was alone in the cave of Ḥirā. Before this he had, from time to time, seen visions, but when the angel came with the higher message, he found himself quite exhausted: “He (Gabriel) seized me and squeezed me to such an extent that I was quite exhausted”, and this was repeated thrice (Bu. 1:1). And even after he reached home, the effect of exhaustion was still upon him and he had to lie down covered over before he could relate what had befallen. It was an equally hard experience when the second message came to him after an interval of some months. And even afterwards, the effect of the Spirit upon him was so great that on the coldest of days perspiration would run down his forehead: “I saw”, says ‘Ā’ishah, his wife, “revelation coming down upon him in the severest cold, and when that condition was over, perspiration ran down his forehead”9 (Bu. 1:1). A Companion also relates that “he was sitting with his leg under that of the Holy Prophet when revelation came down upon him, and he felt as if his leg would be crushed under the weight” (Bu. 8:12).
The next question is about the nature of the revelation itself. When Ḥārith, son of Hishām, once enquired of the Holy Prophet how revelation came to him, he replied: “It comes to me sometimes as the ringing of a bell and this is hardest on me, then he (the angel) leaves me and I remember from him what he says; and sometimes the angel comes in the shape of a man and he talks to me and I remember what he says” (Bu. 1:1). These are the only two forms in which the Quranic revelation came to the Holy Prophet. In both cases, the angel came to him and was seen by him; in both cases a certain message was delivered in words which he at once committed to memory. That is the essence of the whole question. The only difference between the two cases was that in one case the angel appeared in the shape of a human being and uttered the words in a soft tone as a man talks to another; in the other case, it is not stated in what form he came, but we are told that the words were uttered like the ringing of a bell, that is to say, in a harsh, hard tone, which made it a heavier task for the Holy Prophet to receive them. But still it was the angel who brought the message, as is shown by the use of the personal pronoun
9 Some misdirected critics have represented this extraordinary experience of the coming of the revelation as an epileptic fit. The question is whether an epileptic could, when the fit came on, utter those grand religious truths which are met with in the Holy Qur’ān, or indeed make any coherent statement at all; whether he could have the strong will which made the whole of Arabia at last bow down to the Holy Prophet, or possess the unparalleled energy which we witness in every phase of his life, or the high morals which were his, or be the master of that magnetic virtue under whose influence a whole country could be purified of the grossest idolatry and superstition; whether hundreds of thousands of men possessing the Arabs’ independence of character would have taken him for a leader whose orders were obeyed in the minutest details of life; or whether he could produce men of the will and character of Abū Bakr and ‘Umar and thousands of others, before whom mighty empires crumbled? The story of froth appearing from his mouth at the time of revelation is pure invention. Klein, writing in The Religion of Islam (p.8), makes the following statement on the authority of Bukhārī:“Another Ḥadīth says that froth appeared before his mouth and he roared like a young camel.” Bukhārī makes no such statement, in the place referred to (Bu. 1:2). Elsewhere he says: “The face of the Messenger of Allāh was red and he was snoring” (Bu. 25:17). Statements met with in Ḥadīth are similar to those quoted from Bukhārī. For instance, we have in Muslim:“When revelation came to the Holy Prophet, he appeared to be as it were in distress and turned pale in the face.” And according to one report, “when revelation came to the Holy Prophet, he would hang his head and his Companions would do the same; and when that condition was over, he would raise up his head.” All these and other similar statements contained in other collections of Ḥadīth, only show that the coming of the revelation brought a real change in the Holy Prophet which others also witnessed.
Another misconception may also be removed here. When the Holy Prophet related his first experience to his wife Khadījah, he added the words: “Surely I have fear regarding myself, laqad khashitu ‘alā nafsī” (Bu. 1:1). Some critics have misunderstood these words as meaning that the Holy Prophet feared he was possessed by an evil spirit; and a rather foolish story from Ibn Hishām as to Khadījah’s taking off the veil and the angel disappearing (which is without the least foundation and against all historical facts of the Holy Prophet’s life) is narrated in support of it. The story seems foolish inasmuch as the angel appeared to the Holy Prophet in the solitude of Ḥirā, and not in the presence of Khadījah. A cursory glance at the words quoted above would show that they could not possibly bear any such interpretation. The Holy Prophet knew for certain that he had a message from on High for the reformation of the fallen humanity; all that he feared was lest he should fail in bringing about the desired reformation. That was how Khadījah understood it, as she immediately comforted him: “Nay, by Allāh, Allāh will never bring thee to grief; surely thou dost good to thy relatives, and bearest the burden of the weak, and earnest for others that which they have not got; and art hospitable to guests and givest help when there is real distress” (Bu. 1:1). The faithful wife who had known him intimately for fifteen years enumerated these great virtues in him, as a testimony that a man of such a high character could not fail in accomplishing the task which was entrusted to him — the task of uplifting a fallen humanity.