Revelation, Encounter, and Confirmation: The Journey of the Messenger of Allâh

 The Revelation and Its Impact At-Tabari and Ibn Hisham reported that the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) 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. At-Tabari reported on this incident, saying: After mentioning the coming of the Revelation, the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) said: “I have never abhorred anyone more than a poet or a mad man. I can not stand looking at either of them. I will never tell anyone of Quraish of my Revelation. I will climb a mountain and throw myself down and die. That will relieve me. I went to do that but halfway up the mountain, I heard a voice from the sky saying ‘O Muhammad! You are the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) and I am Gabriel.’

The Encounter with Gabriel I looked upwards and saw Gabriel in the form of a man putting his legs on the horizon. He said: ‘O Muhammad You are the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) and I am Gabriel.’ I stopped and looked at him. His sight distracted my attention from what I had intended to do. I stood in my place transfixed. I tried to shift my eyes away from him. He was in every direction I looked at. I stopped in my place without any movement until Khadijah sent someone to look for me. He went down to Makkah and came back while I was standing in the same place. Gabriel then left, and I went back home.

Khadijah’s Support and Waraqa’s Confirmation I found Khadijah at home, so I sat very close to her. She asked: ‘Father of Al-Qasim! Where have you been? I sent someone to look for you. He went to Makkah and returned to me.’ I told her of what I had seen. She replied: ‘It is a propitious sign, O my husband. Pull yourself together, I swear by Allâh that you are a Messenger for this nation.’ Then she stood up and went to Waraqa and informed him. Waraqa said: ‘I swear by Allâh that he has received the same Namus, i.e. angel that was sent to Moses. He is the Prophet of this nation. Tell him to be patient.’ She came back to him and told him of Waraqa’s words.

- From Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum” (Arabic: الرحيق المختوم; transl. The Sealed Nectar), is a biography of the Prophet Muhammad, written by Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri