32 In 1« FfJIJIlftp1 of the ProphetFaith, Morality, and Persecutio n
To the essential leaching of Islam that knowledge exists only with hurnan
awareness of irs limits, the 5urah quoted above, ''AI-QaIrun,'' adds another
dimension when it speaks of the Prophet's "sublime morals." This "erse,
recalling what we already knew of the Prophet's exccptionall)' nohle behav-
ior since his birth, draws a specific hnk bet\vecn knowledge, faith, and
action. In the light of faith, knowled ge must be b ased in and rely on the
individual's moral dignity; indeed, it is the nobleness of the Prophet'S
behavio r that confirms to him, a posteriori, that he is nOt possessed, that he
is in me right, and that his reward will be endless. Faith in God and knowl-
edge, in the hght of the divine, must have as their immed iate consequence
a behavior, a way of acting, that respects an ethic and promotes good.
Those veCiCS convey ano th er teaching. predicted by \X1araqah ibn
Nawfal as by the monk Bahira before rum: there were to be insults, adver-
sity. hatred, and even banishment by his own people. The Prophet W2S
warned that he would certainly be rejected. but for the momenl, after th e
first ReveJaoons, he had to face hIS own doubts: he had been comfo rted
by his wife, then by Waraqah ibn Nawfal's confirmatio n, but h e had
received nothing from the Angd Gabriel himself to reassure h.im thor-
oughly. Sometimes, when the Prophet was walking, he would see the
image o f Gabriel filling th e horizon, and if he turned away he \'ould still
see Gabriel facing him.
There are no precise data as to the number of Revelations the Prophet
receivcd d uring this first phase, but Aishah reports that th e P ro phet said
that one day he heard a noise and suddenly " th e angel who had come to
me in the cave of Hira appeared to me, sitting betv.'ecn the sky and the
earth; I was frightened, and las had happened o n th e occasion of th e first
Revelation) I rushed home and said: 'Cover me! Cover md' which was
done."!! T his was when the following verses were revealed: "0 you
wrapped up in a mantle! Arise and deliver your warning! And your Lord
[fVJbb] g lorify! And r our garments purify! And all abomination shun!,,!2
In each of these initial Revelations. God p resents Himself to His
Messenger as "your RabV' (Rabbuk), or Educato r, who has chosen him ,
raised him, then ealled him to bear th e final Revelauon of the Ooe God.
It was no t without purpose that Muhammad had bee n o rphaned and poor
and that he had gone throug h a perio d of contemplauon, even though at