CHAPTER FOURRevelation, Knowledge
Alone in the cave of Hira, Muhammad continued to search for truth and
meaning. Then the Angel Gabriel suddenly appeared to him and ordered:
"Read!" Muhammad answered: " I am no t of those who read." The angel
held him so tightly that he could hardly bear it and again ordered: " Read!"
j\ofuhammad repeated: " I am not of thQ~e who read!" The angel held him
tightly agrun, almost choking him, and repeated the order for the third
time: " Read!" The same answer was repeated: "1 am not of th ose who
read!" The angel, maintaining his hold, recited: "Read in the name of your
Lord IRabb, "Educator'l, Who created humankind out o f a clinging clot.
Read, and yuur Lord is most bountiful, H e who taught by means of the
pen, tallght humankind that which they did not know."J
Those words were the first verses of the Quran revealed to the Prophet
through the Angel Gabriel. Muhammad himself, th en much later his u>ife
Aishah, some Companions, and traditionists down to Ibn Ishaq and I bn
Hisham, reported this event and those that followed in generall}' similar
terms, though with a few differences as to some (mostly minor) facts and
their chronology.
After speaking these words, the Angel Gabriel went away, leaving the
Prophet in a deeply troubled SL1te. He was afraid and did not know
whether he had had a devilish visio n or whether he was simply possessed.
He decided to go back to his wife. H e eventually arrived in g reat dis-
tress and said: "Cover me! Cover me!" Khadijah wrapped him in a cl oak
and asked what was the matter. Muhammad explained what had happened
and expressed his fear: "\'\fhat is happening to me? J fear for myself."2
Khadijah comforted him and whispered: "You have nothing to fear. Have