In the Shade of the Message and Prophet hood
When Prophet Muhammad [ صلى الله عليه وسلم] was nearly forty, he used to pass long hours in retirement meditating and speculating over all aspects of creation around him. This meditative temperament helped to widen the mental gap between him and his compatriots. He used to provide himself with Sawiq (barley porridge) and water and then directly head for the hills and ravines in the neighborhood of Makkah. One of these in particular was his favorite resort — a cave named Hira’, in the Mount An-Nour. It was only two miles from Makkah, a small cave 4 yards long and 1.75 yard wide. He would always go there and invite wayfarers to share him his modest provision. He used to devote most of his time, and Ramadan in particular, to worship and meditation on the universe around him. His heart was restless about the moral evils and idolatry that were rampant among his people; he was as yet helpless because no definite course, or specific approach had been available for him to follow and rectify the ill practices around him. This solitude attended with this sort of contemplative approach must be understood in its Divine perspective. It was a preliminary stage to the period of grave responsibilities that he was to shoulder very soon. Privacy and detachment from the impurities of life were two indispensable prerequisites for the Prophet’s soul to come into close communion with the Unseen Power that lies behind all aspects of existence in this infinite universe. It was a rich period of privacy which lasted for three years and ushered in a new era, of indissoluble contact with that Power.
Gabriel Brings Down The Revelation
When he was forty, the age of complete perfection at which Prophets were always ordered to disclose their Message, signs of his Prophet hood started to appear and twinkle on the horizons of life; they were the true visions he used to experience for six months. The period of Prophet hood was 23 years; so the period of these six months of true visions constituted an integral part of the forty-six parts of Prophethood. In Ramadan, in his third year of solitude in the cave of Hira’, Allah’s Will desired His mercy to flow on earth and Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) ) was honoured with Prophet hood, and the light of Revelation burst upon him with some verses of the Noble Qur’aan. ‘Aa’ishah ( رضي الله عنه ), gave the following narration of that most significant event that brought the Divine light which would dispel the darkness of disbelief and ignorance. It led life down a new course and brought about the most serious amendment to the line of the history of mankind: Forerunners of the Revelation assumed the form of true visions that would strikingly come true all the time. After that, solitude became dear to him and he would go to the cave, Hira’, to engage in Tahannuth (devotion) there for a certain number of nights before returning to his family, and then he would return for provisions for a similar stay. At length, unexpectedly, the Truth (the angel) came to him and said,
“Recite.” “I cannot recite,” he ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) said. The Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) described: “Then he took me and squeezed me vehemently and then let me go and repeated the order ‘Recite.’ ‘I cannot recite’ said I, and once again he squeezed me and let me till I was exhausted. Then he said: ‘Recite.’ I said ‘I cannot recite.’ He squeezed me for a third time and then let me go and said:
‘Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists), has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous.’ [Al Qur’an 96:1-3]
The Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) repeated these verses. He was trembling with fear. At this stage, he came back to his wife Khadeejah, and said, “Cover me, … cover me.” They covered him until he restored security. He apprised Khadeejah of the incident of the cave and added that he was horrified. His wife tried to soothe him and reassured him saying,
“Allah will never disgrace you. You unite uterine relations; you bear the burden of the weak; you help the poor and the needy, you entertain the guests and endure hardships in the path of truthfulness.”
She set out with the prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) to her cousin Waraqa bin Nawfal bin Asad bin ‘Abd Al-‘Uzza, who had embraced Christianity in the pre-Islaamic period, and used to write the Bible in Hebrew. He was a blind old man. Khadeejah said: “My cousin! Listen to your nephew!” Waraqa said: “O my nephew! What did you see?” The Messenger of Allaah ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) told him what had happened to him. Waraqa replied:
“This is ‘Namus’ i.e. (the angel who is entrusted with Divine Secrets) that Allaah 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 صلى الله عليه وسلم) ) asked: “Will they drive me out?” Waraqa 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 till that day, then I would support you strongly.” A few days later Waraqa died and the revelation also subsided. At-Tabaree and Ibn Hisham reported that the Messenger of Allaah ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) left the cave of Hira’ after being surprised by the Revelation, but later on, returned to the cave and continued his solitude. Afterwards, he came back to Makkah.
To be continued……….
