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Muhammad First Revelation

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Muhammad First Revelation

While living in Mecca, Muhammad was disturbed by its people’s materialism and its traditional idolatry. Around the age of forty, during the month of Ramadan, Muhammad began to make long retreats to a cave in Hira Mountain just outside of Mecca. There, he fasted and meditated. On one of his retreats, Muhammad was visited by the Archangel Gabriel, who was sent to deliver the first revelation. Gabriel said to Muhammad “Iqraa,” meaning, “read or recite”. Muhammad replied “I cannot read,” which he really could not due to the fact that he did not receive any formal education. Gabriel repeated “Iqraa,” and Muhammed’s reply was the same.

Then Gabriel asked him to repeat after him and said: "Recite in the name of your Lord who created! He created man from that which clings. Recite; and thy Lord is most Bountiful, He who has taught by the pen, taught man what he knew not" (Surah 96 of the Qur’an). Muhammad could not write as well, which is one of his miracles, to be able to memorize and recite the Qur’an without the abilities to read or write. Muhammad’s mission as a prophet was to spread the word of Islam and restore the worship of the One True God (Allah), the one and only creator and sustainer of the universe, as taught by Prophet Ibrahim and other prophets after him. Some of the first people to followed Muhammad’s message were his wife and daughters, his cousin Ali, his servant Zayd ibn Harithah, and his friend Abu Bakr. Muhammad kept his message somewhat “private” for the first three years, with a group of forty people accepting his message of Islam. Muhammad then received revelations telling him to spread Islam to everyone. That is when he started to recite revelations to people in public in Mecca and inviting them to Islam.

The Quraish (leaders of Mecca) tried to persuade Muhammad to abandon his message. One of the

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