Muhammad
Traditional first revelation to Muhammad at Hira
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗The canonical account does not describe a serene vision: Muhammad reportedly came home with his heart pounding and asked to be wrapped in a covering.
Around 610: the cave at Hira
According to the canonical account attributed to Aisha, Muhammad was on a solitary devotional retreat in the cave of Hira near Mecca when an angel commanded him to read or recite — the word iqra carries both senses. The account says the angel pressed him three times before delivering the opening words now found at the beginning of Quran 96.
Approximately 610 is the conventional year, not a securely documented calendar date, and the traditional age of 40 is counted in lunar years.
Khadija's answer
Muhammad returned home frightened and asked Khadija to cover him. She reassured him by pointing to his care for relatives, guests, the poor and people in distress.
She then took him to her Christian cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, who identified the visitor with the messenger sent to Moses and predicted that Muhammad's people would drive him out.
What this account is, and is not
The Quran itself does not date the cave encounter or narrate the full Hira scene; the detailed story comes through later sira and hadith transmission, and traditions differ over whether Quran 96 or Quran 74 was the earliest revelation.
The same tradition says revelation then paused for a time. Gathering followers and preaching publicly belong to later stages — conventionally about three years afterwards — so the first revelation should not be merged with the start of public preaching.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 3 audit passes Date disputed
How this was checked
Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →
Date disputed. Sources disagree; the research places it at ~0610.
What the sources leave uncertain
- The Quran itself does not date the cave encounter or narrate the full Hira scene; the detailed story comes through later sira and hadith transmission.
- Around 610 is the conventional year, not a securely documented calendar date.
- Traditions differ over whether Quran 96 or Quran 74 was the earliest revelation.
- The reported age of 40 is part of the traditional chronology. Because Muhammad's birth date is approximate, it cannot be converted into a precise solar age.