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He always believed that the whole universe must have been created and controlled by one God.
When Muhammad reached forty years old, he used to meditate frequently in the Cave of Hira, which was on a mountain 4 km east of Makkah.
In the month of Ramadan (the ninth month of the lunar year, 610 CE approx), Archangel Gabriel appeared to him for the first time while he was in the cave and told him to “read”. Muhammad was frightened.
He could not read and did not know what to read. Archangel Gabriel repeated his word “read” again and again, then he recited the following verses from God.

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read

Read in the Name of your Lord Who created (everything), He created man from a clot (clinging to the wall of the womb)
Read! and your Lord is the All-Munificent Who taught man by the pen He taught man what he didn’t know!

Quran, 96:1-5

MUHAMMAD WAS TERRIFIED

He was extremely scared. He ran back to his home. He was trembling. He told his wife Khadijah what happened to him and asked her to cover him.
She told him that God would not let him down or allow devils to touch him as he kept good relations with his relatives, helped the poor people and liked doing charity.

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A DIVINE REVELATION OR SATANIC WHISPERINGS?

Muhammad was afraid that he was possessed by evil. He went with his wife Khadijah to tell the whole story to Waraqa Bin Nawfal (a relative of Khadijah) who was a religious Christian person and knowledgeable in the Bible. Waraqa predicted that Muhammad would be a prophet.
Gabriel continued to come to Muhammad over a period of 23 years. During this period, God’s Message to humankind (the Quran) was revealed.

Name: Muhammad
Father’s name:
Abdullah, son of Abdul-Muttalib (ancestry reaches back to the Prophet Ishmael son of Prophet Abraham).
Surname (clan):
He was from the Bani-Hashim family (Bani- Hashim was from Quraysh, a tribe that was highly ranked in Arabia).
Date of birth:
April 22, 570 CE approximately. Place of birth: City of Mecca (Makkah) – Arabian Peninsula (currently in Saudi Arabia). Date of death: June 6, 632 CE (he was approximately 63 years old when he died).
Death and burial place:
City of Madinah, 400 km north of Makkah.