Last week right at the end we discussed the story of the ka'bah and there are so

me profound symbolisms. Before this we discussed the story of the black stone. T
hat it became fragmented, and the abbass's had to put it in molten rock and the
actual black stone is in peices. We learn:
1. There is clearly the metaphor being given that the ka'bah has been destroyed
before the coming of the prohpet PBUH; and the ka'bah is being rebuilt right at
his time. The symbolism is that the religion of Ibrahim AS had been destroyed an
d now the prohpet PBUH is going to rebuild it. So the ka'bah represents the reli
gion of Ibrahim AS. Allah says "the first house is Mecca". Thus this house repre
sents the worship of Allah. And the symbolism of it being destroyed shows the co
ming of the prophet PBUH to rebuild it - that the religion has not been preserve
d by hunamity. Just like the ka'bah is being rebuilt, the religion of Ibrahim AS
will be built again. And similarly the foundations of the religion will remian
the same, but the 'bricks' will be a bit different just like the bricks of the k
a'bah were changed and reinforced. And further there is symbolism that just like
the prophet PBUH saved his people from civil war and bloodshed, so to he will s
ave them as the last and final messenger and exhault their honour. And the fact
that the prophet PBUH united all of the tribes by holding the cloth, is a symbol
he will unite them all under the banner of Islam. Also, when the prophet PBUH e
ntered the ka'bah all of the tribes were happy. Of course anybody apart from the
prophet PBUH would have just chosen his tribe and the other tribes would have b
een upset. But when the prophet PBUH came in, everyone rejoiced and this here is
clearly a reality that the prophet PBUH was such an immense character; his nobl
e was so high and his status was so lofty that everyone was happy.
Its narrated when Abu Jahal stood us, he said "we are rebuilding the house of Al
lah, so make sure the money you use is from your pure earnings; no cheating and
no interest; no gambling or prostitution etc". THis is amazing someone as filthy
as Abu JAhal understood this - that you should not spend in the path of Allah w
ith filthy money.
Also, for the first time in the history of the ka'bah, the Jaheleya arabs built
in a square shape. We know that praying inside the ka'bah is a huge blessing, an
d if it had been built in the shape of Ibrahim AS in a rectangle it would be imp
ossible to pray like inside the ka'bah. But its a huge blessing from Allah that
its like this because now, everyone can pray in the ka'bah. Why? Because the ori
ginal structure of the ka'bah is outside and open for all to pray in. It's not i
nside the current square ka'bah. Thus there is great wisdom in this. Thus Allah'
s plans always work out for the best.
There is another story which clearly show the character of the prophet PBUH. Thi
s is the story of Zayd ibn Harithah. He is from the kahthaani tribes of the Arab
s, not the Adnaani branch, and he is from a tribe from Yemen. Zayd's mother and
father were from two different tribes that had a love/hate relationship. One day
Zayd's mother, Su'ada, took Zayd to her own tribe. Right at that time, a small
fight broke out between both tribes and so, Zayd's relative (i.e. his uncles etc
) got so angry that they took Zayd, kidnapped him from her own mother, their own
sister's child and sold him into slavery to get revenge at the trible of Zayd's
father. And so, Zayd was sold in the grand fairs of Ukaad - the largest marketp
lace which took place after the Hajj season. And they sold him to Hakim bin Haza
am. And Khadija had given Hakim money to find a young arab slave, and so Zayd be
comes Khadija's servant. And when Khadija married the prophet PBUH, she gifted Z
ayd to the prophet PBUH. This is of course way before Islam.
So, Zayd's father is frantically looking for his son. "There is a boy from our t
ribe, these are his features etc please tell me where he is". During the hajj se
ason someone just happened to see Zayd and realised this is the boy Hairthah is
looking for. So they told Harithah "we found your son, he is a slave to one of t
he grandsons of Abdul Muttalib, and his name is Muhammad". So his father and the

ir brother travel to Mecca and ask where is Muhammad. They are told he is in the
Haram and says them "You are of the most noble lineage, trustworthy etc (praise
) - we want to take our son back who is unjustly stolen and kidnapped into slave
ry. And Zayd is our son and we will give you any randsom you want but please be
generous to us". Note, there is no law and order - and power belongs to the stro
ngest. The law of Jaheleya is that they have to deal with it and thus they are w
illing to buy their son back. And so the prophet PBUH said "is this what you wan
t?". They said "yes" and the prophet PBUH said "it is up to him - and if he choo
ses you, I will send him back with no randsom but if he chooses me, I cannot tur
n him away". So the father and uncle were overjoyed, and they said "Oh Muhammad
you have done marvelous and have done much more than you have asked for". And no
w he is around 20 years old, and the prophet PBUH asked Zayd "do you recognize t
hese men?". Zayd said "yes this is my father and uncle". Then the prophet PBUH s
aid "I have left the matter to you - if you want you can go with them, or you ca
n stay with me". Subhan'Allah even in this, we find that the prophet PBUH had a
fondness of Zayd - he dosen't want to let go of him because morally they have a
point "our son is not a slave". So the prophet PBUH does the morally correct thi
ng, but he dosen't want to hand over Zayd because he has genuine feelings of pat
ernal love. Instantly Zayd said "I can never choose anyone over you for you are
to me more than a father and uncle combined". This is unnatural for a man to say
this. Biologically the love you have for your father is there (in the fitrah).
Zayd has pure memories and yet instantly he said "how can I choose anyone over y
ou?". This is impossible except for a prophet of Allah - the love of a prophet t
rumpts the bond of fatherhood. Zayd's father said "O Zayd, have you gone crazy?
You will choose to be a slave, and refuse to come with your own father to your o
wn tribe?" Again as a slave you have no honour, rights or protection. So his fat
her said "have you gone crazy?". Zayd said "Yes - I know what I have said, but I
have seen from this man that which no other man has done." Right there and then
, the prophet PBUH stood up and said "Oh people of Mecca, I want you to all test
ify that from this day, Zayd is a free man and I adopt him as my son and he will
inherit from me, and I from him". He did this in front of the father to bring p
eace to his heart that his son is a free man, adopted by Quraysh. Thus he adopte
d Zayd, and was called Zayd ibn Muhammad. And Abdullah Ibn Umar RA said "we neve
r knew by Zayd of any other name except Zayd ibn Muhammad until Allah revealed S
urah Ahzaab Verse 5". This is where Allah says "call children by their fathers".
So this is when the prophet PBUH rechanged the name of Zayd to Zayd ibn Haritha
h. According to one opinion, Zayd was the first person to accept Islam. Note we
say first male adult Abu Bukr, first female Khadija, first freed slave Zayd and
first child Ali.
Zayd was extremely beloved to the prophet PBUH and in the times of Jaheleya, Zay
d married Ume Ayman was the servant of Aminah, the prophet PBUH's mother. And Um
e Ayman was inherited by the prophet PBUH. She didn't feed him but took care of
him. So Ume Ayman was a young lady, so maybe 10-15 years older than the prophet
PBUH, so at least 20 years older Zayd. So Zayd married Ume Ayman, and they both
had a child who was born literally in the house of the prophet PBUH, Usama ibn Z
ayd. The one whom when the sahabah wanted something, they went to Usama and said
"why dont you go to the prophet PBUH and ask him because he loves you SO much h
e will never say no". And Usama was a baby in the house of the prophet PBUH and
has a special status because the prophet PBUH loved both him and his father so m
uch. When the prophet PBUH adopted and freed him, this meant Zayd had a freed an
d quraysh status. Thus the prophet PBUH told him to marry Zaynab bint Jash, his
own cousin, to completely free him of slavery. Of course later on the prophet PB
UH married Zaynab as instructed by Allah directly in the Quran. Another thing wa
s anytime when the prophet PBUH sent him somewhere, he was in charge. He was alw
ays the commander and this shows the status the prophet PBUH gave him. Eventuall
y of course Zayd meant his martydom in the battle of Mu'tah against the romans.
This was the only battle where the prohpet PBUH put three people in charge becau
se it was such a fierce battle. He said first Zayd, Ja`far ibn Abi Talib and the
n `Abd Allah ibn Rawahah. However all three leaders were killed and then Khaild

Ibn Waleed took charge and this was when he became the great known fighter and a
lso when the prophet PBUH said you are the sword of Allah. This battle of Mu'tah
, Zayd, Ja'far and Abdullah all died and all three were extremely beloved to pro
phet PBUH. As such this was a very painful time for the prophet PBUH. When the n
ews of these came it was very painful. Then Usama, who was a young lad, was give
n charge. Of course the prophet PBUH died during this, and this is when the smal
l fight between Abu Bukr and Umar happened when Umar said "take Usama out of the
battlefield" - but Abu Bukr said "I cannot undo a command the prophet PBUH did"
. Abullah ibn Umar RA once complained "how can you give the salary of Usama ibn
Zayd more than my salary?". And so Umar RA said "because he was more beloved to
the prophet PBUH than you, and because his father was more beloved than your fat
her". SubhanAllah this is an amazing story and this one incident tells us more a
bout the mannerisms of the prophet PBUH. It speaks volumes about who he is.
This is pretty much the only incidents we know. And its now as if the stage has
been set. There are many signs and hints that there is a prophet PBUH coming. Th
ere are clear indications something is about to change.
Aisha RA is the main narrator of the hadith of how wahi (revelation) began. Its
a very long hadith and very detailed. Its two pages. And in this there is a bea
utiful wisdom - she couldn't have witnessed this herself but is narrating in viv
id detail. This shows the prophet PBUH had many conversations with her just as a
loving husband does. This is the hadith in full from Bukhari:
--Narrated 'Aisha:
(the mother of the faithful believers) The commencement of the Divine Inspiratio
n to Allah's Apostle was in the form of good dreams which came true like bright
day light, and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go i
n seclusion in the cave of Hira where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuou
sly for many days before his desire to see his family. He used to take with him
the journey food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take h
is food like-wise again till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was
in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet re
plied, "I do not know how to read.
The Prophet added, "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that
I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read an
d I replied, 'I do not know how to read.' Thereupon he caught me again and press
ed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and a
gain asked me to read but again I replied, 'I do not know how to read (or what s
hall I read)?' Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and the
n released me and said, 'Read in the name of your Lord, who has created (all tha
t exists) has created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous.
" (96.1, 96.2, 96.3) Then Allah's Apostle returned with the Inspiration and with
his heart beating severely. Then he went to Khadija bint Khuwailid and said, "C
over me! Cover me!" They covered him till his fear was over and after that he to
ld her everything that had happened and said, "I fear that something may happen
to me." Khadija replied, "Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You ke
ep good relations with your Kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve
your guests generously and assist the deserving calamity-afflicted ones."
Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqa bin Naufal bin Asad bin 'Abdul
'Uzza, who, during the PreIslamic Period became a Christian and used to write t
he writing with Hebrew letters. He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much
as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khad
ija said to Waraqa, "Listen to the story of your nephew, O my cousin!" Waraqa as
ked, "O my nephew! What have you seen?" Allah's Apostle described whatever he ha

d seen. Waraqa said, "This is the same one who keeps the secrets (angel Gabriel)
whom Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time
when your people would turn you out." Allah's Apostle asked, "Will they drive m
e out?" Waraqa replied in the affirmative and said, "Anyone (man) who came with
something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I
should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would suppor
t you strongly." But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was
also paused for a while.
Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah Al-Ansari while talking about the period of pause i
n revelation reporting the speech of the Prophet "While I was walking, all of a
sudden I heard a voice from the sky. I looked up and saw the same angel who had
visited me at the cave of Hira' sitting on a chair between the sky and the earth
. I got afraid of him and came back home and said, 'Wrap me (in blankets).' And
then Allah revealed the following Holy Verses (of Quran):
'O you (i.e. Muhammad)! wrapped up in garments!' Arise and warn (the people agai
nst Allah's Punishment),... up to 'and desert the idols.' (74.1-5) After this th
e revelation started coming strongly, frequently and regularly."
--Aisha says the prophet used to seculde himself in the cave of Hira, the mountain
of Jabil Noor (mountain of light). This cave is amazing in many ways. Its not a
s much as a cave as it is a type of hole. When you sit in the cave there is only
space for one person. And you are forced to face the ka'bah and you can also se
e it. There's a beautiful breeze blowing aswell, and its said in Ibn Ishaaq that
Abdul Mutallib had discovered and that he also sat there to meditate. So the pr
ophet PBUH would go there with some food and water, to just sit there and medita
te. When he ran out of food and water he would go back and replenish. Around thi
s time, the prophet PBUH said "before revelation came to me, I began to hear roc
ks and stones greet me in my path and there was a paticular rock that always gav
e salaam to me and I recognize that rock even to this day". Also Aisha RA narrat
ed "the prophet PBUH would dream as true as the Sun rose". That is his dreams wo
uld all come true. He mentioned this to Khadija and said "this is a good sign fr
om Allah". Again this shows the wisdom of Khadija. And its mentioned in Bukhari
this period of dreams laster six full months. So 6 months before Ramadan, from R
abbi Awal to Ramadan the prophet PBUH saw what happened the next day. And prophe
thood laster 23 years. As a fraction this is 0.5/23 = 1/46. And in a hadith the
prophet PBUH said "Nothing is left of prophethood except good dreams. And good d
reams are 1/46th of prophethood." Excat fraction. This is amazing. For 23 years
actual wahi came down. There are three types of dream:
1. From Allah - good and positive; could be visions of the future (i.e. like the
prophet PBUH saw he was going to tawaaf); or symbolic dreams that you cannot in
terprate yourself; they never terrify you
2. From Shaytan - they terrify you (nightmares); we should not tell anybody of t
hem
3. Our own dreams - our own imagination; the sign of this dream is that it vanis
hes from our memory.
Why are all these things happenning?
1. To indicate to him something amazing is about to happen. A sign that he needs
to prepared.
2. Being a prophet requires spiritual, psychological training. And so the prophe
t PBUH is being upgraded and transformed into the messenger of God. For 6 months
he is seeing dreams, hears stones saying salaam etc. Its as if the prophet PBUH
is being spiritually trained for the big revelaton.

In this time the prophet PBUH cut himself off from society and thus there's no q
uestion Islam encourages we break away from dunya and worship Allah alone. Howev
er its no longer a sunnah to cut yourself off and break away. But once revelatio
n came down, he never returned to cave Hira again. There are literally groups wh
ich say "you should enter a cave with food and just contemplate for months". But
its easy to correct this - the prophet PBUH never did this after revelation cam
e. If a person truly wants solitude, the prophet PBUH said "pray at night when e
veryone is sleeping". In some narrations its mentioned on one of the saturdays o
f Ramadan the prophet PBUH saw a light and heard a sound, and on Sunday the sam
e thing happened. And then on Monday Jibraeel AS came to him. Indeed the prophet
PBUH said "On a Monday I was born, and on a Monday revelation began" in Sahih M
uslim. This day also marks Laylat ul Qadr.
On Monday occurs the famous incident that the angel came to him and told him "Iq
ra" - "Read". And the prophet PBUH said "I cannot read". Then Jibraeel squeezed
him so tight that the prophet PBUH said "I lost all energy". Then Jibraeel let h
im go. And Jibraeel said again "Iqra". And the prophet PBUH said again "I cannot
read". And Jibraeel squeezed him again. And this repeated until until Jibraeel
said the first 5 verses of Surah Iqra. We first note why is Jibraeel squeezing h
im? Some scholars say to indicate this is real. Others say Jibraeel is saying to
him "you are about to be inspired with a heavy message" - indeed it was physica
lly painful to recieve revelation. Some scholars say you will face three signifi
cant trails:
1. The boycott where the muslims had 2.5 years nothing to eat
2. The Hijra where he was literally saved
3. The battle of Uhud where he was bleeding from three places of his head
But of course every time Allah opened the way out. But of course Allah knows why
the squeeze occured.
Note "Iqra" has two meanings - to 'read' from a paper and 'recite' from memory.
The verb ecompasses both meaning. When Jibraeel said "Iqra" the prophet PBUH tho
ught he meant in the paper sense. However Jibraeel meant "Read" in the sense fro
m his memory. And at the third time of asking Jibraeel said "Read in the name of
your Lord". That is, "your recitation will come from Allah, in His name, with H
is blessings". The qira'at will be in Allah's name. Its very profound the first
verse isnt Bismillah, but Iqra Bismi... that is, Read in Allah's name. Not from
yourself. Also, Allah will help you in this recitation. Next Jibraeel said "the
Being who created man, from that which clings". So Allah is saying "the one who
created man in all these stages, He is the one who is speaking to you". Iqra is
mentioned twice - and the reason for this duality is many. Firstly, your job is
to recite and keep on reciting. First Iqra is religious knowledge - second Iqra
is the knowledge of this world. "The one who taught by the pen taught man what h
e didn't know". So Allah is telling us learn the knowledge of religion that come
s from Allah, then learn the knowledge that come from the pens but remember He i
s the one who taught man these things. This verse came to a civilisation who did
n't have pens nor did they know how to write. So this verse is telling them to r
ead what other have written and study them. And its no suprise a few hundreds ye
ar later Islam became the pinnacle of science, maths, medicine etc. People from
France, England would come to Spain to study Medicine etc and then go back and t
each their people. And this happened because Allah encouraged knowledge from the
first revelation. And even if the knowledge we take for granted, such as writin
g; the whole concept its really a miracle the sounds that come out as speech can
be recorded. We would never know it unless Allah taught it to us. If Allah did
not teach Adam AS how to speak we would never be able to speak. The prophet PBUH
said Allah taught Idris AS how to write - if He didnt we would never write. All
ah taught Nuh AS how to build a ship. Allah taught so many things, and from this
all other human knowledge comes forth. This is why whatever discovery we find,

Allah gave us the intellegance to find it.

Now the significance of is that what is about to happen is that from now on, man
will have a direct revelation coming from Allah. So the first command is to REA
D and recite the Quran. Also, Iqra means reading and recitation - and the Quran
has been preserved in both memory and writing. This is the only book preserved i
n both. The primary point is this is a communication directly from Allah.
Getting back to the story, Aisha narrates that the prophet PBUH ran back to Khad
ija, his heart was palpatating. And he entered and said "Cover me up cover me up
". This shows how unexpected this was for the prophet PBUH. To see the figure of
Jibraeel AS who was shown in his massive form. This is surely a figure that is
not human. And when you are that nervous you get cold. So he runs back to his wi
fe and says "cover me cover me". He didnt think "let me see what I can do to cla
im to be a prophet". Just looking at the story its clear they are false. But our
prophet PBUH ran home to his wife. This show the humanity and realism of the pr
ophet PBUH. Until finally he calmed down. And then he told KHadija all that had
happened which shows how close he was to her - he could have gone to Abu Talib b
ut went to his wife. When she calms him down he tells her the story and he says
"I am scared from myself". This has led to many contreversies - over 12 opinions
as to what this means but its pretty clear. He is scared either he is seeing vi
sions so he is scared of losing his sanity. Or he is scared of dying from the sq
ueezing of Jibraeel. So Khadija said "Know by Allah, He would never humiliate yo
u or cause you harm. You are good to your kin, and take on the burden of others,
and give money to those who have little, and are hospitable to your guests, and
do all kinds of good". She gives us a beautiful ruling from her fitrah that if
you do good, Allah will bless you and do good. And she is ceratin, she swears by
Allah, that its not possible Allah will cause harm to the prophet PBUH. This sh
ows why Allah chose her that she is consoling him.
According to one book she went to Adaas, a christian slave who was a slave in Me
cca, and asked him if he is familiar with whats going on. And Adaas said "An ang
el of God in this place of Mecca?". Then she goes to Wariqah ibn Nawful - Khadij
a's older cousin. And he was one of the four hunafaa. One of the four who reject
ed idolotry; he was the eldest of the four and he had travelled through the land
s and adopted some time of religion; its said he learnt the scripture of the Heb
rew and became a christian. So most likely he isn't a real christian, he didn't
beleive in the trinity, he believes in the prophets of the jews and christians b
ut not openly a jew/christian. So Khadija asks Wariqah and he becomes eager and
says "By God this is the same angel that came Musa,". He didnt say Jesus because
most the prophet PBUH resembled more than Musa AS. He then said "how I wish I w
as a young man when your nation ridicules, persecutes and expels you". When Wari
qah said "expels" the prophet PBUH "my nation will expel me?!". Of course the fi
rst two are bad enough - but the third one, the prophet PBUH couldn't keep queit
and said "my people will kick me out?". Wariqah said "yes, never has any prophe
t been sent except that these things have happened". And then Wariqah only lived
a short time. We know the prophet PBUH said he saw Wariqah wearing white robes
and blessed in the garden of Jannah. So he is surely one of the earliest reverts
to Islam. He is the first sahabi and first to die in as a muslim in Islam. Fina
lly the prophet PBUH said "the revelation stopped for a while". Some scholars sa
y up to six months. Some say three months. And so the prophet PBUH resumed back
to normal, but then "when I was walking, I heard a sound and looked up and saw t
he same angel that came to be on Hira. Sitting on a throne that was in the heava
ns and once agin I trembled - and I rushed back again and that was when Jibraeel
came and revealed "Oh you who is wrapped up in a cloth. Stand up and warn (be a
ctive and warn people)." With Iqra he became a nabi, with anzir he became a rasu
l. And be pure, and abandon all idols - don't be greedy for the hands of men. Do
things for the sake of Allah and expect your reward from Him.
Next we will talk about the types of revelation and how it occured.