Short answer
The Qur'an came to the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) through the angel Gabriel, part by part, over twenty-three years. It began when he was forty, in the cave of Hira near Makkah, with the command to read. He could not read. Revelation came on him like the ringing of a bell, or the angel came as a man. It was heavy: he sweated on a very cold day. He could not summon it, and once waited a month for an answer. Each passage was recited to the people, learned by heart and written down. It came in stages so that hearts could take it in: faith first, laws later. Gabriel went over it with him every year, and twice in his last year. Revelation stopped when he died. So the Qur'an was not composed at a desk: it came over many years, among companions who saw it happen. Islam's answer is that every word is from God (﷾), not from him.
Full explanation
The first revelation
Sahih al-Bukhari is a collection of trusted reports about the Prophet (ﷺ). It records that he came to love being alone. He went to the cave of Hira to worship for many days. There, when he was forty, an angel came and told him to read. He answered that he could not read. Three times the angel pressed him hard and released him. Then came the first words of the Qur'an: "Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created". He went home with his heart pounding, and told his wife Khadija that he feared for himself. This matters. The story does not open with a man announcing a mission. It opens with a man afraid, not knowing what had happened to him, and comforted by his wife.
Aisha describes the first revelation. In the cave of Hira the angel told the Prophet (ﷺ) to read, and three times he answered that he could not read, before the first verses of Surat al-Alaq were given to him. Khadija took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, an old, blind man who had become a Christian and wrote out parts of the Gospel in Hebrew letters. Waraqa said this was the angel God had sent to Moses, and a few days later he died.
Ibn Abbas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) began to receive revelation at forty, stayed in Mecca thirteen years receiving it, was then ordered to migrate, lived ten years as an emigrant, and died at sixty-three.
“Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created- Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,- He Who taught (the use of) the pen,- Taught man that which he knew not.”
Waraqa's answer
Khadija took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, an old, blind man who had become a Christian. Waraqa said this was the angel God (﷾) had sent to Moses (pbuh). Not long afterwards he died. Critics sometimes name Waraqa as the man who taught the Prophet (ﷺ). This report rules that out. Waraqa heard of the revelation only after it had come, and he died not long after.
Aisha describes the first revelation. In the cave of Hira the angel told the Prophet (ﷺ) to read, and three times he answered that he could not read, before the first verses of Surat al-Alaq were given to him. Khadija took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, an old, blind man who had become a Christian and wrote out parts of the Gospel in Hebrew letters. Waraqa said this was the angel God had sent to Moses, and a few days later he died.
A pause, then the command to warn
Revelation then paused for a while. One day, as he walked, the Prophet (ﷺ) heard a voice and looked up. He saw the same angel, sitting between the sky and the earth. He went home afraid and asked to be wrapped up. Then these words came: "O thou wrapped up (in the mantle)! Arise and deliver thy warning!" After this, revelation came often and regularly. The first command was to read, and the next was to warn. So what began in a cave became a message for everyone.
Aisha describes the first revelation. In the cave of Hira the angel told the Prophet (ﷺ) to read, and three times he answered that he could not read, before the first verses of Surat al-Alaq were given to him. Khadija took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, an old, blind man who had become a Christian and wrote out parts of the Gospel in Hebrew letters. Waraqa said this was the angel God had sent to Moses, and a few days later he died.
Jabir reports the Prophet (ﷺ) speaking of the pause in revelation. While walking he heard a voice from the sky and saw the angel of Hira sitting on a chair between sky and earth. He was afraid, went home and asked to be wrapped up. Then 74:1-5 was revealed, and after this revelation came strongly, often and regularly.
“O thou wrapped up (in the mantle)! Arise and deliver thy warning! And thy Lord do thou magnify! And thy garments keep free from stain! And all abomination shun!”
What it was like
A man asked the Prophet (ﷺ) how revelation came to him. He said it sometimes came like the ringing of a bell, and that this was the hardest. When it passed, he had grasped what was said. At other times the angel came in the form of a man and spoke, and he grasped the words. The Qur'an calls itself "a weighty Message". Those beside him saw that weight. Aisha, his wife, saw sweat drop from his forehead on a very cold day. Zayd ibn Thabit, his scribe, felt the Prophet's (ﷺ) thigh grow heavy on his own. He feared it would break. So this was not only his own claim. Others saw it happen.
Al-Harith ibn Hisham asked the Prophet (ﷺ) how revelation came to him. He said it sometimes came like the ringing of a bell, which was the hardest for him, and when it passed he had grasped what was said. At other times the angel came in the form of a man and spoke to him, and he grasped what he said. Aisha adds that she saw him receive revelation on a very cold day, and saw sweat drop from his forehead when it ended.
“Soon shall We send down to thee a weighty Message.”
Zayd ibn Thabit reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) was dictating 4:95 to him when the blind man Ibn Umm Maktum came and said he would fight if he were able. Revelation then came while the Prophet's (ﷺ) thigh lay on Zayd's, and it grew so heavy that Zayd feared his thigh would break. When that state passed, the words excepting the disabled had been revealed.
Taught, not composing
While revelation came, the Prophet (ﷺ) used to move his lips quickly. The Qur'an told him to stop: "Move not thy tongue concerning the (Qur'an) to make haste therewith." It said that gathering it was God's (﷾) work: "It is for Us to collect it and to promulgate it". After that he listened while Gabriel was with him, then recited it as Gabriel had. The Qur'an also corrected him. When a blind man came to him, it records that he "frowned and turned away". This is a man being taught. Someone composing his own words has no need to be told to wait for them.
Ibn Abbas explains that the Prophet (ﷺ) used to find the revelation heavy and would move his lips quickly with it, until Allah revealed that he should not hurry his tongue: gathering and reciting the Qur'an was Allah's task. After that he listened while Gabriel recited, and then recited it as Gabriel had.
“Move not thy tongue concerning the (Qur'an) to make haste therewith. It is for Us to collect it and to promulgate it: But when We have promulgated it, follow thou its recital (as promulgated): Nay more, it is for Us to explain it (and make it clear):”
“(The Prophet) frowned and turned away, Because there came to him the blind man (interrupting). But what could tell thee but that perchance he might grow (in spiritual understanding)?- Or that he might receive admonition, and the teaching might profit him? As to one who regards Himself as self-sufficient, To him dost thou attend; Though it is no blame to thee if he grow not (in spiritual understanding). But as to him who came to thee striving earnestly, And with fear (in his heart), Of him wast thou unmindful.”
He could not summon it
When people spread a false charge against Aisha, the Prophet (ﷺ) badly needed an answer. For a month, nothing about her case was revealed. It brought great pain to his own home, and he asked his companions, the believers around him, for advice. Only then did the verses clearing her come. He once also asked Gabriel why he did not visit more often. The answer came in the Qur'an: "We descend not but by command of thy Lord". He had every reason to settle it on the first day, yet he bore it for a month. That is hard to square with a man producing verses at will.
Aisha's own account of the slander spread against her. She says the Prophet (ﷺ) went a whole month without receiving any revelation about her case, while the rumour spread and he consulted his Companions, before the verses declaring her innocence came down. When Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal found her left behind and knew her, for he had seen her before the veil was ordained, she says: I covered my face with my garment.
“Those who brought forward the lie are a body among yourselves: think it not to be an evil to you; On the contrary it is good for you: to every man among them (will come the punishment) of the sin that he earned, and to him who took on himself the lead among them, will be a penalty grievous.”
Ibn Abbas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) asked Gabriel why he did not visit more often. Then 19:64 was revealed: the angels descend only by the command of the Lord.
“(The angels say:) "We descend not but by command of thy Lord: to Him belongeth what is before us and what is behind us, and what is between: and thy Lord never doth forget,-”
| What happened | What came |
|---|---|
| He moved his lips quickly as it came | He was told not to hurry |
| He asked Gabriel to visit more often | The angels descend only by God's (﷾) command |
| A false charge was made against his wife | A month with nothing revealed on her case |
Why it came in stages
His opponents asked this at the time: "Why is not the Qur'an revealed to him all at once?" The same verse answers: "that We may strengthen thy heart thereby". Another verse says it was divided "in order that thou mightest recite it to men at intervals". Ibn Kathir, a fourteenth-century commentator, adds that it came according to events and the rulings people needed. Aisha gave the practical reason. The first passages spoke of Paradise and the Fire. Laws on what is lawful and unlawful came once people had embraced Islam. Had the first command been to stop drinking wine, she said, people would have refused. So faith came first, and the laws found hearts ready for them.
“Those who reject Faith say: "Why is not the Qur'an revealed to him all at once? Thus (is it revealed), that We may strengthen thy heart thereby, and We have rehearsed it to thee in slow, well-arranged stages, gradually.”
“(It is) a Qur'an which We have divided (into parts from time to time), in order that thou mightest recite it to men at intervals: We have revealed it by stages.”
Says the Qur'an was revealed in stages over twenty-three years, according to events and circumstances and the rulings that were needed, to strengthen the hearts of the believers.
Aisha explains the order of revelation: the first passages spoke of Paradise and the Fire; only when people had come to Islam were the rulings on the lawful and the unlawful revealed. Had the first command been to stop drinking wine or committing adultery, she says, people would have refused to give them up.
First
Passages on Paradise and the Fire.
Then
People embraced Islam.
After that
Laws on what is lawful and unlawful.
Thirteen years, then ten
Ibn Abbas, the Prophet's (ﷺ) cousin, reports that revelation came to him for thirteen years in Makkah. He then migrated, and lived ten more years in Madinah. The Qur'an came down alongside a living community. One chapter opens with a real woman and her plea: "Allah has indeed heard (and accepted) the statement of the woman who pleads with thee concerning her husband". Ibn Mas'ud, a companion, said he knew where each chapter was revealed and about whom each verse came. So the Qur'an arrived inside events that people lived through and remembered. Its first hearers could set what it said beside what they had seen.
Ibn Abbas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) began to receive revelation at forty, stayed in Mecca thirteen years receiving it, was then ordered to migrate, lived ten years as an emigrant, and died at sixty-three.
“Allah has indeed heard (and accepted) the statement of the woman who pleads with thee concerning her husband and carries her complaint (in prayer) to Allah: and Allah (always) hears the arguments between both sides among you: for Allah hears and sees (all things).”
Ibn Mas'ud swears that there is no surah of which he does not know where it was revealed, and no verse of which he does not know about whom it was revealed. If he knew of anyone who knew the Book better, within reach of a camel, he would go to him.
- 40His age when revelation began
- 13Years in Makkah
- 10Years in Madinah
- 23Years in all
Written down on the spot
New passages did not wait. When one verse came, the Prophet (ﷺ) called for Zayd ibn Thabit. He told him to bring the board, the inkpot and the shoulder bone, and had him write. A blind man, Ibn Umm Maktum, then spoke of his blindness. Revelation came again, while the Prophet's (ﷺ) thigh lay on Zayd's. It added words excepting those who are disabled, and they stand in the verse today (4:95). Writing was done on whatever was to hand. Zayd later gathered it from palm stalks, thin white stones and the men who knew it by heart. So a named scribe wrote it beside the man who received it, while others learned it by heart. It was written down in his lifetime, but not yet gathered into one volume.
Al-Bara reports that when 4:95 was revealed, the Prophet (ﷺ) said to call Zayd and have him bring the board, the inkpot and the shoulder bone. He told him to write the verse. The blind man Ibn Umm Maktum, sitting behind him, asked what it meant for him, and the verse was revealed with the words excepting the disabled.
Zayd ibn Thabit reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) was dictating 4:95 to him when the blind man Ibn Umm Maktum came and said he would fight if he were able. Revelation then came while the Prophet's (ﷺ) thigh lay on Zayd's, and it grew so heavy that Zayd feared his thigh would break. When that state passed, the words excepting the disabled had been revealed.
Zayd ibn Thabit reports that after many who knew the Qur'an by heart were killed at Yamama, Abu Bakr asked him to gather the Qur'an into one volume, reminding him that he used to write down the revelation for the Messenger of Allah. Zayd collected it from written pieces and from the memories of men, and the finished copy passed from Abu Bakr to Umar and then to Hafsa.
Gabriel
He brought it to the Prophet (ﷺ).
The Prophet (ﷺ)
He listened, then recited it as Gabriel had.
The scribe
Zayd and others wrote it down.
The companions
They learned it by heart.
Every Ramadan
Gabriel went over it with the Prophet (ﷺ).
Seven ways of reciting, given as an ease
Gabriel told the Prophet (ﷺ) to recite the Qur'an to his people in one way. He asked God (﷾) for pardon and said his people could not manage that. He kept asking, until they were given seven ways. Scholars explain that this made recitation easy for tribes who spoke differently. They differ on exactly what the seven were. They are not the seven famous readings named centuries later. The point here is where the variety came from. It was asked for and given while revelation was coming, so it is not a change made later.
Ubayy ibn Ka'b reports that Gabriel came to the Prophet (ﷺ) near the pond of Banu Ghifar and said Allah commanded him to recite the Qur'an to his people in one mode. He asked Allah's pardon and said his people could not manage that. Gabriel came again with two, then three, then seven modes: in whichever of them they recited, they would be right.
Ibn Abbas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said Gabriel first recited the Qur'an to him in one mode, and that he kept asking for more until Gabriel recited it in seven modes.
Gone over every Ramadan
Ibn Abbas reports that Gabriel met the Prophet (ﷺ) every night in Ramadan, and they went over the Qur'an together. Abu Hurayra reports that Gabriel repeated the recitation with him once each year. In the year the Prophet (ﷺ) died, he did so twice. So the text was being checked while it was still coming down. The last check came in the final year of his life.
Ibn Abbas reports that Gabriel met the Prophet (ﷺ) every night in Ramadan to go over the Qur'an with him, and that he was then more generous than the fast wind.
Abu Hurayra reports that Gabriel went over the Qur'an with the Prophet (ﷺ) once every year, and twice in the year he died.
One night and twenty-three years
The Qur'an says: "We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power". It also says Ramadan is the month "in which was sent down the Qur'an". Yet it reached the Prophet (ﷺ) over twenty-three years. Ibn Kathir reports the explanation from Ibn Abbas and others. The whole Qur'an was sent down at one time to the House of Might, in the nearest heaven. From there it came to the Prophet (ﷺ) in parts, as events took place. The Qur'an itself names the month and the night, and the detail of the House of Might comes from these reports. So the two statements do not clash. One speaks of its descent from on high, and the other of how it reached him.
“We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power:”
“Ramadhan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur'an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (Between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting, but if any one is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period (Should be made up) by days later. Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put to difficulties. (He wants you) to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you; and perchance ye shall be grateful.”
“We sent it down during a Blessed Night: for We (ever) wish to warn (against Evil).”
Says the Qur'an was sent down on the Night of al-Qadr, in Ramadan, citing 44:3 and 2:185. Reports from Ibn Abbas and others that it was sent down all at one time from the Preserved Tablet to the House of Might in the heaven of this world, and then came to the Prophet (ﷺ) in parts, according to events, over twenty-three years.
The last revelation
Anas, a companion, reports that revelation came most abundantly in the time before the Prophet's (ﷺ) death. One verse came on a Friday at Arafat, during the pilgrimage: "This day have I perfected your religion for you". Companions differ on the very last verse: Ibn Abbas names the one on usury, and al-Bara one on inheritance. After the Prophet (ﷺ) died, Abu Bakr and Umar visited Umm Ayman, as he used to do. She wept. She knew he had gone to something better, she said. She wept because revelation from heaven had stopped. So the Qur'an has a clear end. It closed with his death, and no one after him could add to it.
Anas reports that Allah sent revelation to the Prophet (ﷺ) continuously in the period before his death, and that this was the time of the most revelation. Then the Prophet (ﷺ) died.
A Jewish man told Umar ibn al-Khattab that if the verse "This day have I perfected your religion" had been revealed to the Jews, they would have kept that day as a festival. Umar answered that Muslims know exactly when and where it came down: on a Friday, while the Prophet (ﷺ) was standing at Arafat during the pilgrimage.
“Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah; that which hath been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by being gored to death; that which hath been (partly) eaten by a wild animal; unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form); that which is sacrificed on stone (altars); (forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows: that is impiety. This day have those who reject faith given up all hope of your religion: yet fear them not but fear Me. This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. But if any is forced by hunger, with no inclination to transgression, Allah is indeed Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Ibn Abbas reports that the last verse revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ) was the verse on usury (riba).
Al-Bara reports that the last surah revealed was Bara'a (chapter 9), and that the last verse revealed was the one on inheritance that begins: they ask you for a legal decision (4:176).
Anas reports that after the Prophet (ﷺ) died, Abu Bakr and Umar visited Umm Ayman, as he used to do. She wept. She said she knew that what awaited him with Allah was better, but she wept because revelation from heaven had stopped. Both men then wept with her.
- Age 40
The cave of Hira
The first words of the Qur'an: the command to read.
- Then
The command to warn
After a pause, revelation came often and regularly.
- Thirteen years
Makkah
Revelation came to him for thirteen years.
- Ten years
Madinah
He migrated, and lived ten more years.
- His last year
Gone over twice
Gabriel repeated the recitation with him two times.
- Age 63
Revelation stopped
He died, and no one after him could add to it.
After revelation ended
Revelation ended with the Prophet's (ﷺ) death, but the work of keeping it went on. Within two years, Abu Bakr, the first leader after him, had Zayd ibn Thabit gather it into one volume. Zayd worked from the written pieces and the men who knew it by heart. Later Uthman, the third leader, had copies made from that volume and sent one to each province. These steps gathered what had already been revealed. So the Qur'an's revelation and its collection are two separate stages, and the second added nothing to the first.
Zayd ibn Thabit reports that after many who knew the Qur'an by heart were killed at Yamama, Abu Bakr asked him to gather the Qur'an into one volume, reminding him that he used to write down the revelation for the Messenger of Allah. Zayd collected it from written pieces and from the memories of men, and the finished copy passed from Abu Bakr to Umar and then to Hafsa.
Anas reports that Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman, alarmed at how the soldiers of Syria and Iraq differed in reciting the Qur'an, urged Uthman to save the community before it differed over its Book as the Jews and Christians had. Uthman borrowed the collected sheets kept by Hafsa, had Zayd ibn Thabit and three men of Quraysh copy them, telling the three that wherever they differed with Zayd they should write in the dialect of Quraysh, in which the Qur'an was revealed, returned the sheets to her, sent a copy to every province, and ordered all other written Qur'anic material to be burned.
Islam's answer: words from God (﷾), not from a man
The Qur'an says of the Prophet (ﷺ): "Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) Desire. It is no less than inspiration sent down to him". It has him say: "It is not for me, of my own accord, to change it". It warns that if he invented any saying in God's (﷾) name, he would be seized. The reports above show the same thing from the outside. He received it, waited for it and could not change it. The Qur'an then invites anyone to test the result. Had it come from anyone but God (﷾), it says, people would find much discrepancy in it. Read it, and judge for yourself.
“Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) Desire. It is no less than inspiration sent down to him:”
“But when Our Clear Signs are rehearsed unto them, those who rest not their hope on their meeting with Us, Say: "Bring us a reading other than this, or change this," Say: "It is not for me, of my own accord, to change it: I follow naught but what is revealed unto me: if I were to disobey my Lord, I should myself fear the penalty of a Great Day (to come)."”
“And if the messenger were to invent any sayings in Our name, We should certainly seize him by his right hand, And We should certainly then cut off the artery of his heart: Nor could any of you withhold him (from Our wrath).”
“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.”
The replies answered
Sahih al-Bukhari 4788 — Kitab al-Tafsir (Prophetic Commentary on the Qur'an), hadith 4788
Aisha reports that when 33:51 was revealed, on the Prophet's (ﷺ) turns with his wives, she said to him that she saw his Lord hasten to fulfil his wishes.
Cited for
Aisha herself told him that his Lord hastened to fulfil his wishes. So the verses suited him.
The response
She said this about one verse on his turns with his wives. She said "your Lord", so she was speaking of God (﷾), not accusing her husband of writing it. The same Aisha tells how a month passed with no revelation to clear her own name. A man who could produce verses at will had every reason not to leave her waiting.
Where it lands — Her words do not say he wrote it, and her own story shows he could not summon it.
Sahih al-Bukhari 4990 — Kitab Fada'il al-Qur'an (Virtues of the Qur'an), hadith 4990
Al-Bara reports that when 4:95 was revealed, the Prophet (ﷺ) said to call Zayd and have him bring the board, the inkpot and the shoulder bone. He told him to write the verse. The blind man Ibn Umm Maktum, sitting behind him, asked what it meant for him, and the verse was revealed with the words excepting the disabled.
Cited for
A blind man complained and the verse changed. So the wording followed what people said.
The response
Zayd was there, and he describes the same crushing weight coming on the Prophet (ﷺ) before the new words came. They were not a quick edit. Many passages came in answer to what people asked or said, and this is one of them. The verse stands in the Qur'an with the exception in it.
Where it lands — The exception came as revelation, in the same hard state, with the scribe as witness.
Qur'an 97:1 — Surat Al-Qadr (The Power), verse 1
“We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power:”
Cited for
The Qur'an says it was revealed in one night, but Muslims say it took twenty-three years. Both cannot be true.
The response
Ibn Kathir reports from Ibn Abbas and others that it was sent down at one time to the nearest heaven, on that night in Ramadan. It then came to the Prophet (ﷺ) in parts over twenty-three years. The Qur'an itself says it came by stages (17:106), so it does not treat the two as a clash.
Where it lands — One statement is about its descent from on high, and the other is about how it reached him.
Perspectives
A human source
Some critics say the experience had an ordinary cause, or that the Prophet (ﷺ) produced the verses himself to suit each occasion.
The verses came when the Prophet (ﷺ) needed them, so he must have composed them himself.
Rebuttal
When he most needed a verse, it did not come. For a month, nothing was revealed about the charge against his own wife. The Qur'an also tells him to wait, and corrects him. That is not what one expects of a man writing to suit himself.
He sweated and changed during revelation, so what he called revelation was a fit.
Rebuttal
The reports describe the opposite of confusion. When the state passed, he had grasped the words and could dictate them at once. It came when he was sitting with his scribe, and the words fitted the verse being written. It went on for twenty-three years and left a single Book.
Waraqa ibn Nawfal, a Christian, taught him the Qur'an.
Rebuttal
The only meeting the report describes came after the first revelation, and Waraqa died not long after. The Qur'an went on coming for twenty-three more years.
The Islamic perspective
The Qur'an is the word of God (﷾), brought by Gabriel to the Prophet (ﷺ) in parts over twenty-three years, recited, memorised and written as it came.
Gabriel brought the revelation to the heart of the Prophet (ﷺ).
Revelation began when he was forty and lasted thirteen years in Makkah and ten more after he migrated.
It came sometimes like the ringing of a bell, and sometimes through the angel in the form of a man.
It came in stages to strengthen the Prophet's (ﷺ) heart and to be recited to people at intervals.
Gabriel went over the Qur'an with him every year, and twice in his last year.