Welcome to Ramadans That Changed The World! A series of stories about Ramadan moments that shaped the course of history, and the lessons we can take from them today!
Words carry a lot of power.
They can make or break your day, they can bring hearts together or tear them apart.
They can inspire, motivate, and drive you to fulfill your greatest ambitions.
A single word can rock the entire world, and many Ramadans ago… it did.
So when we talk about Ramadans that changed the world, it’s only fitting that we begin with the word that would echo throughout all of time.
In the dead of night, on a lonely mountain, under the vast expanse of the heavens, at a distance overlooking the holy city of Makkah.
The place we now call the cave of Hira on Jabal al Nur was not what we see it as today. There was no village at its base, no well-trodden path, no tourists visiting from every which way.
It was quiet, unspectacular, the place you would go just to get away from the hustle and bustle of life, and indeed that was the purpose it served back then.
Muhammad ibn Abdillah, whose name today we do not utter without the salutation ﷺ , a shepherd turned merchant and family man, found sanctuary up in this small cave overlooking the city he called home.
It offered him the peace he needed to reflect and seek answers that neither his wife, his friends, nor his community could offer, but could only be found through God.
You see, he ﷺ was dissatisfied with the state of his society. In a city steeped in idolatry and hedonism, he ﷺ was the exception. Where people worshipped many gods, he recognised The One and only, where corruption was rampant, he stood out as As Sadiq and Al Amin; the truthful and upright.
Troubled by questions of his purpose, his place in the world, why wickedness and pagan superstitions surrounded him, he would retreat to his mountain sanctuary for days, even weeks at a time, with the occasional company of his dear wife and closest confidant, Khadijah, who would make the same arduous journey to bring him food and supplies.
With the strange occurrences over the past few months, seclusion became a more frequent part of his life.
He was often visited by dreams that would manifest soon after, rocks and inanimate objects would greet him in his day-to-day.
Now more than ever, he needed his time alone with his Lord…
…so it came as quite the surprise when an unexpected visitor made an appearance on a fateful Ramadan night.
That dark and claustrophobic cave suddenly grew bright and expansive, and at its mouth appeared a man. Inexplicably, abruptly, and without introduction, he approached Muhammad, grabbing him tightly, as if to affirm this was no apparition, this was no phantom, this was real.
The man spoke, “read”.
Muhammad ﷺ responded, “I cannot read.”
The man squeezed him and repeated, “read.”
Breathless, almost suffocating, Muhammad responded again. “I cannot read.”
A third time the man ordered him to read, and Muhammad ﷺ relented, “What do you want me to read?”
The man then proceeded to recite:
اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ عَلَّمَ الْإِنسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ
“Read in the name of your Lord who created. He created man from a clinging substance. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous. He who taught by the pen. He taught man that which he knew not.”
(Quran, 96:1–5).
Upon his visitor’s exit, Muhammad ﷺ fled his sanctuary, hastily, in the dead of night, with no paved road or pathway to ease his journey home.
He arrived hastily at his family home, rushing to the tender and reassuring embrace of his dear Khadijah, saying breathlessly, “Cover me, cover me!”, and after some time to gather himself, he relayed what had transpired earlier that night.
Khadijah reassured her beloved, “Allah would not disgrace you. By Allah, you keep good relations with kith and kin, you are truthful, you help the downtrodden, are generous with your guests, and take care of those afflicted with difficulty.”
Following her words of reassurance, Khadijah suggested that he ﷺ speak to her cousin, the monk Waraqah bin Noufel, who, upon hearing the entire ordeal, affirmed:
”This is the same angel who was sent to Musa. How I wish I were young so that I might support you when your people drive you out!”
Drive him out? His own people? From his own town?
This was Muhammad ibn Abdillah ﷺ, the most upstanding and respected man in Makkah. The grandson of Abdul Muttalib, and from Banu Hashim, the most elite clan of the Quraysh.
Family and lineage were everything in that society, and the thought that a noble could be exiled so readily was unimaginable.
But Waraqah added:
“No one ever brought a message like this to their people except that they met him with hostility.”
Waraqah would not live long thereafter and would not witness the realization of that statement, when Muhammad ﷺ, who in that night became a prophet, would fulfil his role as the final messenger of Allah, and a mercy to all the worlds.
That world-changing mission began with one word:
اقْرَأْ, Read.
The first command Allah gave to the Prophet ﷺ was not pray, not unite your people, not free the slaves, but to read, to seek divine knowledge and guidance.
Because that is where everything begins.
There is no worship without knowledge, there is no personal or social reform without knowledge, there is no unity without knowledge.
There is a lesson in that for us all:
If you want your world to change this Ramadan, you have to start with divine knowledge.
May Allah grant us knowledge that benefits and transforms us this Ramadan and beyond.
