34 No god but God
to the cult of the Ka‘ba. On the other hand, he seemed to be acutely
aware of his complicity in Mecca’s religio-economic system, which
exploited the city’s unprotected masses in order to maintain the
wealth and power of the élite. For fifteen years he struggled with the
incongruity between his lifestyle and his beliefs; by his fortieth year,
he was an intensely troubled man.
Then, one night in 610 C.E., as he was meditating on Mt. Hira
during one of his religious retreats, Muhammad had an encounter
that would change the world.
He sat alone in a cave, deep in meditation. Suddenly an invisible
presence crushed him in its embrace. He struggled to break free but
could not move. He was overwhelmed by darkness. The pressure in
his chest increased until he could no longer breathe. He felt he was
dying. As he surrendered his final breath, light and a terrifying voice
washed over him “like the break of dawn.”
“Recite!” the voice commanded.
“What shall I recite?” Muhammad gasped.
The invisible presence tightened its embrace. “Recite!”
“What shall I recite?” Muhammad asked again, his chest cav-
ing in.
Once more the presence tightened its grip and once more the
voice repeated its command. Finally, at the moment when he thought
he could bear no more, the pressure in his chest stopped, and in the
silence that engulfed the cave, Muhammad felt these words stamped
upon his heart:
Recite in the name of your Lord who created,
Created humanity from a clot of blood.
Recite, for your Lord is the Most Generous One
Who has taught by the pen;
Taught humanity that which it did not know. (96:1–5)This was Muhammad’s burning bush: the moment in which he
ceased being a Meccan businessman concerned with society’s ills, and
became what in the Abrahamic tradition is called prophet. Yet, like his
great prophetic predecessors—Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus—
Muhammad would be something more.