At a glance
Stage 2At the age of forty, alone in the Cave of Hira, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ received the first verses of the Quran, and Khadijah steadied him when he came home shaking.
- When
- Ramadan, c. 610 CE
- Where
- Makkah, and the Cave of Hira on Jabal al-Nur
- Known as
- The first revelation
- Key people
- Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Jibril, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, Waraqa ibn Nawfal
- Key places
- Makkah, Jabal al-Nur, the Cave of Hira
- Read time
- 5 minutes
Part oneThe mountain above Makkah
Just beyond the last houses of Makkah, a bare, rocky mountain rises out of the dry valleys. Today it is called Jabal al-Nur, the Mountain of Light. Near its top is the Cave of Hira, a small, narrow space with room for one person to pray. Around the year 610 CE, a man of nearly forty began to climb up to it.
He was Muhammad ﷺ, known across Makkah as al-Amin, the trustworthy. He was a respected merchant, a husband and a father, and nothing in his life was broken. Yet he had never joined his people in bowing to the idols around the Kaaba, and he was drawn to quiet and to the worship of his Lord.
He was not the only one in Arabia who felt this way. A few people, known as hanifs, had turned away from idols and looked back to the pure worship of the One God taught by Ibrahim (peace be upon him). They had no scripture of their own to follow and no community around them. Waraqa ibn Nawfal, whom you will meet below, was one of those who went searching.
He would carry food and water for several days, stay in the cave in worship, then come down to Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) for more supplies before going back up. The Arabs called a retreat of this kind tahannuth. In these years his dreams began to come true as plainly as daybreak follows night.
In the year he turned forty, he spent the month of Ramadan in Hira. Muslims still remember Ramadan as the month of the Quran, and the Quran itself calls the night on which its revelation began the Night of Power, a night better than a thousand months. Visitors still climb the mountain today to see the cave where it happened.
The first word
Inside the cave, an angel stood before him. This was Jibril (peace be upon him), the angel who carries revelation from Allah to the prophets. He told Muhammad ﷺ to read. The answer was that he could not read. He had never learned to read or write, and he would not learn for the rest of his life.
The angel took hold of him and pressed him hard, almost beyond what he could bear, then let him go and said again, read. The same answer came, and the same embrace. It happened a third time. Then the angel recited the first words of the Quran. Surah al-Alaq tells of them: read in the name of your Lord who created, who created the human being from a clinging clot; read, and your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen and taught the human being what he did not know.
From the Quran
ٱقْرَأْ بِٱسْمِ رَبِّكَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ١ خَلَقَ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ ٢ ٱقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ ٱلْأَكْرَمُ ٣ ٱلَّذِى عَلَّمَ بِٱلْقَلَمِ ٤ عَلَّمَ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ ٥
1Read, ˹O Prophet,˺ in the Name of your Lord Who created— 2created humans from a clinging clot. 3Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, 4Who taught by the pen— 5taught humanity what they knew not.
Look at what the first message is about. It begins with the word read, spoken to a man who could not read. It names creation, the pen and knowledge. Before any law and before any warning, the Quran opens with a call to learn in the name of the One who made us.
That he could not read matters. The Quran itself points to it as a sign that the revelation did not come from him. A man who had never written a line and never studied a book now carried words that no poet in Makkah, however skilled, could match.
Part twoFear, Khadijah and Waraqa
Down the mountain he came, shaking. He went straight home and asked to be wrapped in a cloak. When the trembling eased, he told Khadijah everything and said that he feared for himself. Nothing in his life in Makkah had prepared him for this.
Her answer was calm and certain. She was a businesswoman who had once hired him to trade for her, and she had married him some fifteen years earlier. She knew him better than anyone. Allah would never disgrace him, she said, because he kept the ties of kinship, spoke the truth, carried the burdens of people who could not carry their own, welcomed guests and stood with those struck by hardship. She met his fear with the record of his life.
She then took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal. Waraqa had turned away from idol worship, had become a Christian and had studied the earlier scriptures. He was now very old and had lost his sight. When he heard the account, he said that this was the same angel who had come to Musa (peace be upon him). He added that he wished he were young enough to be alive on the day the Prophet's ﷺ people drove him out.
He was startled. Would they really drive him out, he asked, he whom they trusted? Waraqa answered that no one had ever brought something like this without being met with hostility, and that if he lived to see that day he would help with all his strength. Waraqa died not long afterwards.
From the hadith
Narrated 'Aisha (the mother of the faithful believers):
The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was in the form of good dreams which came true like bright daylight, and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go in seclusion in the cave of Hira where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days before his desire to see his family. He used to take with him the journey food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food likewise again till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, "I do not know how to read." The Prophet (ﷺ) added, "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied, 'I do not know how to read.' Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read but again I replied, 'I do not know how to read (or what shall I read)?' Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, 'Read in the name of your Lord, who has created (all that exists), created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous." (96.1, 96.2, 96.3) Then Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) returned with the Inspiration and with his heart beating severely. Then he went to Khadija bint Khuwailid and said, "Cover me! Cover me!" They covered him till his fear was over and after that he told her everything that had happened and said, "I fear that something may happen to me." Khadija replied, "Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guests generously and assist the deserving calamity-afflicted ones." Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqa bin Naufal bin Asad bin 'Abdul 'Uzza, who, during the pre-Islamic Period became a Christian and used to write the writing with Hebrew letters. He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khadija said to Waraqa, "Listen to the story of your nephew, O my cousin!" Waraqa asked, "O my nephew! What have you seen?" Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) described whatever he had seen. Waraqa said, "This is the same one who keeps the secrets (angel Gabriel) whom Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) asked, "Will they drive me out?" Waraqa replied in the affirmative and said, "Anyone (man) who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support you strongly." But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while.
After that first meeting, there was a pause. Revelation did not come for a period, and accounts differ on how long it lasted. He had been given a great trust, and for a time all he could do was wait with it. The pause ended with a second sight. The Prophet ﷺ later said that as he was walking he heard a voice from the sky, looked up, and saw the same angel who had come to him at Hira, seated on a chair between the sky and the earth. He was struck with fear, hurried home and again asked to be wrapped up. When revelation returned, it carried a command to rise and to warn, and the next chapter picks up the story there.
Over the years he described how revelation came to him. Sometimes it came like the ringing of a bell, which was the hardest on him, and when it left him he had taken in what was said. Sometimes the angel came in the form of a man and spoke to him. Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said she saw revelation come to him on a bitterly cold day, and when it lifted, his forehead was running with sweat.
The first word of the Quran was read, spoken to a man who could not read.
More on How to Muslim
WatchLectures for this chapter
The mapWhere it happened
- Makkah and the Kaaba
- Jabal al-Nur
- the Cave of Hira
This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.
SourcesSources for this chapter
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