Call To Prophethood/First Revelation

Question 1

Which cave and mountain did the prophet go to before the conferment of prophethood?

Answer 1

• A few years before the conferment of prophethood, he became more and more fond of solitude.
• He started retiring for days with a supply of dates, oatmeal and water into a cave in a mountain (Jabal e Noor) outside Makkah, known as Cave of Hira.

Question 2

What happened to the prophet when he was 40yrs old towards the end of the 27th of Ramadan in 610AD?

Answer 2

• When the prophet was 40 years old, one day towards the end of Ramadan (27th) in 610 AD, he was in the cave of Hira, when angel Jibrael appeared before him and asked him to read.

Question 3

Which angel did appear before the prophet and what was he told?

Answer 3

• This was so sudden and unexpected that startled by the strange voice, he answered “I cannot read.” Then he got hugged and squeezed so hard that he thought he would die due to suffocation
• He was then released and requested to read again from which he says “I cannot read” and got squeezed again from which the prophet asked “What shall I read” the angel then hugged him the third time and then recited the following verses.

Question 4

Surah Alaq/iqra

Answer 4

‘Read in the name of your lord and Cherisher, Who created. Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood. Proclaim! And your Lord is most bountiful, He who taught by (the use of) pen. Taught men that which he knew not”

Question 5

What made the prophet start reading?

Answer 5

• The prophet Muhammad (pbuh) could not refuse and recited these verses after the angel and the words were imprinted on his mind.
• Marking the beginning of prophethood and first revelation

Question 6

What did the prophet do after being shaken by the experience?

Answer 6

• He was greatly shaken by this experience and he ran out of the cave.
• Suddenly, he heard a voice from the sky and saw the angel of JIbrael filling the whole horizon and saying “O Muhammad (P.B.U.H), you are the messenger of Allah and I am JIbrael.”

Question 7

Who did the prophet narrate to after rushing back home?

Answer 7

• Hazrat Khadija who comforted him and sent him to her cousin Waraqa bin Naufal who was a blind Christian scholar.
• He said it was the angel Jibrael who had always brought revelations to previous messengers of God.
• He also informed her he would face enmity and persecution by his own people.