"Ramadan was the traditional month of retreat, and it was one night towards the end of Ramadan, in his fortieth year, when he was alone in the cave (mount Hira near Makkah), that there came to him an Angel in the form of a man. the Angel said to him: "Recite!" and he said: "I am not a reciter," whereupon, as he himself told it, "the Angel took me and whelmed me in his embrace until he had reached the limit of mine endurance. then he released me and said:' Recite!' I said: 'I am not a reciter,' and again he took me and whelmed me in his embrace, and again when he reached the limit of mine endurance he realised me and said: 'recite!', and again I said 'I am not a reciter.' then a third time he whelmed me as before, then released me and said:

"Recite in the name of thy Lord who created! He created man from a clot of blood. recite; and thy Lord is the Most bountiful, He who hath taught by the pen, taught man what he knew not". (Quran Alaq :96)

He recited these words after the Angel, who thereupon left him; and he said "It was though the words were written on my heart." But he feared that this might mean he had become a jinn-inspired poet or a man possessed. So he fled from the cave, and when he was half-way down the slope of the mountain he heard a voice above him saying: " O Muhammad thou art the Messenger of GOD, and I am Gabriel (Angel Jibrail)." The Prophet stood gazing at the Angel; then he turned away from him, but whichever way he looked the Angel was always there, astride the horizon, whether it was to the north, to the south, to the east or to the west. "