Waraqa ibn Nawfal

Waraqa ibn Nawfal, a cousin of Khadija: an elderly Meccan Christian who read books, and the first to tell Muhammad that what had come to him in the cave was prophethood.

An elder of Quraysh whose sight failed in his later years. He "read books": the tradition says he used to write in Hebrew and copy from the Gospel in Arabic ¹.

When the Prophet ﷺ returned trembling from Hira, Khadija took him to Waraqa. His judgement, the turning point of the narrative, was that what had been sent down to Moses had been sent down to Muhammad: the great Namus. Then came the warning: "I wish I had been a young man then, when your people drive you out" ¹.

He died shortly afterwards, before the call was announced openly ².

Waraqa is a bridge between Islam and the older scriptures: a Christian elder inside the story who names what is happening before the new community has a name for it.

A hadith from Aisha, which the book cites, describes him as Khadija's cousin: a man who had become a Christian in the pre-Islamic period, who used to write the Hebrew script and copy from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as God willed, a great old man who had gone blind ^{3 4}. When he heard what the Prophet had seen, he said it was the Namus that God had sent down to Moses. He wished he were alive when his people drove him out. He told him that no man had come with the like of what he brought without being opposed, and that if he lived to see that day he would support him with a mighty support. He did not last long after that and died (the beginning of revelation) ^{3 5 4}. In Ibn Hisham's version, Khadija went to him and he said that the great Namus that used to come to Moses had come, and that Muhammad was the prophet of this community. Then he met the Prophet after his stay had ended and said the same to him ^{5 6}.