the Truth came to him, he was in a cave on Mount Ḥirāʾ, and the angel came to him there. The angel said to him, “Read!” And again the angel commanded the Messenger of God, “Read!” The Messenger of God said,
“I said, ‘But I cannot read!’ So he took hold of me and crushed me until I could no longer bear it. Then he released me and said, ‘Read!’ ‘I cannot read!’ I said. He took me and crushed me a third time, until I could no longer bear it. He again released me and said:
«Read in the name of your Lord who created: He created man from a clinging form. Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One who taught by means of the pen, who taught man what he did not know.»”29
1.2.2
فرجع بها ترجُف بَوادِرُه حتّى دخل على خديجة. فقال: زمّلوني! فزمّلوه حتّى ذهب عنه الروع. فقال لخديجة: ما لي؟ وأخبرها الخبر، فقال: قد خشيت عليّ! فقالت: كلّا! والله لا يخزيك اللهُ أبدًا. إنّك لتصل الرحم وتصدق الحديث وتقري الضيف وتعين نوائب الحقّ!
Muḥammad returned with these words,30 his shoulders trembling, and eventually he reached Khadījah. He said, “Cover me! Cover me!”31 They covered him in a cloth until the terror had left him. He said to Khadījah, “What’s wrong with me?” And he related to her what had transpired. “Are you fearful for my sake?” he said. “Not at all!” Khadījah said. “By God, God will never disgrace you, for you are a man who honors the bonds of kinship and speaks only the truth, who acts hospitably toward guests and aids his kinsmen in their duress.”32
1.2.3
ثم انطلقت به خديجة حتّى أتت به ورقة ابن نوفل بن راشد بن عبد العزّى بن قصيّ، وهو ابن عمّ خديجة، أخو أبيها. وكان تنصّر في الجاهليّة وكان يكتب الكتاب العربيّ. فكتب بالعربيّة من الإنجيل ما شاء الله١ أن يكتب. وكان شيخًا كبيرًا قد عمي.
فقالت خديجة: أيْ ابن عمّي! اسمع من ابن أخيك!
فقال ورقة: ابن أخي؟ ما ترى؟ فقال رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وسلّم ما رأى. فقال ورقة: هذا الناموس الّذي أنزل على موسى عليه السلام! يا ليتني فيه جذعًا حين يخرجك قومك!
فقال رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وسلّم: أَوَمخرجيّ هم؟
فقال ورقة: نعم، لم يأتِ أحد بما أتيت به إلّا عودي وأوذي. وإن يدركني يومك، أنصرك نصرًا مؤزّرًا.
ثم لم ينشب ورقة أن توفّي.
١ بد؛ ساقطة من مم.
Khadījah then set off with the Prophet to bring him to Waraqah ibn Nawfal ibn Rāshid ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā ibn Quṣayy, Khadījah’s cousin, the son of her father’s brother. He had converted to Christianity during the Age of Ignorance prior to Islam. He was able to write the Arabic script and had written as much of the Gospels in Arabic as God had willed.33 At the time, he was quite an old shaykh and had gone blind.
Khadījah said to him, “O cousin! Listen to your nephew!”
Waraqah said, “My nephew? What did you see?” When the Messenger of God explained what he had seen, Waraqah declared, “This is the Nomos34 that God sent down to Moses! If only I could be a strong youth when your people exile you!”
The Messenger of God said, “Will they really exile me?”
Waraqah replied, “Yes, for oppression and persecution await all to whom God has given what He has given you. If I live to see your time come, I will surely aid you to become victorious.”
It was not long before Waraqah died.
1.2.4
وفتر الوحي فترةً حتّى حزن رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وسلّم، فيما بلغنا، حزنًا بدا منه أشدّ حزنًا١ غدا منه مرارًا كي يتردّى من رؤوس شواهق الجبال. فلمّا ارتقى بذروة جبل، تبدّى له جبريل عليه السلام فقال: يا محمّد! يا رسول الله حقًّا! فيسكن لذلك جأشه وتقرّ نفسه. فرجع، فإذا طالت عليه فترة الوحي، عاد لمثل ذلك. فإذا رقى بذروة جبل تبدّى له جبريل عليه السلام فقال له مثل ذلك.
١ مم؛ عب: حزناً شديداً.
The revelation ceased for a time so that the Messenger of God became—as we have been informed—profoundly saddened. One could see that the deepest sadness had fallen upon him. Because of this, he went out in the morning to the heights of the mountains to cast himself from their peaks several times, but whenever he climbed to the summit of a mountain, Gabriel would appear to him and say, “O Muḥammad! O True Messenger of God!” And so his anxiety would subside, and his soul become steadfast. He returned home, and when the lapse in revelation continued for a long time, he would return to doing as he had done before. Whenever he would climb to a mountain’s summit, Gabriel would appear to him again and speak to him as he had before.35
1.3
قال معمر: قال الزهريّ: فأخبرني أبو سلمة بن عبد الرحمن عن جابر بن عبدالله قال:
سمعت رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وسلّم، وهو يحدّث عن فترة الوحي. فقال في حديثه: بينا أنا أمشي سمعت صوتًا من السماء ورفعت رأسي. فإذا الّذي جاءني بحراء جالسًا على كرسيّ بين السماء والأرض، فجئت منه رعبًا. ثمّ رجعت، فقلت: زمّلوني، زمّلوني! ودثّروني! فأنزل الله تعالى يٰأَيُّها المُدَّثِّر إلى والرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ قبل أن تفرض الصلاة، وهي الأوثان.
Maʿmar
