At the age of forty, signs of Prophethood, such as six months of true visions, started to appear
The order of the message and Prophethood was bestowed on Prophet Muhammad at the age of 40.
Prophet Muhammad describe the first revelation as the follows:
Gabriel said, “Recite.” “I cannot recite,” Muhammad (SAW) said. The
Prophet (Peace be upon him) described: “Then he took me and squeezed me vehemently and then
let me go and repeated the order ‘Recite.’ ‘I cannot recite’ said I, and once again he squeezed me
and let me till I was exhausted. Then he said: ‘Recite.’ I said ‘I cannot recite.’ He squeezed me for a
third time and then let me go and said:
· “Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists), has created man from
a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read! and your Lord is the Most Generous.’”
[96:1-3]
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) repeated these verses.
When P. Muhammad (SAW) returned from the caves, he was trembling witrh fear. He came back to his wife Khadijah saying "Cover me, Cover me". After calming down he told Khadijah about the incident and told her that he was horified. Khadijah reassured him saying: "Allâh will never disgrace you. You unite uterine relations; you bear the burden of the weak; you help the poor and the needy, you entertain the guests and endure hardships in the path of truthfulness."
The she took the Prophet to her cousin Waraqa, a blind old man who had embraced Christianity in the pre-Islamic period. Khadijah asked him to speak to Muhammad (SAW). When the Prophet (SAW) told him what happened Waraqah said “This is ‘Namus’ i.e. (the angel who is entrusted with Divine Secrets) that Allâh sent to Moses. I wish I were younger. I wish I could live up to the time when your people would turn you out.” Muhammad (Peace be upon him) asked: “Will they drive me out?” Waraqa answered in the affirmative and said: “Anyone who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should be alive till that day, then I would support you strongly.” A few days later Waraqa died and the revelation also subsided.
After speaking to Waraqa Prophet Muhammad was torn. On the one hand, he dispised no one more than a poet or a mad man on the other he had recieved a poetic message from an angel. So he refused to speak to the Quraish of his revelation and as such he decided to go up the mountain and throw himself from it. When he did so a voice came to him saying "O Muhammad, You are the Messengar of Allah and I am Gabriel" His sight distrated P. Muhammad from what he had planned to do. Gabriel was in every direction. P. Muhammad was transfixed and stayed in one place without any movement until Khadijah sent someone to look for him. The runner went down to Makkah and came back while P. Muhammad was standing in the same place. Gabriel then left
and P. Muhammad went back home to Khadijah. She asked: ‘Where have you been? I sent someone to look for you. He went to Makkah and returned to me.’ P. Muhammad told her of what he had seen. She replied: ‘It is a propitious sign, O my husband. Pull
yourself together, I swear by Allâh that you are a Messenger for this nation.’ Then she stood up and
went to Waraqa and informed him. Waraqa said: ‘I swear by Allâh that he has received the same
Namus, i.e. angel that was sent to Moses. He is the Prophet of this nation. Tell him to be patient.’
She came back to him and told him of Waraqa’s words. When the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be
upon him) finished his solitary stay and went down to Makkah, he went to Waraqa, who told him:
‘You are the Prophet of this nation. I swear by Allâh that you have received the same angel that was
sent to Moses.’
After this there was a pause in revelation while P. Muhammad (SAW) digested this information. When the revelation stopped Prophet Muhammad was very sad and missed the revelation very much. The purpose of the pause was to relieve the fear P. Muhammad (SAW) experianced and make him long for the revelation. Also as his fear was erased the truth and acceptance of it took their place.