The scholars have differed over the Messenger’s devotional practice—ﷺ—before he was commissioned: did he follow a revealed law, and if so, which one? Some said it was the law of Noah; others held that it was the law of Abraham—and this is the view that appears strongest and most fitting. A third group said the law of Moses, and a fourth the law of Jesus. Still others maintained that whatever rulings he knew with certainty to be divinely legislated, he would adopt and act upon. A full discussion of these opinions and their relevance belongs elsewhere in the principles of jurisprudence. Allah knows best.
As for the phrase, “until the Truth came upon him while he was in the cave of Ḥirāʾ,” it means that revelation descended suddenly, without prior appointment, just as the Exalted says: “You had never expected that the Book would be conveyed to you, but it is a mercy from your Lord; so do not be an advocate for the disbelievers” (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:86).
The first verses revealed were from this noble sūrah: “Recite in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clinging substance. Recite, and your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know” (al-ʿAlaq 96:1–5). They constitute the very first passage of the Qur’an to be sent down, as we have established in the Tafsīr. It will also be mentioned in connection with the day of Monday, for in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Abū Qatādah relates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked about fasting on Monday, and he replied, “That is the day I was born, and the day on which revelation first came to me.”
Ibn ʿAbbās said, “Your Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was born on a Monday and was commissioned on a Monday.” The same was affirmed by ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir, and many other scholars: revelation came to him—ﷺ—on a Monday, and there is no dispute among them on this point.
Some then stated that this took place in the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, citing the report from Ibn ʿAbbās and Jābir that he ﷺ was born on the twelfth of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, a Monday, and that on that same date he was commissioned and later taken up to the heavens. The more prevalent opinion, however, is that his commissioning—ﷺ—occurred in the month of Ramadan, as explicitly asserted by ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, and others. Ibn Isḥāq supported this with the Almighty’s words: “The month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was sent down as guidance for mankind” (al-Baqarah 2:185). Some held that this happened on the twelfth night of that month.
Al-Wāqidī, through an isnād, narrated from Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir that the first revelation to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came on a Monday, when seventeen nights of Ramadan had passed. Yet others said it occurred on the twenty-fourth of the month.