In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad

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that particular moment worry and distress prc\'aiJed over the awareness of
his election and mission.

Silence, Doubt

The siruation was to get even worse, for durieg the following months
Rc\dation stopped. T his period of silence «(111aITo), which lasted between
six months and [\'0 and a half years, depending on the tradition cited,
caused the Prophet great doubt and suffering. He thought dmt he was no
longer worthy of receiving Revelation, that he had been forsaken, or that
he had merely been bewitched. Aishah repons how intensely he suffered :

Revelation stopped for some time, so the Prophet was hurt; his sorrow was

such that on several occasions, he left home to go and th row himself from

a steep moumain. But each time he reached the fOp of the mountain to

throw himself into the chasm, the Angel Gabriel would appear ro him and

!ay: "0 Muhammad, you are truly God's Mcssenger." ThOSf: words would

calm his heart and bring peace ro his sout13

Those apparitions and signs around him helped the Prophet resist the

feelings of dOubt and solitude. H e was ac tually undergoing the same expe-

rience as Abraham: in the ordeal of this silence, he doubted himself, his

capacities, and his power, but God was constan:ly strewing hi s path with

signs and visions that prevented him from doubting G<xi. lbis trial o f

silence was an initiation shaping the M essenger's spiritual quest. Revelation

had verbally told him about the necessity of humility, but God's silence was

now teaching it to him practically. God had revealed His presence to him.

and in the course of those long weeks empty of His \vord, He was foster-

ing the need for Him in I-lis ]\kssenger's heart. God at last spoke to him

again, invoking the rising day and the spreading night as much fo r their

physical reality, which is a sign of the Creator's power, as for their symbol-

ism, which expresses the fragility of being and the heart between the rising

light of Revelation and the obscure emptiness of silence:

By thc morning light! By the night when it is stilll Your Lord [Rabb,

"Educato r"] has not forsaken you, nor is He dspleased. And verily the