It was the 17th Ramadan/ 6th August, 610 AD of the year following the fortieth year of the
Prophet (r). Muhammed (r) was wide-awake and fully conscious when the Angel Gabriel
came to him and said: “Read”. Muhammed (r) answered truthfully, “I cannot read.” The
Prophet (r) related that the Angel took and pressed him until he was distressed, after which
he released him and said again, “Read.” The Prophet (r) replied for the second time, “I
cannot read.” The Angel again pressed him tightly until he felt squeezed and then letting
him go, said, “Read.” When the Prophet (r) replied once again, “I cannot read,” he took him
and pressed tightly a third time in the same manner. He then let the Prophet (r) go and
said:
Read (O Muhammed) in the name of Your Lord who createth,
Createth man from a clot. Read: and Your Lord is the Most Bounteous, Who teacheth
by the pen, Teacheth man that which he knew not. [Qur'aan 96:1-5]BACK HOME
Upset and frightened by the strange experience which had never occurred to him earlier
or having not heard of the same prior incident, the Messenger of God (r) came back with
verses, his heart trembling, and went to Khadijah and said: “Wrap me up, wrap me up!" for
he still felt horrified.
Khadijah asked the reason for the Prophet's (r) restlessness and the latter told her what
had happened. Khadijah (May Allah be pleased with her) was intelligent and prudent and
had heard a great deal about the messengers of God, Prophethood and angels from her
cousin Waraqa Ibn Naufal (who had embraced Christianity and familiarized the Torah and
Gospels). She was herself dissatisfied with the pagan cult of the Makkahns like several other
enlightened ones who had broken away from the idol worship.
Khadijah was the wife of the Prophet (r). She had spent many years with him as the clos-
est companion and knew him like she knew herself. By that alliance, Khadijah became the
most reliable and credible testament of the nobility of her husband’s character. Worthiness
of his moral fiber had convinced her that succor of the Lord would in any case stand by such
a man. She knew in her heart of hearts that the good grace of God could never allow one so
high-minded, truth-loving, trustworthy and upright man such as her husband, to be pos-
sessed by a jinn or a devil. And so she assured him with domineering self-confidence: “By no
means; I swear to God that He would never embarrass you. Because you consolidate and
salvage relationships, you speak the truth, you bear peoples’ burdens, you help the desti-
tute, you entertain guests and you relieved the pain and grief suffered for the sake of
truth.” (Mishkat al-Masabih, Vol. IV, p. 1253)