The first revelation

In Ramadan of the third year of his retreat in the cave of Hira, the angel came to Muhammad when he had completed forty years. He pressed him three times, and then sent down upon him the opening verses of Surat al-'Alaq. ^{1 2 3}. The author judges that this was the night of Monday, the twenty-first of Ramadan, corresponding to 10 August 610 CE, when he was forty lunar years, six months and twelve days old. ¹

When he had completed forty years, the signs of prophethood began to appear to him, namely the true dream. He would see no dream but that it came about like the break of dawn, and this continued for six months. The author reckons the duration of prophethood at twenty-three years, so this dream is one part of forty-six parts of prophethood. ^{1 4} The author relates from Ibn Hajar, from al-Bayhaqi, that the beginning of prophethood with the dream occurred in Rabi' al-Awwal, the month of his birth, and the beginning of waking revelation in Ramadan. ^{1 4}

The author quotes the hadith of Aisha in the Sahih: the first thing with which revelation began was the good dream. Then solitude became beloved to him, and he would seclude himself in the cave of Hira for many nights, taking provisions for it, then return to Khadija to take provisions for another such retreat, until the truth came to him while he was in the cave. ^{2 3} The angel came to him and commanded him to read. He answered that he was not a reader. The angel pressed him until he reached the limit of effort, then released him, three times. Then he recited to him the opening of Surat al-'Alaq, from al-'Alaq 1 to al-'Alaq 5. ^{2 3}

He came back trembling, his heart pounding, and entered upon Khadija and asked her to wrap him up until the fear left him. He told her that he feared for himself. She reassured him that God would not disgrace him, given that he maintains ties of kinship, bears the burdens of others, earns for the destitute, hosts guests and helps in the calamities of truth. ^{2 3} Then she took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, who had become a Christian in the Jahiliyya and used to write from the Gospel in Hebrew. He was a very old man who had gone blind. When he heard the report, he said that this is the Namus that God sent down upon Moses, and he wished that he would be alive when his people drove him out. He told him that no man had ever come with what he had brought without being opposed. Waraqa did not tarry long before he died, and revelation paused (the pause of revelation). ^{2 5 3}

The author relates from al-Tabari and Ibn Hisham that he went out of the cave after being startled by the revelation, then returned, completed his sojourn, and then went back to Mecca. ^{5 6 7} In al-Tabari's text, nothing was more hateful to him than to be called a poet or a madman. He feared that Quraysh would say this of him, so he went out intending to throw himself from the mountain. Halfway up, he heard a voice from the sky calling him that he was the Messenger of God and that the caller was Gabriel. He raised his head and saw him in the form of a man standing with his feet on the horizon of the sky. He stood gazing at him, neither advancing nor retreating, until Khadija sent her messengers to look for him. ^{5 6} He then returned to Khadija and told her. She gave him good tidings and said she hoped he would be the prophet of this community. Then she went to Waraqa, who said that the great Namus that used to come to Moses had come to him, and that he was the prophet of this community. When his sojourn ended, Waraqa met him and said the same. ^{5 7}

The author notes in a footnote that historians differ about the month of the mission. Rabi' al-Awwal is held by a large group, Ramadan by others, and Rajab is also mentioned. He prefers Ramadan on the basis of the verses al-Baqara 185, al-Qadr 1 and al-Dukhan 3, and because his sojourn at Hira was in Ramadan. ^{1 8} Those who hold Ramadan differ about the day: the seventh, the seventeenth or the eighteenth. Al-Khudari insisted on the seventeenth. ^{1 9 10} The author prefers the twenty-first, although he has not come across anyone who holds it. The people of the sira agree that the mission took place on a Monday, based on the hadith of Abu Qatada about fasting on Monday. In Ramadan of that year, by his calculation, a Monday falls only on the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first or twenty-eighth. And the Night of Power falls on an odd night of the last ten nights. So the twenty-first is settled for him. ^{1 2 11 12}

• The date of 21 Ramadan (10 August 610 CE) is the author's preference alone, by his own declaration. The event card carries it with the status "disputed," alongside the other views.
• The reckoning of "one part in forty-six" rests on a prophethood of twenty-three years, with six months of dreams, as the author explains the hadith.
• For the first verses revealed, up to al-'Alaq 5, see the author's footnote. ²