Life of the Prophet

Muhammad's Dreams

After two days, they reached the city of Jeddah at night. Exhausted and provisions diminished, they lodged in a tavern and immediately retreated to their beds. As Muhammad closed his eyes and dozed off, he woke up in a cave, feeling heavy headed and dizzy. He looked around and recognised it as the cave where he first received the Revelation from Above. 

The same shimmering light that he beheld appeared and from within it, a shiny, slimy appendage stretched out revealing a scroll. The deep guttural voice said,

"Read"

"B-But I cannot read or write", Muhammad stammered.

The light dimmed and the appendage stretched further, pressing the scroll hard against Muhammad's face. Wahb Kaisan said that at that moment, Muhammad felt as if it was death. He felt as if he were suffocating, his lungs heavily constricted and head pained. He gasped out for air, trying in vain to clutch the appendage with his hands.  In a deeper tone, the voice demanded,

"Read!"

But Muhammad said,

"But what shall I read? Say onto me what I should read"

And the voice answered,

"Read in the name of Thy Lord who created, Who created man of blood coagulated. Read! That Æłìæh is the most beneficent, Who taught by the pen, Taught that which they knew not onto men"

So Muhammad recited this and woke up, still feeling the imprint of the scroll pressing upon his face. Those words which the voice demanded to be read, constantly echoing all around him, ringing loudly into his ears. As in that dream, he felt as death.

Thus he excused himself to his followers that he must depart to a quiet place to converse with Allah for further instructions. Going out from the tavern, he found a church empty and opened. He went in and sitting down on the floor before the altar covered his ears and screamed,

"JIBRIL! IS THIS NOT ENOUGH? I KNOW THEM ALREADY YOU CAN STOP IT NOW!"

There was no answer. When Muhammad looked up at the altar, seeing the prominent gold cross standing on it, he felt a great pain throbbing in his head and stomach twisting and turning. He clasped his ears and groaned out in agony, before vomiting blood onto the floor and running out of the church. 

In the streets, those who saw him recognised the man who is running, covering his ears and screaming. They said,

"That is the magician who defiled the gods of Mecca and thought an angel of the Jews and Romans is a god who is worshipped"

But none dared to touch him as word of the Signs that happened before had spread. Thus any who saw Muhammad running in their direction quickly made way for him, begging not to be cursed by his spells. He kept running until he saw a synagogue and went inside for refuge, but seeing the scroll of the Torah displayed prominently and the frowns of the Jews inside, he felt the same agonising pain as before and went out, vomiting in the streets. 

Looking up at the confused and terrified looks of bystanders, Muhammad ran quickly, hiding himself in a narrow alley and squatted by a wall, covering his ears and yelling at the voice to stop. Again there was no answer. All that could be heard was the voice constantly repeating those verses.

Frustrated by the lack of any reply, he stood up and began ramming his head hard on the wall again and again repeatedly, screaming as blood flowed down his face and the crack of skull could be heard. Ramming his head against the wall again, he screamed,

"NEVER AGAIN WILL I HEAR THESE AGAIN. I WILL KILL MYSELF SO THAT I SHALL FIND REST!"

Again and again he rammed his head until he fell down. Finally the voice stopped and when he came to, he was in the tavern again, feeling the same impression of the scroll on his face. Once more he heard the voice reciting the verses again and again. He still felt as death. Hands shaking, he felt his face and looked, there was nothing but the moisture of cold sweat.

"no..no...how can this be?" Muhammad questioned, eyes bulging in shock.

Again he rose, excused himself to his followers and this time went out of Jeddah to a rocky hill. 

He shouted to Allah,

"I am going to have my rest. I will fling myself down this hill to death!"

He leapt down, his body crushed by the impact against hard jagged rocks below and heard not the voice reciting the verses. But again he woke up in the tavern, hearing the same verses recited again, feeling as death again. 

"No..no...it can't be. No matter what I do, I wake up here again. Am I dreaming in a dream and I am dreaming that dream in another dream? Is this going to go on again and again?", he wondered.

Thus, instead of attempting to take his own life, he decided instead to instead gather his followers and board a ship to Ethiopia. Yet the voice still repeated the same verses again and again. His entire being still felt as death from the tavern to the port. Unable to handle the agony, he leapt down into the waters below to the shock of his followers. 

Drowning, his nostrils flared up in pain and he gargled, swinging his limbs about as water gushed into his body, filling his stomach and lungs. When he passed out, the voice went silent. Again he woke up in the tavern, the same voice reciting the verses repeatedly. Clutching his fist in anger, he rose from his bed and knelt down, praying to Allah. 

He prayed,

"O Allah, I understand the verse in my heart now.Now take this torment away from me."

But there was no answer. The voice simply repeated those verses again, again and again......