Page 67 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

REVELATIONS AND THE PROPHET MUI:IAMMAD 47

possessed any control as to when, where, and what the revelations would
say,as is evident from numerous incidents. I have chosen the following two
examples arbitrarily:
In the case of some people slandering his wife 'A'isha, and accusing
her of mischief with a Companion, the Prophet received no im-
mediate revelation. In fact he suffered for an entire month because
of these rumours before Allah declared her innocence:
, '.. I~ , ~ r:.' " I~, 1;1f..:.~ !IT,,' ::-~ I ~ ~I~' ", "I ", I' }..
u.::,. ...w.~ ..l..T, •. U L:..J u~ .... .,..:;..u4~,), JyJr
, '

"And wh); didyou not(0people), whenyou heard (the tumour), sqy, 'It is not
right qf usto speakofthis:glory to 'You (our Lord) this isamostserious slanderl"
Meanwhile, in the case of Ibn Um-Maktum's objection on account
of his blindness, the Prophet received the revelation instantly:
;ti ~ J ;)J~ijpiJ)>> ~j.:ji ~ ;)/".ail <.S~ ~"

J ! ., £
25,,( , . ·1' , . k L
,~'J~Y' ;
"Not equal are those believers who sit (at home)---excepting those who are
disabled-and those who strive andfight inthe cause qf Alliih withtheirgoods
andtheir lives."

i. The Beginning of Wa1).y and the Miracle of Qur'an 26

Preparing the future prophet for his role was a gradual process, a time in
which puzzling occurrences and visions seemed to percipitate about him,
and in which the Archangel]ibri:l repeatedly let his presence be known."
Appearing before Muhammad suddenly one day while he was secluded
in a cave,]ibri:l commanded him to read; he replied that he did not know
how to read. The angel repeated his demand thrice, and received the same
confused and frightened answer thrice, before revealing to this unsuspecting
Prophet the very first verses he was to hear of the Qur'an:

24 Qur'an 24:16.
25 Qur'an 4:95.
26 In the following pages I will backtrack a little, relating some incidents from
Muhammad's first few years as Prophet. These differ from the biographical overview
of the previous chapter in that the focus here is explicitly on the Qur'an,
27 Ibn I:Iajar, Fatbul Ban, viii:716.