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).

Nature of the Holy Prophet’s revelation

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