Mount Hira’

He would spend time in contemplation first at home and then he began going to a cave in Mount Hira, accompanied by his young cousin Ali and his adopted son, Zaid. Tradition states that one day, when he was about forty years old, Muhammad was alone and asleep in the cave on Mount Hira' when he saw before him "like the brightness of the dawn" an angel who commanded that he recite … Muhammad said that he could not do so.

"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 go 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:

'Recite in the name of your lord who created –

From an embryo created the human.

Recite your lord is all-giving

Who taught by the pen

Taught the human what he did not know before

The human being is a tyrant

He thinks his possessions make him secure

To your lord is the return of everything'" (Qur'an: 96:1-8)

The same passage is interpreted differently by Mohamad Jebara in his work Muhammad, the World-Changer. In his reading, the word "Iqra" (translated traditionally as "recite") means to blossom or "Allow yourself to blossom." Muhammad, not knowing how to blossom, answered "Ma aqra," or "I do not know how to blossom." In the passage above, the traditional translation is given as "I cannot recite." The word blossom conveys a different sense to the first word ever revealed to the Prophet. It communicates the idea of achieving one's full potential, of blossoming, of transcending normal consciousness to cultivate a greater perceptive capacity.

Muhammad was terrified and unable to understand what had happened to him. Had he gone mad or become one of the Kahins, the ecstatic poets whom he despised? What had happened? He staggered down the mountain and sought Khadija, crying, "Wrap me up! Wrap me up!" Khadija covered him in a cloak and held him and when he was calmer, questioned him. He told her what he had experienced and that he feared he had gone mad, but Khadija had no doubt that his revelation was authentic, "This cannot be my dear, God would not treat you thus. You are known to be truthful and a bearer of the burdens of others. You give to the poor, you feed guests, you work against injustice," writes I. Ishaq in The Life of Muhammad (translated by A. Guillaume pg.106).

A second revelation (The Quran, 74) came to Muhammad the following morning, instructing him as follows (as translated by M. Jebara):

Oh you who are covered up, shivering with fear

Get up and go out to proclaim the message of self-deliverance

Empower people to rebuild themselves inspired by the Cosmic Mentor

But bring clarity to yourself before you try to change others!

Cast off the constellation of obstacles weighing you down!

Help others out of sincerity without expecting any personal benefit!

Trust in your Cosmic Mentor and persevere through the difficult process ahead!

(A more traditional translation of these verses is as follows, from MAS Abdel Haleem:

You, wrapped in your cloak

Arise and give warning!

Proclaim the greatness of your Lord; cleanse yourself;

keep away from all filth (alternatively, idolatory);

do not weaken, feeling overwhelmed (or do not give, hoping only to receive);

be steadfast in your Lord's cause.)