The Revelation and Early Islam in Mecca

At the age of forty, in the month of Ramadan, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah, peace be upon him, was in the habit of retreating to the cave of Hira on the Mountain of Light — Jabal al-Nur — outside Mecca. He had long been known among his people as al-Amin, the trustworthy one, and for years he had felt an unnamed restlessness, a turning away from the idol worship and moral disorder around him. In that cave, alone with his contemplations, the first revelation descended.

The angel Jibril appeared and commanded: 'Read.' The Prophet replied that he could not read. The angel embraced him with such force that it seemed the strength was pressed out of him, then released him and repeated the command. This happened three times. Then came the first verses ever revealed of the Quran: 'Read in the name of your Lord who created. Created man from a clinging substance. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous — who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know.'

Shaken and uncertain, the Prophet descended from the mountain and returned to his wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. He asked her to wrap him in a garment, trembling. When he described what had happened, she did not hesitate. Her response is one of the most remarkable moments in the seerah: 'Never! By Allah, He will never disgrace you. You maintain family ties, you bear the burdens of the weak, you earn for the destitute, you honor your guests, and you support those who uphold the truth.' Her affirmation before any formal claim to prophethood had been made was rooted in her knowledge of who he was.

Khadijah took him to her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal, a Christian scholar who recognized the description of the angel Jibril and told the Prophet that a great role awaited him — though Waraqah lamented that he would be too old to live to see it unfold.

The first Muslims came from the closest circles. Khadijah was the first to believe. Then Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet's young cousin living in his household. Then Zayd ibn Harithah, his freed slave. Then Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, his trusted friend, whose acceptance quickly brought others. The seerah traces how Abu Bakr's personal testimony and influence led Uthman ibn Affan, al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, and Talhah ibn Ubaydullah to Islam in those earliest days.

As the community grew, so did the opposition. The leaders of Quraysh saw in this new message a threat to their social order, their religious authority, and the economic interests built around the Ka'bah. Persecution began — not against those with tribal protection, but against the vulnerable: freed slaves, foreigners, the poor. Bilal ibn Rabah was tortured on the burning sands of Mecca under the weight of a boulder placed on his chest by his master Umayyah ibn Khalaf, repeating 'Ahad, Ahad' — 'One, One.' Abu Bakr purchased him and freed him.

The family of Yasir — Yasir, his wife Sumayyah, and their son Ammar — were among those with no tribal protection. Sumayyah bint Khayyat became the first martyr of Islam, killed by Abu Jahl. The Prophet could only say to them, as he passed by their torment: 'Be patient, O family of Yasir. Your meeting place is paradise.'

The seerah's Meccan chapters reveal both the beauty of the early community's faith under pressure and the brutality of the resistance it faced — a resistance that would ultimately push the Muslims to seek refuge beyond Arabia.