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Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Welcome back to Tafsir Thursday. We’re in a new year, a new term, and that means new surahs to explore together.
But this term is different. Instead of diving into one surah, we’ll be studying two: Surah Al-Muzzammil and Surah Al-Muddathir. Why two? Three reasons: first, they’re both relatively short. Second, their meanings are closely linked together. And third, in terms of chronology, these surahs were revealed back-to-back. They were among the earliest revelations to the Prophet ﷺ.
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The Context:
Before we dive into Surah Al-Muzzammil, we need to understand when and why it was revealed.
From a very young age, the Prophet ﷺ hated the evil practices in his community. He saw people worshipping idols, the rich abusing the poor, the powerful oppressing the weak. Women had no rights—treated as property, sold and traded. Children had no rights whatsoever. Daughters were buried alive.
He didn’t like it. But he couldn’t find a solution.
From age 35 onwards, he started doing spiritual seclusion. He would leave Mecca for days at a time, walk five or six kilometers outside the city, climb up a mountain, and settle in Cave Hira. There, he would worship Allah, make dua, and contemplate in the tradition of Prophet Ibrahim .
Until one night when he was 40 years old, during the month of Ramadan, he was visited by a creature he didn’t recognize. It wasn’t a human being. The Prophet later described this creature as huge—so massive that wherever he looked (up, down, left, right), he could only see this being. It had wings that engulfed the entire horizon.
The Prophet ﷺ was terrified.
This creature—the angel Jibreel—told him: ‘Read.’ The Prophet said, ‘I don’t read.’ The angel then hugged him so tightly he almost couldn’t breathe, then released him. Again: ‘Read.’ This happened three times. Then the angel recited the first five verses of Surah Al-Alaq, marking the beginning of revelation.
The Prophet didn’t know what had just happened. Had he gone crazy? Was he hallucinating? Was he possessed by jinn?
He rushed home trembling, shivering, terrified, and met his wife Khadija. He said to her: ‘Zammiluni’—cover me with a blanket, cloak me. And she did.
As the Prophet calmed down, Khadija asked what happened. He told her about the encounter in the cave. And she reassured him: ‘Allah will never abandon you, for you have the most beautiful akhlaq, the noblest of character.’
They went to meet Khadija’s uncle, Waraqah ibn Nawfal, a very learned man. Waraqah said: ‘You were visited by the very angels that came to Prophet Musa, Dawud, Isa, and all the previous prophets and messengers. That means you are a prophet, a messenger.’
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