 The mysteries of Islam fascinate us time and time again. This is no different from the life story of the Prophet. Who was Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa alihi wasallam? An illiterate dozen merchant who one day stumbled upon amazing Arabic rhetoric. Or was he the creation of Allah's greatest light, sent down to earth to pull man out of ignorance and bring them to the purest of truths? I, Ali Burji, am on a journey to discover the real story behind the Prophet, the real story behind our religion, the roots, the beginning, the cradle of civilization. So Doctor, with regards to the Holy Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa alihi wasallam, he spent a lot of time in the cave. And as you've mentioned, 27th of Rajab, archangel Gabriel, peace be upon him, descended to dunya, to earth and had a message for the Holy Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. If you can please shed some light with regards to the incident of the cave. I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful, the Merciful. And peace be upon Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And peace be upon Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And peace be upon Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And peace be upon Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Before that, starting delving into this issue of when archangel Gabriel appeared to him, and this misconception that some say that he didn't know what was going to happen, he was terrified, he was worried, concerned, sweating. And in fact, unfortunately, we have one false fabrication which says that he wants to commit suicide, and archangel Gabriel stopped him. Of course, all of these are not true. And these hadiths, these tales have been fabricated really by the enemies of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, in order to undermine him. And in the same way that they come and say that the father, the parents of the Prophet, were the polytheists, mushrikeen, and therefore they are in hell, and the father of Imam Ali Abu Talib was mushrik, therefore he's in hell, and things like this. The whole point is to try, in any way they can, they used to try to undermine the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam as a rightful successor, divinely appointed successor Imam Ali alaihi sallam. And there are various such false fabrications against the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and his Ahlul Bayt al-Masalam. So, unfortunately, this is the case. In one case, for instance, Zorara asked Imam Sadiq alaihi sallam that wasn't he, was the Prophet scared that the revelation that he's receiving, and how could he distinguish whether it's from Allah or it's from Sheytan? Imam al-Saliq alaihi sallam responds that when Allah takes someone, a servant, excuse me, a messenger, then he descends his tranquility and composure. He descends the tranquility and composure, the Sakina and Waqar, on him, on that Prophet. And he will see Archangel Gabriel, or the angel, in the same way that he sees him, he sees the angel in his dreams. So, he sees, he has dreams, he sees the angel, and then the Rasul will see the angel in person. So, he is sure that what he is actually seeing while he's awake is the same as what he had, sort of inspiration and dream that he had, divine dream that he had from Allah. And another hadith we have which says, Rasulullah sees in his dream, Asbab al-Nubuwa, before the revelation, before Wahi came to him and before Jibrail, alaihi s-salam, came to him on behalf of Allah SWT. So, there is no ambiguity, there is nothing to, no cause for concern if you like. The Prophet, SAW, knew Archangel Gabriel and he knew that he is from Allah SWT. It wasn't something out of a sudden that he's been going to the cave, trying to find some time for himself in seclusion and isolation from the rest so that he could concentrate on his worship of Allah SWT. That would not have been the first time he's seen an angel either, correct? It's a good point. In Khutbah number 192, sermon number 192 of Nahjul Balaghah, Imam alaihi s-salam, it's a very beautiful sermon, it's worth reading, it's a long sermon, it's worth reading. Imam alaihi s-salam talks about his time with the Prophet, SAW, and then, as I said, sermon number 192 of Nahjul Balaghah, he talks about the care that the Prophet, SAW, used to take care of Imam alaihi s-salam in his young age and so on, we'll come to that, inshallah, later on. But I want to focus on certain issue, that it says, Allah SWT put in charge of the Prophet from the time of his weaning, that he started eating solid food instead of just being breastfed, from the time of his weaning. Allah appointed to be with the Prophet the greatest of his Malaika, the greatest of his Malaika. And he was with him all the time, day and night, night and day, night and day, and he used to show him the good manners, so the angel was with him all along, and it would not be the first time, so it wasn't something strange as far as Prophet Muhammad, SAW, was concerned. And Sayyida Khadijah, for example, on the first day of marriage, she says that, I know you will be a Prophet, so when that day comes, the only thing is that she didn't know when that day will be, but she knew it will be. She says, when that day comes, when you become a Prophet, pray for me. All of this, I'm trying to establish the fact that it was well known, not only to the Prophet himself, to the individual of the Prophet himself, but to all around him, even Jewish Christian scholars, even Sayyida Khadijah at the time when she wasn't still married to him, they all knew about him becoming a Prophet. The only thing is that they didn't know when he would become a Prophet. And as I said, Waraq bin Naufal, the old cousin of Sayyida Khadijah, who was a Christian, he says he is the one that we've been waiting for. Okay, so at the cave, Archangel Gabriel appeared to him and he recited Surah Al-Araq, Iqraq, Bismarabbi Kalladi Khalaq, and basically he officially, if you like, he starts his mission. He comes to Sayyida Khadijah, alaihi salam. Before that, I wanted to touch with regards to what you mentioned that Archangel Gabriel, alaihi salam, says to the Holy Prophet, Iqraq. Now here, again, we have opinions with regards to the... Well, he couldn't read or write. Yes, that the Holy Prophet, alaihi salam, was illiterate because the Archangel told him Iqraq, which means basically read. And as you said, tales say that the Holy Prophet asked him about, I don't know how to read and this and that. I want to understand, when that was said, Iqraq, what did the Archangel mean? Can I just finish on the thing that when he said Iqraq, Iqraq, Bismarabbi Kalladi Khalaq, Khalaq, Al-Thana, Al-Araq, Al-Aakhir Al-Aya, or Surah, the Prophet, alaihi salam, went back home to Sayyida Khadijah, alaihi salam. And it is reported that Sayyida Khadijah says probably she knew but she asked this question, what is this radiance I see in your face? What is this light I see in your face? He said, Nur-Nubu, this is the light of prophethood. This is the light of prophethood. And of course, yes, he was now in a, he could feel the responsibility. The mission has started. He's got a huge responsibility to convey this message to the people. But as we know that to begin with, he didn't go public. It was, he didn't make, if you like, a formal public declaration. And he was waiting for Allah SWT, for the Divine Command to come and say, you know, go public. Until then, the Prophet, alaihi salam, received revelations and it is reported now, at least from outside, if you like, people would see the Prophet, alaihi salam, praying in the mosque, in the mosque of the Ka'bah. Of course, at that time, the Ka'bah was filled with idols and so on, but he was in no position to challenge them. He hasn't been instructed to go public. People would see him, the Quraysh would see him, he's praying. And when, sorry, before that, when he said to, when the Prophet, alaihi salam, said to Sayda Khadija, alaihi salam, Nur-Nubu, she said, I believe in this religion, I confirm, I am content with this religion, and I submit to the will of Allah, subhanahu ta'ala. So that was immediately, as soon as the Prophet, alaihi salam, came to Sayda Khadija, alaihi salam, and he said to her, in response to her question, this is the light of prophethood, she immediately believed in him. She's been waiting for that. So his mission was not to go public, but he was praying in the mosque. She had faith in him, she brought faith to him, and also Imam Ali, alaihi salam, you're talking probably hours after Sayda Khadija, if assuming that, it doesn't say in this particular hadith when she said, it doesn't say that Imam Ali was there at the time, of course at that time Imam Ali was 10 years old, and probably the message went to him, or the news got to him, whether it's minutes later or hours later, we don't know. But he was seen all the time, that the Prophet, salallahu alaihi salam, would pray, and Sayda Khadija behind him and Imam Ali behind him, and they didn't do, Quraish didn't do much to him, because he hasn't made any declaration. But now this brief summary of what happened, or what continued to happen, on the issue of electricity of the Prophet, salallahu alaihi salam. If you like, yes, they do say, some people say that the Prophet, salallahu alaihi salam, could not read or write, and of course this assertion is not correct, we have hadith from Imam Rada alaihi salam, when someone comes to him and says, what is the meaning of ummi? And he says, what do the people say about this? The narrator says, they say that ummi means he was, he couldn't, he was illiterate, he couldn't read and write. Imam Rada alaihi salam was, if you like, displeased, he says, this is false, this is a false accusation of the Prophet, salallahu alaihi salam, and of course he could read and write, and he knew the languages, if you like, 70 languages of the people of earth, and of course we have hadith that he knew of the languages of other worlds as well, but he just, Imam Rada alaihi salam was said to address, to focus on this, not to go, and so he knew other languages, and how could someone who comes when he says, who was the one who sent the ummi, the messenger of them, in order to teach them the book and to purify them, how could someone who want to teach them the book and to teach them wisdom and to purify them, he cannot read and write. I'll be the devil's advocate here. They will come and say that, that's one of the miracles of the Holy Prophet, salallahu alaihi salam, that he could not read and write, so when the Holy Quran was revealed, people could not say, oh he wrote it because they knew that he was illiterate. How do we respond to that? Well, if you like, we need to see the evidence. If people say this is a miracle, he couldn't read and write until the moment that the wahi started, we need to see the evidence for that. And the evidence say, as I said this hadith from Imam Rada alaihi salam, it says that he could read and write. The reason they say, when they say the Nabi al-Ummi, as I said, Ummi in reference to Umm Al-Qura, this hadith from Imam Rada alaihi salam, which is Mecca. If you like, Umm Al-Qura means the capital city, the mother of the cities. Today's terminology will be capital city. So the major city, if you like, major city was referred to in Mecca because there were a lot of, if you like, towns and villages around it. Mecca had become so big, it was referred to Umm Al-Qura. And in reference to referring, associating the prophet with Mecca, with this city, with the capital city, Umm Al-Qura is referred to as Ummi. This is the explanation which is given in the hadith from Imam Rada alaihi salam. Therefore, the answer to your question is that we need to go according to what the hadith tells us. We can't sort of come up with our own. Of course, they say, yes, he couldn't read and write so that to prove that he, people would not say he compiled it. Of course, they say, we have a verse of the Quran which says that they accuse him that he's being taught by so-and-so. So even if we go by the fact that he didn't read and write, he's still being accused by so-and-so. And that happened to be non-Arab, the teacher of. And in one accusation, he was taught by Salman, Salman al-Farsi. And Allah SWT in the Quran says that this book is Arabic and they accuse him of being taught by someone who is a non-Arab. And therefore, his language would not be Arabic. So of course, this wasn't only the only reason that they accuse him of. When the Prophet brought the Quran and he said to them all the things that he said after the oneness of Allah SWT, the false hold of the idols and so on, they said this man is, they called him crazy. They called him a poet. They called him a sorcerer, a magician. So they called them all the names they could think of. Or liar and so on. So they called them all the things they could think of. Yes, we have, if you like, a verse in the Quran which says مَا كُنْ تَتْلُوا مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مِنْ كِتَابِنْ وَلَا تَخُطْطُّهُ بِيَمِينِكْ And that is in reference to the fact that yes, the Prophet didn't used to recite a book for them before hand, before the revelation. And probably he didn't, if you like, openly practice writing, but that doesn't mean that he couldn't read and write. I hope this was an answer to your question. It was, yes. Now, so with regards to the timeline, the Holy Prophet was informed by Archangel Gabriel that he can start his mission, that officially can announce his prophethood to the public. But how long was the period from the incident in the cave to announcing it publicly to the Quraysh? Yes. When the Prophet had this revelation, Allah revealed to him, وَإِنْ ذَرْ عَشِرَتِكَ الْأَقْرَبِينَ So, warn your close relatives. It was then that he started with his tribe, with the tribe of Bani Hashim and his close relatives. Between the time that, if you like the Mab'at, when Archangel Gabriel first appeared to him and the time when this verse was revealed to the Prophet and he addressed, he called upon the people around him, the relatives, the close relatives. It was about three years. So, in three years, they were low-key, not public. During these three years, the Prophet, they would see the Prophet praying in the mosque, Imam Ali, and Sayyidi Khadija, but they did it other than sometimes, and occasionally they ridiculed him. So, they didn't see his way of praying in it. They would distinguish that it's different from the Jews and the Christians and other sects that they've known in the area. So, they would question him, what is this prayer you're doing? They're just saying, okay, he's got his own thing going on. His own religion, his own God, and so on. It wasn't too serious. They could see these things, but it wasn't too serious. This was going on. We have reports. Someone came, someone called, Afif al-Kindi comes and says, ask al-Abbas. What's this? Al-Abbas, the uncle. The uncle of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And he says, that young man who is ahead, he's my nephew. He's Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, the son of my brother, Abdullah. And that lady is, that woman is his wife, Khadija. And that young man, or that boy, is Ali, my other nephew, Ali ibn Abi Talib. So, this was reported on various occasions. Different people report this, whether it's al-Abbas or others have seen him explaining to his companion, at least the person along with him, what's going on in here? He said, in fact, al-Abbas says that he claims that he is the messenger from Allah. But people, because he wasn't going public, Quraish didn't disturb him. Quraish remained quiet about it. At least they didn't bother him in the way, and he harassed him in the way that they would later on. Imam Ali says, I see the light and the brightness of revelation and the message. I breathe the aroma of prophethood. Imam Ali, al-Israam, was with the prophet all along. On other occasions, he says, he used to go to the cave with him, where I could see him and no one else could see him.