezed a third
time, so he asked: “What shall I read?”
 The angel then recited the following verses.
“Read in the name of your Lord and Cherisher, Who created. Created man, out of a
(mere) clot of congealed blood. Proclaim! And your Lord is most bountiful, He who
taught by (the use of) pen. Taught man that which he knew not” (96:1-5)
Muhammad (P.B.U.H) recited these verses after the angel and the words were
imprinted on his mind. This was the first revelation and the beginning of
Prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.U.H). He was then forty years old.
 Muhammad (P.B.U.H was greatly shaken by this experience and he ran out of the
cave. Suddenly, he heard a voice and raising his head in the sky, he saw the same
angel in the sky filling the whole horizon and saying: “O Muhammad (P.B.U.H) , you
are the messenger of Allah and I am Jibrael.” Whichever way he looked, he saw the
same vision and heard the same voice. He stood there until the angel disappeared.
 After the experience he came home and narrated the incident to Hazrat Khadija. She
comforted him and assured him that no harm could come to a man of his nature and
that Allah would protect him from all evils. Then she took him to her cousin Waraqa
bin Naufal, who was a blind scholarly person and had embraced Christianity.
After hearing what had happened to her husband in the cave of Hira, he said that it
was the angel Jibrael who had always brought revelations to previous messengers of
God. He also informed her that his enemies would turn the new Prophet out of his
city.
(b) Was it significant, that the Quran was revealed to someone who could not read
or write? [4]
 Yes, it was significant.
 being unable to read or write it would not have been possible for the Prophet
to have composed the Qur’an himself;
 the implication is that not being able to compose the Qur’an himself, it shows
that the Qur’an is from God;
 the Arabs had a strong oral tradition which allowed the Qur’an to be
preserved through memory alone;
 Since he could not read or write, therefore, he needed scribes for writing
down the revelation and later they became witnesses of the divinity of Quran.
 God did not want anyone else to be the Prophet’s (pbuh) teacher, as that
would have meant someone was superior to him in his knowledge of God. It
was a miracle of God.