Abdal Hakim Murad - The Cambridge Companion to Islamic Theology

Revelation 183
kind of revelation. Secondly, words addressed from behind a veil, as was
the case with Moses, when God called him at Sinai, made him draw near
to Him and spoke to him but did not let him see Him (Qur’an 19:52;
7:143). Finally, words that God communicates by sending an angelic
messenger who reveals, with His permission, whatever He wills. Concerning
this last mode of revelation, the Qur’an says: ‘‘It rests upon Us to
assemble it and to produce it; and when We produce it, follow its production’’
(75:17–18). Exegetes sometimes diverged in their interpretation
of the various elements of this verse. Nevertheless they all agreed on
God’s authorship of the message and on Gabriel’s involvement in its
communication. According to a famous Companion, Ibn ‘Abbas, ‘‘and
when We produce it’’ referred to the archangel’s reading of the revelation
to the Prophet. As for ‘‘follow its production’’, Ibn Taymiyya understands
it to mean, ‘‘Listen to it until Gabriel finishes reading it!’’ 3
The revelation of the Qur’an itself spread over some twenty-three
years (609–32 ce). It all started during a month of Ramad _
an, during a
spiritual retreat of Muh _
ammad on Mount H _
ira’, outside Mecca. Gabriel
appeared to Muh _
ammad and then taught him the first verses of sura 96.
According to ‘Ā’isha, reporting directly from the Prophet whom she
would later marry, it happened in the following way:
The angel came to the Prophet and asked him to read. The Prophet
replied, ‘‘I do not know how to read.’’ The Prophet added, ‘‘The
angel then caught me and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it
any more. He then released me and again asked me to read, and I
replied, ‘I do not know how to read.’ Thereupon he caught me
again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more.
He then released me and again asked me to read but again I replied,
‘I do not know how to read (or what shall I read?).’ Thereupon he
caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me
and said, ‘Read in the name of your Lord, who has created [all
that exists], has created man from a clot. Read!, and your Lord is the
Most Generous.’’’ 4
Following a pause, during which the Prophet became depressed to
the point of considering suicide, revelation resumed with the sending
down of sura 74, or93. It then came upon the Prophet frequently and
regularly until the end of his life, and under the most diverse circumstances,
sometimes when he was asked for an opinion or a decision, or
while he was riding, or was eating or preaching. According to his own
reports, revelation sometimes came to him as a sound, of metal being
beaten, of bees humming near his face, or the ringing of a bell. ‘‘This
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