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27th Rajab,The Beginning of
the Prophetic Mission
Mohammad (s.a.w.), though endeared and respected by Mecca
for his wisdom and virtues, preferred solitude and kept his distance from the
polytheist society. Disgusted with the corruption all around, he used to retire
to the Cave of Hera, in a mountain a few kilometers from Mecca, meditating
Allah\'s Majesty and worshipping Him. Initially he used to remain in the cave for
a day or two and sometimes even 10 nights or more but the next few years saw him
spending a whole month in that cave, praying to Allah and contemplating guidance
for the deviated people.
Finally the day dawned which was to change the history of the world. When he had
reached the age of 40 and was engrossed as usual in praying to Allah at his
retreat of cave Hera., suddenly that harbinger of Divine tidings, the Archangel
Gabriel, appeared with the first verses of the Holy Quran:
"Recite in the name of your Lord Who created, Created man from a clot. Recite
and your Lord is most Generous, Who taught (to write) with the pen. Taught man
what he knew not." Holy Quran (96: 1-5)
With these verses, Gabriel (a.s.) announced to Muhammad (s.a.w.) that Almighty
Allah had formally chosen him to be His last and final Messenger to humankind.
It was in the month of Rajab.
Muhammad\'s (s.a.w.) heart was filled with joy, and he thanked Almighty Allah for
bestowing this great honor upon him. He hurried to his house to tell his wife
Khadija about his appointment to Prophet Hood.
Khadija on hearing the event at once believed in her husband\'s Prophet hood and
so did his young cousin Ali (a.s.). Consequently Ali and Khadija became the
first ever male and female Muslims respectively. Thus started the beginning of a
divine mission, which was destined not only to cleanse the Arabian Peninsula of
the filth of polytheism but whose radiance would eventually dispel darkness from
all over the world.
Muhammad\'s (s.a.w.) formal announcement of his Prophet Hood had a mixed reaction
on Mecca society. While the oppressed classes hastened towards the call of
Islam, happy that the day of deliverance had finally dawned, the Mecca oligarchy
and those who felt a danger to their vested interests and hegemony; ganged-up to
ridicule the Prophet, in their desperate bid to nip in the bud the final
revelation to the human race.
Undeterred by Jahiliyyah\'s arrogant attempts, Muhammad (s.a.w.) continued to
propagate the great divine mission entrusted to him, and the next 23 years of
his lifetime saw the gradual unfolding of the grand miraculous event; the Holy
Quran, Allah\'s own words sent down through the Archangel Gabriel. (Even today
after 14 centuries, Allah\'s book the Holy Quran stands as a living miracle for
humanity. Its revelation was completed a couple of months before the Messenger\'s
passing away, and besides containing the \'Shariah\' (canonical laws) for the
Muslims, it is a source of knowledge goading man to contemplate and discover the
mysteries of science, inspiring high ethical values and morals in its readers
and showing the perfect path for mankind\'s happiness both in this world and the
hereafter.)
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