When it was the night on which God honoured him with his mission and showed mercy on His servants thereby, Gabriel brought him the command of God. “He came to me,” said the apostle of God, “while I was asleep, with a coverlet of brocade whereon was some writing, and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it so tightly that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it again so that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it the third time so that I thought it was death and said ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What then shall I read?’—and this I said only to deliver myself from him, lest he should do the same to me again. He said:
‘Read in the name of thy Lord who created, Who created man of blood coagulated. Read! Thy Lord is the most beneficent, Who taught by the pen, Taught that which they knew not unto men.’
So I read it, and he departed from me. And I awoke from my sleep, and it was as though these words were written on my heart.
Now none of God’s creatures was more hateful to me than an (ecstatic) poet or a man possessed: I could not even look at them. I thought, Woe is me poet or possessed—Never shall Quraysh say this of me! I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest.”
(Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah, p. 106)
The Clot
96:1 READ in the name of thy Sustainer, who has
96:2 created man out of a germ-cel
96:3 Read – for thy Sustainer is the Most Bountiful On
96:4 who has taught [man] the use of the pen –
96:5 taught man what he did not know
96:6 Nay, verily, man becomes grossly overweenin
96:7 whenever he believes himself to be self-sufficient
96:8 for, behold, unto thy Sustainer all must return
96:9 HAST THOU ever considered him who tries to preven
96:10 a servant [of God] from praying
96:11 Hast thou considered whether he is on the right way
96:12 or is concerned with God-consciousness
96:13 Hast thou considered whether he may [not] be giving the lie to the truth and turning his back [upon it]
96:14 Does he, then, not know that God sees [all]
96:15 Nay, if he desist not, We shall most surely drag him down upon his forehea
96:16 the lying, rebellious forehead! –
96:17 and then let him summon [to his aid] the counsels of his own [spurious] wisdom
96:18 [the while] We shall summon the forces of heavenly chastisement
96:19 Nay, pay thou no heed to him, but prostrate thyself [before God] and draw close [unto Him]
“Say, ‘If anyone is an enemy of Gabriel – who by God’s leave brought down the Quran to your heart confirming previous scriptures as a guide and good news for the faithful. If anyone is an enemy of God, His angels and His messengers, of Gabriel and Michael, then God is certainly the enemy of such disbelievers.”
[Qur’an 2:97–2:98]
