This is his life as the Recitation itself tells it, in the order the Recitation gives, and nothing else. No stories from outside the book. Where the book is quiet, this piece is quiet.
An orphan, and poor
The earliest thing said about him is said to him, gently, at a moment when he seems to have felt abandoned.
By the morning brightness
And the night when it covers with darkness,
Your Lord has not taken leave of you nor has He detested.
Then three questions, and all three are about his own life before anything began.
Did He not find you an orphan and give refuge?
And He found you lost and guided,
And He found you poor and made self-sufficient.
An orphan, without direction, and without money. That is the whole biography the Recitation gives of his beginning, and it gives it as three things the Lord God did rather than three things he achieved. The chapter ends by telling him not to oppress the orphan or drive away the one who asks (The Recitation 93:9–10).
Recite
Then the first words that came down to him. He is not told to preach, or to lead, or to fight. He is told to read aloud.
Recite in the name of your Lord who created -
Created man from a clinging substance.
Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous -
Who taught by the pen -
Taught man that which he knew not.
Teaching, and the pen, in the first five signs ever given. He is called the unlettered prophet (The Recitation 7:157), so the pen in that passage is not his own.
Get up
Next comes the instruction to start, and it is short and unglamorous.
O you who covers himself,
Arise and warn
And your Lord glorify
And your clothing purify
The list goes on: avoid uncleanliness, do not give in order to get more back, and be patient for your Lord (The Recitation 74:5–7). Warn, keep clean, do not trade favours, be patient. That is the job as it was first described.
And when the weight of it pressed on him, he was answered with a question and a promise: did We not expand your breast, and remove the burden that weighed on your back, and for indeed, with hardship ease (The Recitation 94:1–6). Then: when you have finished, stand up, and direct your longing to your Lord (The Recitation 94:7–8).
The night journey
One sign records a journey and adds no explanation to it.
Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
The word used of him there is Servant. That is the word the Recitation uses of him in the moment of his highest honour.
The plot, and the cave
Things got dangerous. The Recitation records a plot against him and answers it in one line: they plan, and The God plans, and The God is the best of planners (The Recitation 8:30).
Then the escape, with two men in a cave and a search party outside.
The God has already aided him when those who disbelieved had driven him out as one of two, when they were in the cave and he said to his companion, "Do not grieve; indeed The God is with us."
Tranquillity was sent down on him, and he was supported with angels no one could see (The Recitation 9:40).
The turn
Years later, the tone changes. A clear opening is announced, and the reason given for it is forgiveness and guidance rather than triumph: that The God may forgive for him what preceded and what will follow, complete His favour, and guide him to a straight path (The Recitation 48:1–2).
Those with him are described as forceful against those who reject and merciful among themselves, marked by prostration, and their description is said to be in the Torah and in the Gospel (The Recitation 48:29).
And when the victory came, he was told what to do with it. Not celebrate. Ask forgiveness.
When the victory of The God has come and the conquest,
And you see the people entering into the religion of The God in multitudes,
Then exalt with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of repentance.
The end of it
Among the last things given is a sentence that reads like a door closing quietly: this day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you and have approved for you submission to The God as religion (The Recitation 5:3).
And of the man himself, the book is careful to keep him in proportion.
Muhammad is not but a messenger. Messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels?
The translation quoted spells the name its own way; we spell it Mohammed, and we leave a quotation as it is.
What the Lord God said of him
He said He found him an orphan, lost and poor, and gave him refuge, guidance and enough (The Recitation 93:6–8). He said He had not taken leave of him (The Recitation 93:3). He called him His Servant (The Recitation 17:1).
He called him the Messenger of The God and the seal of the prophets (The Recitation 33:40). The word is khātam, the ring pressed into wax at the foot of a letter, and what such a seal does is attest: it says that what is written above it is genuine and that nothing was added on the way.
He said he was sent to all people, and called him the unlettered prophet who is found written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel (The Recitation 7:157–158). He said he tells people to do right, forbids wrong, and lifts burdens and shackles off them (The Recitation 7:157). And He said the whole of it in six words.
And We have not sent you except as a mercy to the worlds.
A prayer
Lord God Almighty, You found an orphan and gave him refuge, and You found him lost and guided him. Find us. Expand our breasts and lift the burdens off our backs. Teach us what we do not know, as You taught by the pen. When anything is given to us, let our first thought be to praise You and ask Your forgiveness. You are ever Accepting of repentance.
Questions people might ask
Where do these stories come from?
Only from the Recitation. Nothing here is taken from the hadith or from later books. Where the Recitation is quiet, this piece is quiet.
What was the first thing revealed?
Recite, in the name of your Lord who created (The Recitation 96:1-5).
What did the Lord God say of him?
That he was sent only as a mercy to the worlds (The Recitation 21:107), that he is of great character (The Recitation 68:4), and that he is a messenger; messengers passed before him (The Recitation 3:144).
