When he was forty, the age of complete perfection at which Prophetswere always ordered to disclose their Message, signs of his Prophethoodstarted to appear and twinkle on the horizons of life; they were thetrue visions he used to experience for six months. The period ofProphethood was 23 years; so the period of these six months of truevisions constituted an integral part of the forty-six parts ofProphethood. In Ramadan, in his third year of solitude in the cave ofHira', Allah's Will desired His mercy to flow on earth and Muhammad[pbuh] was honoured with Prophethood, and the light of Revelation burstupon him with some verses of the Noble Qur'an [Fath Al-Bari 1/27]
As for the exact date, careful investigation into circumstantialevidence and relevant clues point directly to Monday, 21st. Ramadan atnight, i.e. August, 10, 610 A.D. with Prophet Muhammad [pbuh] exactly40 years, 6 months and 12 days of age, i.e. 39 Gregorian years, 3months and 22 days.
'Aishah, the veracious, gave the following narration of that mostsignificant event that brought the Divine light which would dispel thedarkness of disbelief and ignorance. It led life down a new course andbrought about the most serious amendment to the line of the history ofmankind:
Forerunners of the Revelation assumed the form of true visions thatwould strikingly come true all the time. After that, solitude becamedear to him and he would go to the cave, Hira', to engage in Tahannuth(devotion) there for a certain number of nights before returning to hisfamily, and then he would return for provisions for a similar stay. Atlength, unexpectedly, the Truth (the angel) came to him and said,"Recite." "I cannot recite," he (Muhammad [pbuh]) said. The Prophet[pbuh] described: "Then he took me and squeezed me vehemently and thenlet me go and repeated the order 'Recite.' 'I cannot recite' said I,and once again he squeezed me and let me till I was exhausted. Then hesaid: 'Recite.' I said 'I cannot recite.' He squeezed me for a thirdtime and then let me go and said:
"Read!In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists), hascreated man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read! andyour Lord is the Most Generous.'" [Al-Qur'an 96:1-3]
The Prophet [pbuh] 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 apprisedKhadijah of the incident of the cave and added that he was horrified.His wife tried to soothe him and reassured him saying, "Allah willnever disgrace you. You unite uterine relations; you bear the burden ofthe weak; you help the poor and the needy, you entertain the guests andendure hardships in the path of truthfulness."
She set out with the Prophet [pbuh] to her cousin Waraqa bin Nawfalbin Asad bin 'Abd Al-'Uzza, who had embraced Christianity in thepre-Islamic period, and used to write the Bible in Hebrew. He was ablind old man. Khadijah said: "My cousin! Listen to your nephew!"Waraqa said: "O my nephew! What did you see?" The Messenger ofAllah[pbuh] told him what had happened to him. Waraqa replied: "This is'Namus' i.e. (the angel who is entrusted with Divine Secrets) thatAllah sent to Moses. I wish I were younger. I wish I could live up tothe time when your people would turn you out." Muhammad [pbuh] asked:"Will they drive me out?" Waraqa answered in the affirmative and said:"Anyone who came with something similar to what you have brought wastreated with hostility; and if I should be alive till that day, then Iwould support you strongly." A few days later Waraqa died and therevelation also subsided.
[Bukhari 1/2,3]
At-Tabari and Ibn Hisham reported that the Messenger of Allah[pbuh] left the cave of Hira' after being surprised by the Revelation,but later on, returned to the cave and continued his solitude.Afterwards, he came back to Makkah. At-Tabari reported on thisincident, saying:
After mentioning the coming of the Revelation, the Messenger ofAllah[pbuh] said: "I have never abhorred anyone more than a poet or amad man. I can not stand looking at either of them. I will never tellanyone of Quraish of my Revelation. I will climb a mountain and throwmyself down and die. That will relieve me. I went to do that buthalfway up the mountain, I heard a voice from the sky saying 'OMuhammad! You are the Messenger of Allah[pbuh] and I am Gabriel.' Ilooked upwards and saw Gabriel in the form of a man putting his legs onthe horizon. He said: 'O Muhammad You are the Messenger of Allah[pbuh]and I am Gabriel.' I stopped and looked at him. His sight distracted myattention from what I had intended to do. I stood in my placetransfixed. I tried to shift my eyes away from him. He was in everydirection I looked at. I stopped in my place without any movement untilKhadijah sent someone to look for me. He went down to Makkah and cameback while I was standing in the same place. Gabriel then left, and Iwent back home. I found Khadijah at home, so I sat very close to her.She asked: 'Father of Al-Qasim! Where have you been? I sent someone tolook for you. He went to Makkah and returned to me.' I told her of whatI had seen. She replied: 'It is a propitious sign, O my husband. Pullyourself together, I swear by Allah that you are a Messenger for thisnation.' Then she stood up and went to Waraqa and informed him. Waraqasaid: 'I swear by Allah that he has received the same Namus, i.e. angelthat was sent to Moses. He is the Prophet of this nation. Tell him tobe patient.' She came back to him and told him of Waraqa's words. Whenthe Messenger of Allah[pbuh] finished his solitary stay and went downto Makkah, he went to Waraqa, who told him: 'You are the Prophet ofthis nation. I swear by Allah that you have received the same angelthat was sent to Moses.'"
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
We apologise but you have been denied access to report posts in this thread. This could be due to excessively reporting posts and not understanding our forum rules. For assistance or information, please use the forum help thread to request more information. Jazakallah
