سورة العلق

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): The first surah of the Quran that Allah revealed to His Prophet in Mecca was اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ [Read in the name of your Lord who created], and the first surah revealed in Medina was Surah al-Baqarah.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): The first surah that was revealed was بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِیمِ * اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ [In the name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful. Read in the name of your Lord], and the last surah that was revealed was إِذا جاءَ نَصْرُ اللهِ وَ الْفَتْحُ [When Allah's help comes, and victory] (Nasr/1).

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): The first thing with which revelation began for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) was righteous dreams in his sleep, and every dream he saw would come true clear as the break of dawn. When he (peace be upon him and his family) married Khadija (peace be upon her) and reached the full age of forty, one day he went out toward the mountain of Hira. There Jibra'il called out to him but did not appear to him, and so the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) fainted. The polytheists of Quraysh carried him on their shoulders to Khadija (peace be upon her) and said, "O Khadija! Have you married a man possessed by jinn?" Khadija (peace be upon her) quickly got down from her couch and drew him (peace be upon him and his family) to her chest, laid his head on her lap and kissed his eyes and said, "I have married a Prophet, one who is sent." When he (peace be upon him and his family) regained consciousness, Khadija (peace be upon her) said, "May my father and mother be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! What has befallen you?" He said, "Nothing has befallen me but good, but I heard a voice that frightened me, and I think it was Jibra'il." Khadija rejoiced at this news and said, "When the morning of tomorrow comes, return to the very place where you saw him yesterday." He (peace be upon him and his family) said, "Yes, I will do so." He went out, and suddenly he saw Jibra'il in the most beautiful form and the sweetest fragrance. Jibra'il said, "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Your Lord sends you peace and sends you a special greeting and honour, and He says: 'You are My Messenger to mankind and jinn, so call them to worship Me, and to say: There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) is His Messenger, and Ali (peace be upon him) is His Wali (guardian).'" Then Jibra'il struck the ground with his wing, and from that spot a spring of water gushed forth. He (peace be upon him and his family) drank from it and performed ablution; then Jibra'il taught him: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ [Read in the name of your Lord Who created]… Jibra'il ascended to the sky, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) came out of Hira. On his way, every stone, hill and tree that he passed by called out: "Peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)." He came to Khadija (peace be upon her), who was awaiting him, and informed her of what had happened, and she was overjoyed at seeing him (peace be upon him and his family) and at his safety and well-being.

Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him): When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) abandoned trading on the route to Sham and gave away as charity [in the way of Allah] all that Allah the Exalted had bestowed upon him from those trades, every morning he would set out toward [the cave of] Hira and climb the mountain. From the height of the mountain peaks he would contemplate and reflect upon the signs of Allah's mercy and the varieties of the wonders of His mercy and the astonishing manifestations of His wisdom, and he would look at the reaches of the sky and the horizons of the earth, the seas, the deserts and the wildernesses, and take admonition and counsel from those signs, and worship Allah as He deserved to be worshipped. When he reached forty years of age and Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, looked into his heart and found it the most excellent, the most exalted, the most obedient, the most humble and the most submissive of hearts, He gave leave to the gates of the heavens to be opened, while Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) was looking at them; and He gave leave to the angels to descend, while Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) was looking at them; and He commanded [His special] mercy, and mercy descended from beside the leg of the Throne upon Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and enveloped him. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) saw Jibril, that trustworthy angel of Allah who wears a necklace of light and is [like] the peacock of the angels, descending toward him. He took hold of his upper arm and shook him and said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), read!" Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) said: "What shall I read?" Jibril said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ* خَلَقَ الْإِنْسانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ* اقْرَأْ وَ رَبُّکَ الْأَکْرَمُ* الَّذِی عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ* عَلَّمَ الْإِنْسانَ ما لَمْ یَعْلَمْ [Read in the name of your Lord Who created, created man from a clinging clot. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous, Who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know]," and he conveyed to him what Allah had revealed to him, and then ascended to the heavens. Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) came down from the mountain while the majesty of Allah's might and grandeur had overwhelmed him, and the greatness of Allah's station and rank had brought upon him fever and shivering.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): It has been narrated [from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)] that: Jibril brought out a piece of silk brocade in which there was writing and said: "Read!" I said: "How shall I read, when I am not a reader?" This exchange was repeated three times; on the fourth time Jibril said: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ* خَلَقَ الْإِنْسانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ* اقْرَأْ وَ رَبُّکَ الْأَکْرَمُ* الَّذِی عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ* عَلَّمَ الْإِنْسانَ ما لَمْ یَعْلَمْ [Read in the name of your Lord Who created, created man from a clinging clot. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous, Who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know]. Then Allah sent down Jibril and Mikail, with each of them seventy thousand angels, and He brought His Throne [along with them] and placed a crown upon the head of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)…

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): It is recorded in the authentic books that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) used to retreat in seclusion at Hira for one month of each year, and in that month he would feed any needy person who came to him. When his seclusion at Hira came to an end, the first thing he would do on his way back was to go to the door of the Kaʿbah, and before entering his own house he would circumambulate it seven times or more, and then he would go to his home. When the year came in which Allah honoured him (peace be upon him and his family) with the message, he had gone to Hira in the month of Ramadan, and his wife Khadijah (peace be upon her) and Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) and a servant they had were also with him (peace be upon him and his family). Jibrail descended upon him (peace be upon him and his family) with the message. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) himself says: "I was asleep when he came to me with a basket in which there was a book." He said: "Read!" I said: "I do not know how to read." He pressed me so hard that I thought death had come upon me. Then he released me and said: "اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ* خَلَقَ الْانسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ* اقْرَأْ وَ رَبُّکَ الْأَکْرَمُ* الَّذِی عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَم* عَلَّمَ الْانسَانَ مَا لَمْ یَعْلَم [Read in the name of your Lord Who created. He created man from a clinging clot. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous, Who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know]." Then I read, and he departed from me. I awoke from my sleep, and it was as though a book had been inscribed upon my heart.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Before the revelation descended upon him, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) used to constantly hear a voice, and he would be alarmed by it. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) complained of this to Khadijah (peace be upon her), and Khadijah (peace be upon her) said to him: "Glad tidings to you! For nothing but good and goodness will ever befall you." Then one day the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) went out of the city and set off with the people towards the cave of Hira. Khadijah (peace be upon her), who had prepared food for him, sent someone to look for him but did not find him. She checked the houses of the Prophet's (peace be upon him and his family) paternal uncles and maternal uncles but again did not find him. Meanwhile, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) came to Khadijah (peace be upon her) with a troubled and changed face. Khadijah (peace be upon her) thought that dust had settled on his face, so she began to wipe the dust from his face, but that dust did not go away. Then she noticed a darkening on the Prophet's (peace be upon him and his family) face and said: "O son of Abdullah! What has happened to you?" The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Do you remember I told you I hear a voice? By Allah, today I was standing at the entrance of the cave of Hira when someone came to me and said: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Glad tidings to you, for I am Jibra'il and you are the Messenger of this ummah.' Then he brought out a piece of writing and said to me: 'Read this!' I said: 'By Allah, I have never read any writing, and I am Ummi.' He embraced me and pressed me a little, then released me; [again] he said: 'Read!' I said: 'By Allah, I have never read anything, and I do not know anything I could read!' Jibra'il said: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ* خَلَقَ الْإِنْسانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ [Read in the name of your Lord Who created, created the human being from a clot...] until he reached this verse: عَلَّمَ الْإِنْسانَ ما لَمْ یَعْلَمْ [Taught the human being what he did not know]. Then he said: 'Come down,' and he himself brought me down from the mountain and set me on a level piece of ground; then he seated me on a rug on which lay two green garments. Then he struck the ground with his foot and a spring flowed forth, and he performed wudu from it and said to me: 'Perform wudu.' I too performed wudu; then he stood and prayed, and I prayed two rak'ahs along with him; then he said to me: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Prayer is like this.'"

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Dulabi narrated from his chain of narrators that at the beginning of his affair, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) saw a dream, became worried, and told his dream to his wife Khadija. Khadija said to him: "Glad tidings, for Allah the Exalted always does good to you." The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) told Khadija that he had dreamt that his belly was taken out, purified and washed, and then put back in its place. Khadija said: "This is good; glad tidings to you!" Then Jibra'il appeared to the Prophet and seated him in the place that Allah wished, and gave him the glad tidings of Allah's messengership, and the Prophet's (peace be upon him and his family) heart was reassured. Then Jibra'il said: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ* خَلَقَ الْإِنْسانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ* اقْرَأْ وَ رَبُّکَ الْأَکْرَمُ [Read in the name of your Lord Who created; created man from a clot; read, and your Lord is the Most Generous]. Thus the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) accepted the messengership of his Lord and obeyed what Jibra'il had brought from Allah, and returned to his family.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Jibra'il descended upon Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Read." The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "What shall I read?" He said: "اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ [Read in the name of your Lord Who created]" — meaning He created your primordial light before all things.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): The first verse that was revealed, or the first thing Jibra'il said to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) concerning the affair of the Qur'an, was that he said to him: O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Say: أَسْتَعِیذُ بِالسَّمِیعِ الْعَلِیمِ مِنَ الشَّیْطَانِ الرَّجِیمِ [I seek refuge with the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing from the accursed Satan]; and he said, say: بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِیمِ* اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ [In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Read in the name of your Lord Who created].

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ [Read in the name of your Lord]; read in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, الَّذِی خَلَقَ [Who created] — that is, who created [the world].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Indeed Allah the Glorified created creatures in two categories: a category that is speaking, rational, acting and possessing free choice, and a category that is dumb [without speech and reason]. He placed religious obligation upon the speaking, rational, choosing one, and the Glorified said: خَلَقَ الْإِنْسانَ* عَلَّمَهُ الْبَیانَ [He created man; He taught him eloquence] (Ar-Rahman/3-4). And He said: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ* خَلَقَ الْإِنْسانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ* اقْرَأْ وَ رَبُّکَ الْأَکْرَمُ* الَّذِی عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ* عَلَّمَ الْإِنْسانَ ما لَمْ یَعْلَمْ [Read in the name of your Lord Who created; created man from a clot; read, and your Lord is the Most Generous, Who taught by the pen; taught man what he did not know]. Then He placed obligation upon them, but He removed the obligation from the non-rational category, because they do not possess the rational and discerning faculty.