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Muhammad's first revelation was the event that initiated the development of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. The exact date is disputed, but it is generally believed to have occurred in 610 CE. According to the Islamic narrative, Muhammad sought solitude after repeatedly experiencing transcendental dreams in which he was told of his upcoming responsibility as a messenger of God, and thus retreated to Jabal al-Nour near Mecca. While isolating at the Cave of Hira within Jabal al-Nour, he was visited by the angel Gabriel, who revealed to him the beginnings of what would become known as the Quran.[1] At the age of 40, Muhammad's religious career as the "Seal of the Prophets" had begun.
Date of the Revelation
[edit]The exact date and time of the revelation is not mentioned anywhere. As a result, the exact date is disputed.
The Calendar's State During the First Revelation
[edit]To stop the calendar months from rotating through the seasons, intercalation was employed. This involved the occasional insertion of an extra month (announced at the pilgrimage), ideally seven times in nineteen years. Intercalation was said to have been introduced in 412 CE, and it was borrowed from the Jews. The Jewish official controlling the practice was known as Nasīʾ.[2]
When the Arabs adopted the procedure they used this word nasīʾ to denote the whole system. It was operated similarly to the way the Jews operated it – the beginning of the year (Muharram) was tied to the spring season.[3]
Identifying the Date of the First Revelation
[edit]According to Mubarak Puri, the exact date of this event was Monday, the 21st of Ramadan just before sunrise, i.e. August 10, 610 CE – when Muhammad was 40 lunar years, 6 months and 12 days of age, i.e. 39 solar years, 3 months and 22 days.[4]
Others establish the day by projecting the fixed (i.e. non-intercalated) calendar backwards, providing a date of the night of Sunday to Monday, 13 to 14 December 610.
Summary
[edit]According to biographies of Muhammad, while on retreat in a mountain cave near Mecca (the cave of Hira), where Muhammad used to go and ponder upon the evil deeds of his community. Gabriel appears before him and commands him to "Read!". He responded, "I cannot read!". (This happens 2 more times). Then the angel Gabriel embraced him tightly and then revealed to him the first lines of chapter 96 of the Qur'an, "Read: In the name of your Lord Who created, (1) Created man from a clot. (2) Read: And Allah is the Most Generous, (3) Who taught by the pen, (4) Taught man that which he knew not.(5)" (Bukhari 4953).[citation needed]
Before the Revelation
[edit]Muhammad was born and raised in Mecca. When he was nearly 40, he used to spend many hours alone in prayer and speculating over the aspects of creation.[5][page needed] He was concerned with the ignorance of divine guidance (Jahiliyyah), social unrest, injustice, widespread discrimination, fighting among tribes and abuse of tribal authorities prevalent in pre-Islamic Arabia.[6] The moral degeneration of his fellow people, and his own quest for a true religion further lent fuel to this, with the result that he now began to withdraw periodically to a cave named Mount Hira, three miles north of Mecca, for contemplation and reflection.[7] Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad during this period began to have dreams replete with spiritual significance which were fulfilled according to their true import; and this was the commencement of his divine revelation.[5][page needed]
The First Revelation
[edit]
According to Islamic tradition, during one such occasion while he was in contemplation, the angel Gabriel appeared before him in the year 610 CE and said, "Read", upon which he replied, "I am unable to read". Thereupon the angel caught hold of him and embraced him heavily. This happened two more times after which the angel commanded Muhammad to recite the following verses:[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
- "Read in the name of your Lord who created
- Created man from a clinging substance.
- Read, and your Lord is most Generous,–
- He who taught by the pen–
- Taught man that which he knew not."[Quran 96:1–5][citation needed]
After the Revelation
[edit]Perplexed by this new experience, Muhammad made his way to home where he was consoled by his wife Khadijah, who also took him to her Nestorian Christian cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal. Islamic tradition holds that Waraqah, upon hearing the description, testified to Muhammad's prophethood,[5][page needed][15] and convinced Muhammad that the revelation was from God.[16] Waraqah said: "O my nephew! What did you see?" When Muhammad told him what had happened to him, Waraqah replied: "This is Namus (meaning Gabriel) that Allah sent to Moses. I wish I were younger. I wish I could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." Muhammad asked: "Will they drive me out?" Waraqah answered in the affirmative and said: "Anyone who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should be alive until that day, then I would support you strongly." A few days later Waraqah died.[17]
The initial revelation was followed by a pause and a second encounter with Gabriel when Muhammad heard a voice from the sky and saw the same angel "sitting between the sky and the earth" and the revelations resumed with the first verses of chapter 74.
Al-Tabari and Ibn Hisham reported that Muhammad left the cave of Hira after being surprised by the revelation, but later on, returned to the cave and continued his solitude, though subsequently he returned to Mecca. Tabari and Ibn Ishaq write that Muhammad told Zubayr:[17]
"when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from heaven saying "O Muhammad! you are the apostle of Allah and I am Gabriel." I raised my head towards heaven to see who was speaking, and Gabriel in the form of a man with feet astride the horizon, saying, "O Muhammad! you are the apostle of Allah and I am Gabriel." I stood gazing at him moving neither forward nor backward, then I began to turn my face away from him, but towards whatever region of the sky I looked, I saw him as before."
Biographers disagree about the period of time between Muhammad's first and second experiences of revelation. Ibn Ishaq writes that three years elapsed from the time that Muhammad received the first revelation until he started to preach publicly. Bukhari takes chapter 74 as the second revelation however chapter 68 has strong claims to be the second revelation.[18]
References
[edit]- ^ Weir, T.H.; Watt, W. Montgomery (2012-04-24). "Ḥirāʾ". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Brill Online. Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
- ^ Bab. Talmud, Sanhedrin, p. 11a: "the intercalation of the year may only be done with the approval of the nasī."
- ^ Peters, F E (1994). Muhammad and the origins of Islam. New York. p. 252. ISBN 0-7914-1875-8. Archived from the original on 2023-04-14. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
The Hajj fell on March 10, in the intercalated year 632 A.D., the vernal equinox in the Julian calendar then in use, and if the traditionalists were correct, in that year it coincided with the Passover and Easter tides. With intercalation, which annually tied the Hajj to the spring season, that must not have been a rare occurrence, but Muhammad's abolition of the practice ensured that that coincidence would not soon happen again: henceforward the Hajj would occur according to the lunar cycle and thus annually retrogress, along with all other Muslim festivals, eleven days against the solar calendar.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Having ordered intercalations in 630 and 631 (proved by reports of the interval between the birth and death of Ibrahim and a solar eclipse on the morning of his death) the Nasīʾ did not order another one in 632. At that time the vernal equinox was occurring about 19 March. - ^ Mubārakpūrī, Ṣafī R. (1998). When the Moon Split (A Biography of the Prophet Muhammad). Riyadh: Darussalam. p. 32.
- ^ a b c Shibli Nomani. Sirat-un-Nabi. Vol 1 Lahore
- ^ Husayn Haykal, Muhammad (2008). The Life of Muhammad. Selangor: Islamic Book Trust. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-983-9154-17-7.
- ^ Bogle, Emory C. (1998). Islam: Origin and Belief. Texas University Press. p. 6. ISBN 0-292-70862-9.
- ^ Muhammad Mustafa Al-A'zami (2003), The History of The Qur'anic Text: From Revelation to Compilation: A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments, pp. 25, 47–8. UK Islamic Academy. ISBN 978-1872531656.
- ^ Brown (2003), pp. 72–3.
- ^ Sell (1913), p. 29.
- ^ "Bukhari volume 1, book 1, number 3". Archived from the original on 2013-08-02. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
- ^ Sahih al-Bukhari 3392; In-book reference: Book 60, Hadith 66l USC-MSA web (English) reference: Vol. 4, Book 55, Hadith 605.
- ^ Sahih Muslim 160 a; In-book reference: Book 1, Hadith 310; USC-MSA web (English) reference: Book 1, Hadith 301.
- ^ Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah, p. 106.
- ^ Sell (1913), p. 30.
- ^ Juan E. Campo (2009). "Muhammad". Encyclopedia of Islam. New York. p. 492. ISBN 978-0-8160-5454-1. Archived from the original on 2023-04-14. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b *Translated by Alfred Guillaume (1967). The life of Muhammad (sira of ibn ishaq). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0196360331.
- At-Tabari 2/207
- The Sealed Nectar Archived 2001-12-14 at the Library of Congress Web Archives
- ^ Bennett, Clinton (1998). In Search of Muhammad. Cassell. pp. 41. ISBN 0826435769.
