The Secret of the Cave of Hira
Someone asked me yesterday to talk about the Cave of Hira.
So I will speak a little about it today.
The beloved Prophet (PBUH),
at the age of seven -
Seven.
He was just a child.
So when the Prophet (PBUH) was seven years of age,
he was visited by Gabriel when he was in Kaaba.
Gabriel visited [the Prophet] and opened his breast
and inserted the Nutfa e Noor (Divine Seed)
into the [Prophet's] Spiritual Heart.
It was the Tifl e Noori (Body of Divine Light).
Once the Tifl e Noori was inserted,
the Prophet's entire body began to commemorate God's name.
The commemoration of God's name (Zikar Allah) would happen nonstop. Constantly.
As the Prophet grew up,
the Zikar Allah increased within him.
When he was a little older, 4-5 years later,
he preferred isolation.
He would sit alone.
He would sit alone
and in isolation
he would concentrate on his heart and engage in Zikar.
He would engage himself in Zikar.
This became the Prophet's tradition.
The Prophet would stay in the Cave of Hira for days at a time.
All of his time there
would be spent engaged in Zikar,
Muraqiba (Transcendental Meditation)
and [receiving] divine revelations.
There are many inscriptions about this.
There is an incident mentioned in particular
about the time when the Prophet received the very first divine revelation
which left him unsettled.
Uneasy.
Those whose religious knowledge or religious information
is confined to the books,
when they speak on such subjects, they tend to leave people confused
and troubled.
When Gabriel brought down the divine revelation,
had it been the [Prophet's] very first meeting with Gabriel,
then the biggest issue would have been to identify Gabriel
in order to ascertain his authenticity.
The divine revelation would come second.
More importance would be given to identifying Gabriel.
Prophet Mohammad wouldn't just believe that Gabriel is an angel if he told him so.
This is what people read in the books.
Before the divine revelation was brought down,
I believe that Prophet Mohammad and Gabriel met around a thousand times.
And then, the Quran states that
''And he found you lost and guided you''
Now, the translation given by the clerics for this
is as follows:
''And when we found you misguided'' - God forbid -
''So we guided you''.
It is impossible for the Quran and Prophetic Traditions to contradict each other.
The explanation of [this verse] of the Quran given by the religious scholars
is that ''when we found you misguided, we guided you'',
whereas Prophet Mohammad declared, 'I was a Prophet before coming to this world'.
At what point was he 'misguided'?
'I was a Prophet before coming to this world'.
Is this not a Prophetic Tradition?
And then there is what's written in the Quran.
Now, the issue with the religious clergymen is the use of the word 'dhaal'.
This has been translated as 'misguidance'.
So wherever this word is mentioned [in the Quran], they consider it to mean misguidance.
They believe it means misguidance.
Whereas, 'dhaal' means 'deep shadow'.
Now, Prophet Mohammad would be in the Cave of Hira
and Gabriel would frequently visit Prophet Mohammad.
The longing for witnessing the divine splendour had become a burning desire in the Prophet's heart.
He would be anxious.
He would be very anxious.
Restless.
He didn't know what to do.
The Prophet would come under a state in which he would lose sense of his surroundings.
He would spend his days and nights in yearning
of seeing the Lord.
When such an intense desire and yearning was seen by God,
and God saw that his Beloved longs to see him,
that is when God sent Gabriel to the Prophet to teach him the knowledge of the Ana (Higher Self).
The knowledge of the Ana.
The Prophet was taught the knowledge of the Ana;
when his Ana was strengthened,
he was granted to witness the divine splendour in the Cave of Hira.
And this is the meaning of the verse in the Quran.
''And when I saw you
lost in the yearning of witnessing the splendour of your Lord -
an ardent, impassioned desire -
and it was evident you have nought but your Lord in mind''
and so, I sent down instructions''.
''I sent forth guidance
on how to see me''.
There is nothing about misguidance here.
The Cave of Hira is the place where Prophet Mohammad witnessed the divine splendour for the first time.
It was in the Cave of Hira where the Prophet first conversed with God.
Prophet Mohammad frequented the Cave of Hira for at least 12 years.
12 years!
Now, let's talk about why the Prophet fell ill.
When the very first revelation of the Quran was brought down,
the Prophet was fevered.
Before this occurrence, Prophet Mohammad's connection to God had been entirely spiritual.
The love of God flowed through the Prophet's veins;
the Personal Name of God he obtained from the Tifl e Noori
echoed through every fibre of the Prophet's being,
all of this was a spiritual happening.
But now, the key to the Personal Name of God
was being given to the Prophet by Gabriel for the Ummat.
Quran 96:1
Which means God created man with this key.
Right?
Quran 96:1
So the Personal Name of God granted to Prophet Mohammad is a key.
It wasn't just the Personal Name of God, he was granted the key of God's Personal Name.
What is it? In the Arabic language, key is known as 'maftuh'
the plural of which is 'mafatih'.
When Prophet Mohammad gave the introduction to a Divinely Accomplished Spiritual Guide,
he used this particular phrase:
Mafatihudh Dhikr Allah.
What is it? [Audience repeats].
Mafatihudh Dhikr
Which means the Divine Accomplished Guides are the keys of Zikar.
Mafatihudh Dhikr.
So 'mafatih' is the plural for key [ie keys].
So what was granted to Prophet Mohammad -
It's like when a DHL or UPS delivery man delivers a parcel to your house,
right,
and he asks you to sign for it
to acknowledge the delivery.
That is what is being said here. 'Iqra' - meaning, acknowledge.
'O' Messenger of God, acknowledge that you have been granted God's name'.
So all of these incidents -
the spiritual journey of Prophet Mohammad
ended before the announcement of prophethood.
His entire spiritual journey was completed before the announcement of Prophethood.
Isn't that so?
He was married at the age of 25
and after his marriage,
there was a period of 15 years which was reserved for spiritual training.
We read in the books that Data and Khwaja (mystical saints) made the jungle their abode
but since Prophet Mohammad never wrote an autobiography
nor did he relay his journey before the announcement of prophethood to the Companions.
However, the 15 years prior to the announcement of prophethood
were spent in spiritual training.
And what His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi has written in His book, The Spiritual Journey,
which details the personal accounts of His Divine Eminence
about the various ways the Devil attacks and deceives
and how His Divine Eminence soldiered on against the Devil.
Every evil trick and every despicable plan of the Devil
was defeated by the gallantry and dauntless bravery of His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi.
Of course the Prophet, too, endured the spiritual journey.
He must have also experienced many things.
Perhaps one of the most profound experiences was when Gabriel, or any other angel, would visit him in the early days,
the Prophet would become very sceptical about it.
He wouldn't easily believe it.
He would think that it is perhaps a Jinn (evil spirit).
It was an era in which a majority of the people in the society were Qahin.
Do you know what a Qahin is?
They were those who would either control evil spirits or be possessed by them
and the evil spirits would speak through them.
So these things would happen with Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)
and it was the same on many occasions.
Gabriel would visit the Prophet
in order to allow the Prophet to practise, as the announcement of prophethood would be made at the age of 40.
Prophet Mohammad had become a master of all [spiritual] arts at the age of 40 when prophethood was announced.
At this stage, Prophet Mohammad could not fall prey to the Devil's deception.
Therefore [the time spent in] the Cave of Hira was equal to a spiritual recluse in the jungles for Prophet Mohammad.
In the Cave of Hira, Prophet Mohammad not only practised Zikar
but he also received divine revelations,
witnessed the divine splendour,
and conversed with God.
Many incidents took place in the cave.