Ḥirāʾ and the first call

The chapter, narration by narration

What happened, and who reported it

Every event is graded by the strength of the report behind it, and can be added to your spaced-repetition queue the way an āyah or a root can.

1. Iqraʾ in the cave of Ḥirāʾ

   Established

   c. 13 BH · Ramaḍān · age 40

   Jibrīl عليه السلام comes with the first five āyāt of al-ʿAlaq.

   In the years before revelation he ﷺ withdrew to Ḥirāʾ for nights at a time, taking provisions and returning to Khadījah رضي الله عنها for more. In Ramaḍān, in his fortieth year, the angel came and said 'Read.' He answered, 'I am not one who reads.' The angel pressed him until he could bear no more, three times, then recited: 'Read in the name of your Lord who created.' He returned with his heart trembling and said, 'Cover me, cover me.'

   • Qurʾān 96:1–5The first revelation: creation from a clinging clot, and teaching by the pen.

   Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 160

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2. Khadījah and Waraqah ibn Nawfal

   Established

   c. 13 BH · Makkah

   Khadījah رضي الله عنها steadies him and takes him to her cousin Waraqah, who names what has come.

   Khadījah answered his fear with an argument from his own character: 'Never. By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep ties of kinship, carry the burden of the weak, give to the destitute, honour the guest and stand by people in trial.' She brought him to Waraqah ibn Nawfal, an old man who had become Christian and wrote scripture in Hebrew. Waraqah said, 'This is the nāmūs that Allah sent down upon Mūsā. Would that I were young when your people expel you.' He ﷺ asked, 'Will they expel me?' Waraqah said, 'No man has come with the like of what you bring without being treated with enmity.'

   Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3

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3. The pause in revelation (fatrat al-waḥy)

   Established

   c. 13–12 BH · Makkah

   Revelation stops for a period; the Quraysh mock, and aḍ-Ḍuḥā answers.

   After the first revelation, waḥy paused. Jundub ibn ʿAbdillāh رضي الله عنه reported that a woman said, 'I think your devil has abandoned you' — and Allah revealed 'By the morning brightness, and the night when it is still: your Lord has not forsaken you, nor does He detest you.' The surah then argues from his own biography: orphaned and sheltered, lost and guided, poor and enriched.

   • Qurʾān 93:1–11Consolation drawn from the Prophet's ﷺ own life, ending in three commands.

   Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4950; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1797

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4. 'O you who is wrapped up — arise and warn'

   Established

   c. 12 BH · Makkah

   Revelation returns with al-Muddaththir and the mission becomes public duty.

   Jābir ibn ʿAbdillāh رضي الله عنه narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said: while walking he heard a voice from the sky, and saw the angel who came at Ḥirāʾ seated on a throne between heaven and earth. He was terrified, returned home and said 'Wrap me up' — and Allah revealed, 'O you who is wrapped up, arise and warn, and your Lord magnify, and your garments purify.'

   • Qurʾān 74:1–7The commission to warn, and the instruction to be patient for the sake of Allah.

   Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4922; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 161

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5. The first believers

   Strong report

   c. 13–12 BH · Makkah

   Khadījah, Abū Bakr, ʿAlī and Zayd accept Islam.

   Khadījah رضي الله عنها believed before anyone. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, then a boy in his household, and Zayd ibn Ḥārithah, his freedman, followed. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه accepted without hesitation and immediately brought others: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, az-Zubayr, ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ and Ṭalḥah. Ibn Isḥāq notes that these came in through Abū Bakr's own daʿwah, not the Prophet's ﷺ directly.

   Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah (via Ibn Isḥāq); Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wa-n-Nihāyah

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6. The house of al-Arqam

   Traditional ordering

   c. 12–10 BH · Makkah

   For about three years the daʿwah is quiet, taught in one house at the foot of Ṣafā.

   The believers gathered at Dār al-Arqam ibn Abī al-Arqam, a young man of Banū Makhzūm — a clan hostile to the Prophet ﷺ, which made his house the last place Quraysh would search. There the early Muslims learned the newly revealed surahs, prayed in pairs, and were trained before there was any public confrontation.

   Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah; Ibn Saʿd, aṭ-Ṭabaqāt

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7. Warn your nearest kin

   Established

   c. 10 BH · Makkah

   Allah commands him ﷺ to begin with his own family.

   When 'And warn your nearest kindred' was revealed, he ﷺ called out to Quraysh clan by clan — 'O Banū ʿAbd Manāf, O Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib' — and said, 'Ransom yourselves from Allah; I can avail you nothing against Allah.' He named his own aunt and daughter: 'O Ṣafiyyah, aunt of the Messenger of Allah; O Fāṭimah bint Muḥammad — ask me of my wealth what you wish, but I cannot avail you anything against Allah.'

   • Qurʾān 26:214'And warn your nearest kindred.'

   Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4771; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 206

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