The First Revelation

In the months before the revelation, Muhammad ﷺ was given a love of being alone. He would climb up to the Cave of Hira, on the mountain now called Jabal al-Nur. The cave is a narrow crevice with room for one man, and it faces the Ka'bah. He took food and water for several nights and worshipped there until his supplies ran out. Then he came down to his wife Khadija to collect more, and went back up. In those months he began to see dreams that came true as surely as the dawn comes. By one report this lasted six months. He told Khadija about them, and she said it was a good sign. As he walked, he also heard stones and rocks greet him with salam. He said there was one rock in particular that he could still recognise. He was being prepared. Some reports say that on a Saturday in Ramadan he saw a light and heard a sound, but found nothing there. On the Sunday the same thing happened. Then on a Monday, in the last ten nights of Ramadan, on the Night of Qadr, Jibril came to him in the cave. The angel said to him, "Read." He answered, "I cannot read." The angel seized him and squeezed him until he could bear no more. Then he let him go and said it again. This happened a second time, and a third. Then Jibril recited to him the first five verses of Surah al-Alaq: "Read, in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clinging clot. Read, and your Lord is the most generous, who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know." No one knows why the angel squeezed him. Some say it was to show him that this was not a dream. Some say it was the weight of what was coming. Others say it foretold three great trials. And why was the word "read" said twice to an unlettered man, among an unlettered people? Because from that night on there would be a Book. It would be recited from memory and read from the page, and preserved in both ways. He came down the mountain with his heart pounding. He went in to Khadija and said, "Cover me up, cover me up." She wrapped him up until the fear passed. Then he told her what had happened, and that he feared for himself, for his life or for his mind. Khadija swore by Allah that it would never be so, and that Allah would never disgrace him. She reminded him that he kept the ties of kinship and spoke the truth. He carried the burdens of others, earned money for the destitute, honoured his guests, and helped in every good cause. Then she took him to her cousin, Waraqa ibn Nawfal. Waraqa was an old blind man who had abandoned idol worship long before. He read the earlier scriptures, and had written out the Gospel in Hebrew letters. Khadija said to him, "Listen to your nephew," a respectful way of speaking of a younger kinsman. When Waraqa had heard him, he said that this was the Namus, the keeper of secrets, who had come to Musa. He wished he were a young man again, so that he could help him when his people drove him out. The Prophet ﷺ asked, "My people will kick me out?" Waraqa said yes. No man had ever brought what he was bringing without being met with hostility. If he lived to see that day, Waraqa said, he would help him with all his strength. Waraqa died a few days later, and the revelation paused. Khadija later asked the Prophet ﷺ what had become of Waraqa, who had believed in him but died before his mission began. He said he had seen Waraqa in a dream wearing white garments, which no one destined for the Fire would wear. Al-Tirmidhi himself calls this report weak. Waraqa never said the shahada, because there was not yet a shahada to say. Even so, on the strength of this report some count him as the first to believe and the first to die a believer. Around this time Jibril came down and taught him how to make wudu and how to pray, though no fully authentic report fixes the exact moment. At this stage every prayer was two rak'ahs, as Aisha reports. Prayer was not yet obligatory. When the five prayers were made obligatory, he did not need to be taught again. In later years he spoke about the dreams that had come first. He said that after him nothing of prophethood would remain except true dreams, which are one part in forty-six of prophethood. Some have noticed that six months of dreams, set against twenty-three years of prophethood, is exactly that fraction.

Placed here because: Ep. 10: "the revelation began in the last 10 days of Ramadan on a Monday."

After the first revelation in the Cave of Hira, the revelation stopped for a while. This pause is known as fatrat al-wahy. Accounts differ on how long it lasted. Some say two or three years, but this is considered far too long. A narration from Ibn Abbas puts it at 40 days, and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri described it as around a month. Together they suggest it lasted about a month and ten days. During this time, Muhammad ﷺ was troubled. He later said, "I was worried for myself," meaning that he feared he was imagining things. Every day he went to Jabal al-Nour, the mountain of the cave, hoping to see the angel Jibril again, but he found nothing there. Then one day, as he was walking, he heard a sound and looked up. He saw the same angel he had seen in the cave, seated on a throne between the heavens and the earth. Trembling again, he rushed home to his wife Khadija RA and asked her to wrap him up. Jibril did not speak to him out on the mountain. He followed him home, and only once Muhammad ﷺ was wrapped up in Khadija's house did Jibril reveal the opening verses of Surah al-Muddaththir (Qur'an 74:1-7). Scholars suggest that the pause served to prepare him for what was coming, letting him recover and feel ready for the mission. Even so, he still trembled with fear when Jibril appeared to him again. This very human reaction is held up as evidence that he was not inventing his prophethood. Someone making a false claim tells grand stories in which he is the hero, and would not describe himself this way.

Placed here because: Ep. 10: "after a few days, Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while"; the second revelation follows the pause.

After Surah al-Muddaththir commanded the Prophet ﷺ to arise and warn, he began quietly, with the people closest to him in Makkah. The first to believe was his wife Khadija RA. She believed before she even knew what she was believing in, out of trust in the man she knew. The second was her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal. There was no shahada to say yet, but he affirmed that Muhammad ﷺ was a prophet, and he died soon afterwards. Scholars differ over who came next among three people. A simple way to resolve this is to say that Ali RA was the first child to believe, Abu Bakr RA the first free man, and Zayd ibn Harithah RA the first freed slave. Ali was about ten years old and was being raised in the Prophet ﷺ's own household. No story of Abu Bakr's conversion has survived, only the manner of it. He accepted Islam the moment it was put to him. Years later in Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ was frustrated with something Umar RA had done. He said, "Allah sent me with the Truth, but all of you accused me of being a liar; and it was only Abu Bakr who said, 'You are telling the truth.'" In another hadith he said, "There was not a single person whom I invited to Islam except that he had some doubts before he converted, except for Abu Bakr." He also said that Allah had taken him as His khalil, His close friend, so he could have no other khalil, "but were I to choose a khalil, it would have been Abu Bakr." The Qur'an refers to Abu Bakr as the second of the two in the cave (9:40). Four men then became Muslims through Abu Bakr. All were noblemen of the Quraysh, and each became a great figure in Islam. The youngest was Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas RA, about sixteen years old. His mother refused to eat or drink until he returned to the idols, and she grew weaker and weaker. Finally he swore to her that even if he had a hundred souls and lost every one of them watching her die, he would not give up his religion. Seeing his resolve, she began eating again. Allah then revealed that if parents press you to worship others besides Him, you should not obey them, but should still treat them kindly in this world (31:15). The second was Uthman ibn Affan RA. The third was Zubayr ibn al-Awwam RA, the Prophet ﷺ's cousin through his aunt Safiyyah. The Prophet ﷺ later said, "Every prophet has been given a hawari, and Allah has given me as my hawari Zubayr ibn al-Awwam." A hawari is a devoted disciple. The fourth was Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf RA, a trader of about thirty. Years later he would arrive in Madinah with nothing and ask only to be shown the marketplace. Next came Abdullah ibn Mas'ud RA. He was neither a nobleman nor a slave, but a young man from a Yemeni tribe hired to herd the sheep of Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt. One day two men came to him in the pasture and asked for milk. He told them he could not give it, because the sheep were not his. One of them asked him to point out a she-goat that had stopped giving milk. He did, and the man made du'a and rubbed its udder until it filled with milk. They milked it and drank. Amazed, Ibn Mas'ud asked who they were. He was told that this was Abu Bakr and this was the Prophet ﷺ, and he became a Muslim on the spot. He later said that he learned over seventy surahs directly from the Prophet ﷺ's mouth. The Prophet ﷺ said, "If you want to know how to read the Quran, read it the way Ibn Mas'ud does." After him came many from among the slaves and servants of Makkah. The best known are Bilal RA, Khabbab ibn al-Aratt RA, and Yasir, his wife Sumayyah and their son Ammar. Amr ibn Abasah, a man from Yemen, had already rejected idol worship on his own. He heard that a man in Makkah was preaching the same, so he travelled there. He found the Prophet ﷺ living in hiding and asked him what he was. The Prophet ﷺ said, "I am a prophet." Amr asked what a prophet was and what he had been sent with. The Prophet ﷺ told him he had been sent to keep the ties of kinship, to break all idols, and so that Allah alone would be worshipped. Amr asked who had followed him, and he answered, "One free man, and one slave." Amr said he wanted to follow him too. But the Prophet ﷺ said, "You cannot do this now. Don't you see my situation, that I have to hide from my own people?" He told Amr, "Go back to your people, and when you hear that I have been victorious over my people, come back to me." Years later, after the Hijrah, Amr came to the mosque in Madinah and asked the Prophet ﷺ whether he recognized him. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes, you are the man who came to me from Yemen in Makkah." In these first years, the call to Islam was private, and deliberately so.

Placed here because: Ep. 11: "in this early time when Surah al-Muddaththir was revealed ... he preached to his immediate friends and family."

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas was only about sixteen when he left idol worship and accepted Islam. His mother tried to force him back through emotional blackmail. She vowed to stop eating and drinking until he returned to worshipping idols, and to die a painful death in front of him. She grew weak and sick, as if on her deathbed. Sa'd swore to her that he would not give up his religion, no matter what happened to her. When she saw how determined he was, she gave up and began eating again.

Placed here because: ~ Ep. 11 tells it within the account of the four who came through Abu Bakr; no date is given.

As a young man, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud worked in Makkah as a hired shepherd for Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt. One day two men he did not recognise came up to his flock. They were Muhammad ﷺ and Abu Bakr. They told him they were thirsty and asked for some milk. Ibn Mas'ud honestly replied that he could not give it, because the flock did not belong to him. The Prophet ﷺ then asked him to point out an old she-goat that had stopped giving milk. Ibn Mas'ud showed them one. The Prophet ﷺ made du'a and rubbed its udder, and it filled with milk before Ibn Mas'ud's eyes. They milked it and drank. Astonished at this miracle, Ibn Mas'ud asked who they were. When he was told that they were Muhammad ﷺ and Abu Bakr, he accepted Islam on the spot. He became the sixth person to convert.

Placed here because: Ep. 11: "The next Companion to convert was Abdullah ibn Mas'ud ... and became the 6th convert to Islam."

Amr ibn Abasah al-Sulami was a man from Yemen who knew, even before Islam, that idol worship was wrong. He heard that someone in Makkah was preaching against idolatry, so he travelled there to find him. He found Muhammad ﷺ hiding from his own people. Amr asked him what he was, and he replied, "I am a prophet." Amr asked what he had been sent with. He said, "To fulfill the tie of kinship, to break all idols, and that only Allah SWT be worshiped." Amr asked who had followed him. He said, "One free man, and one slave," meaning Abu Bakr and Bilal. Amr said he wanted to follow him. The Prophet ﷺ said, "You cannot do this now. Don't you see my situation, that I have to hide from my own people?" He told Amr, "Go back to your people, and when you hear that I have been victorious over my people, come back to me." Amr returned to Yemen and waited. Years later he heard that the Prophet ﷺ had emigrated to Madinah, so he went there and found him in his mosque. He asked whether the Prophet ﷺ recognized him. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes, you are the man who came to me from Yemen in Makkah." Amr then accepted Islam and became one of the Muhajirun, the emigrants to Madinah.

Placed here because: ~ Ep. 11 tells it last among the early stories, while the Prophet ﷺ was still "hiding / not being public"; no date is given.

When the Muslims numbered around 20 or 30, the Prophet ﷺ saw that they needed a place to meet. It had to be secret. Many Muslims had not told their families and friends about their faith, and some converted slaves had not told their masters. He chose the house of al-Arqam ibn Abi al-Arqam, which stood behind Mount Safa in the center of Makkah. Al-Arqam was one of the first ten people to accept Islam. He was also a nobleman of Banu Makhzum, the clan of Abu Jahal, which was a rival of the Prophet ﷺ's own clan. The sources do not say why his house was chosen, but likely no one would suspect a Makhzumi of sheltering the Muslims. Its location near the Ka'bah also meant that people coming and going would not draw attention. The house, known as Dar al-Arqam, became the main meeting place of the early Muslims.

Placed here because: ~ Dated to the middle of the third or start of the fourth year of the dawah in the sources.

For about three years, the Prophet ﷺ called people to Islam privately. Then Allah revealed verses commanding him to preach openly, including "And warn your close relatives" (Qur'an 26:214). He began with his own clan, the Banu Hashim. He invited more than 40 of his uncles, aunts and other adult relatives to his house. He asked Ali ibn Abi Talib to prepare food and soup. The Prophet ﷺ ate first and blessed the food. The narrator reports that although there was only one plate, all 40 ate their fill as if each had eaten the whole plate alone. They drank the soup in the same way, as if each had drunk the whole cup. His uncle Abu Lahab sensed that the Prophet ﷺ was about to announce something. Before the meal was over, he stood up, made an excuse and left. Because he was a senior member of the family, others left with him, and the gathering broke up. The Prophet ﷺ saw that this was a tactic. A few days later he invited them again. This time, before they had finished eating, he stood up and spoke to them directly about his message.

Placed here because: About three years after the start of revelation; the first open call, to his own clan.

A few days or weeks after the private feast for his own clan, the Banu Hashim, the Prophet ﷺ took his message to the whole city. He climbed the mountain of Safa, the closest mountain to the Ka'bah, and began calling out to the people. Makkah was a small town of only around 1,000 people. One voice from the top of Safa was enough to bring all the tribes together. When everyone had gathered, he asked them, "What do you know from me? How do you trust me?" They said they knew nothing but good from him, and that he was al-Amin, the Trusted One, who had never lied to them. He asked whether they would believe him if he told them an army was coming to attack. They said yes, because they had never heard him tell a lie. He then said, "Then know therefore, I am a Warner sent by Allah, to proclaim the coming of severe punishment on the Day of Judgment unless you turn to Allah and leave your idolatry." He went on to call out to each clan of Quraysh by name, starting with the most distant and moving closer. He ended with his own uncles and aunts, and finally his beloved daughter Fatima. He told each of them to save themselves from the Fire, because he could not help them on the Day of Judgment. When he finished, his uncle Abu Lahab picked up some sand and threw it toward him. Abu Lahab cursed him and asked whether this was why he had called them all there. Allah then revealed Surah al-Masad (Qur'an 111) about Abu Lahab.

Placed here because: A few days or weeks after the feast, in the sources.