Chief of the Prophets

Chief of the Prophets — Page 43

Chapter Four From the Beginning of Revelation and Preaching to the Migration to Abyssinia Beginning of Revelation 1 By age forty, Muḥammad sa was, as usual, engaged in the worship of God in the Cave of Ḥirā, when he received his first revelation. It was in the blessed month of Ramaān, on a Monday, when an angel appeared and addressed him: meaning “read”, or “speak”, or “convey the message to the people. ” He replied: “I cannot read” meaning that he did not know how to read, or that it was beyond his capacity. Hearing his answer, the angel embraced him tightly and shook him, and then releasing him said, “ Iqra ” but the angel received the same answer: The third time, when the angel shook him and was sure that now the Prophet was ready to convey the message of God, he said: 1 See Sīrat Khātamun-Nabiyyīn, Urdu edition, published by Islam International Publications, 1996, p. 117 for a very beneficial note about the descending of revelation and gathering of the Qur’ān.