The Beginning of Gabriel’s Revelation

The Messenger continued to see and hear this greeting for as long as Allah willed. Then Gabriel came to him with Allah’s honor while he was at Hira in Ramadan. Ibn Ishaq related from Wahb ibn Kaysan, who heard ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ask ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Umayr how the Messenger’s Prophethood began when Gabriel came to him. ‘Ubayd said that the Messenger used to retreat at Hira for a month each year, a practice Quraysh called tahannuth, meaning devotion to righteousness. Ibn Ishaq also quotes Abu Talib’s verse mentioning Mount Hira and those who ascend and descend it.

In the year Allah chose to honor him with the Message, during Ramadan, the Messenger went to Hira with his family as he had for his retreat. On the night Allah honored him with the Message and showed mercy to His servants through it, Gabriel came with Allah’s command. The Messenger said: “Gabriel came to me while I was asleep, carrying a patterned silk cloth on which was writing. He said, ‘Read.’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed it against me until I thought I would die, then released me and said, ‘Read.’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed it against me again until I thought I would die, then released me and said, ‘Read.’”

The Messenger said: “He pressed it against me a third time until I thought I would die, then released me and said, ‘Read.’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ I only said this hoping he would again do what he had done before. He said: ‘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’ (Qur’an 96:1–5). I recited it. Then he departed, and I awoke as though the words had been written in my heart. I went out until I was midway up the mountain and heard a voice from heaven: ‘Muhammad, you are the Messenger of Allah, and I am Gabriel.’ I raised my head and saw Gabriel in the form of a man, standing across the horizon. Wherever I looked in the sky, I saw him. I remained standing, neither advancing nor turning back, until Khadijah sent messengers to search for me. They reached the heights of Makkah and returned to her while I still stood in that place. Then he departed from me.” He returned to his family and sat close beside Khadijah. She said, “Abu al-Qasim, where were you? By Allah, I sent messengers searching for you until they reached Makkah…”