According to Haykal, one day while Muhammad S.A.W was asleep in the Cave Hira, an angel appeared to him with a sheet in his hand. The angel said to him “Read” Muhammad S.A.W answered in surprise “What shall I read?” for the second time, the angel again commanded him “Read”, and Muhammad S.A.W again responded with the plea “What shall I read?”
For the third time, Muhammad S.A.W was seized by the angel and he commanded “Read in the name of your Lord, the creator, who created man from clot of blood. Read! Your Lord is Gracious. He who taught man by the pen that which he knows not”. This was the first revelation of the Qur’an and the beginning of his call to Prophethood.