Life of Muhammad — Page 10
sa 10 several days, and with this he would repair to the cave H ir a. In the cave he would worship God day and night. When he was forty years of age, he saw a vision. It was in this very cave. He saw some one commanding him to recite. The Prophet sa said in reply he did not know what or how to recite. The figure insisted and at last made the Prophet sa recite the following verses: Recite thou in the name of thy Lord Who created, created man from a clot of blood. Recite! And thy Lord is the Most Beneficent, Who taught man by the pen, taught man what he knew not (96:2-6). These verses, the first ever revealed to the Prophet sa , became part of the Qur ’ an as did other verses which were revealed later. They have tremendous meaning. They command the Prophet sa to stand up and be ready to proclaim the name of the One God, the One Creator — of the Prophet sa and of all others — Who has made man and sowed the seed of His own love and that of fellow- men in his nature. The Prophet sa was commanded to proclaim the Message of this God, and was promised help, and protection by Him in the proclamation of this Message. The verses foretold a time when the world would be taught all manner of knowledge through the instrumentality of the pen, and would be taught things never heard of before. The verses constitute an epitome of the Qur ’ an. Whatever the Prophet sa was to be taught in later revelations is contained in embryo in these verses. The foundation was laid in them of a great and heretofore unknown advance in the spiritual progress of man. The meaning and explanation of these verses will be found in their place in this Commentary. We refer to them here because their revelation constitutes a great occasion in the life of the Prophet sa. When the Prophet sa received this revelation, he was full of fear of the responsibility which God had decided to place on his shoulders. Any other person in his place would have been filled with pride — he would have felt that he had become great. The Prophet sa was different. He could