Arise and warn

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.'

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

• Al-ʿAlaq made him a prophet; al-Muddaththir made him a messenger with a public charge.
• The order of the commands matters: warn, magnify Allah, purify yourself — then be patient.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4922; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 161

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

• The first community was a household and a friendship circle — daʿwah begins with those nearest.
• Abū Bakr's ﷺ companionship was active from the first day: he believed, then he brought people.

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

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.

• Formation before exposure: the first Muslims were taught in a classroom before they were sent into a conflict.
• The syllabus of that house was Makkan surahs — tawḥīd, the Hereafter, and character.

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