In Ramadan of the third year of his retreat in the cave of Hira, when Muhammad had completed forty years, the angel came to him, pressed him three times, and then brought down to him the opening of Surat al-'Alaq 1 2 3. The author of al-Raheeq al-Makhtum judges that this was the night of Monday 21 Ramadan, corresponding to 10 August 610 CE, when he was forty lunar years, six months and twelve days old 1. Historians differ on the month of the mission, naming Rabi' al-Awwal, Ramadan or Rajab, and those who say Ramadan differ on the day 1 4 5 6.
Aisha relates in the Sahih that revelation began with the good dream; then solitude was made dear to him and he would devote himself to worship in the cave of Hira, until the truth came to him there 2 3. The angel told him to read and he answered that he was not a reader, so the angel pressed him to exhaustion and released him, three times 2 3. He went back with his heart trembling to Khadija and told her he feared for himself; she reassured him that God would not disgrace him, since he kept the ties of kinship and honoured the guest 2 3. She took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, an old man who had become a Christian in the Jahiliyya, and he said that this was the Namus that God had sent down to Moses 2 7 3. Soon afterwards Waraqa died and the revelation paused (the pause in revelation) 2 7 3.
This narrative was written with AI help from the sources it cites, and has not yet been read by a human editor.