Jabal al-Noor, also called “Mountain of Light”, “Hill of Illumination” or “Hill of Enlightenment” is a mountain near Makkah in Saudi Arabia’s Hejaz region. Jabel Al-Noor is a popular place in Makkah due to the famous Ghar-e-Hira situated on it. It is a small cave with only four arm’s lengths long by 1.75 arm’s lengths wide and 640m tall. Almost five people can sit in it. Well, a physically fit man can take two hours to make it to the cave.
It is extremely strenuous on the individual; the mount and cave hold the holiest significance for Muslims around the world. Well, one physical feature that differentiates Jabal al-Noor from other hills and mountains is its strange-looking summit, which makes it look more like two mountains on top of each other.
The cave (Ghar-e-Hira) is situated on Mount Al-Noor on the way to Mina near Makkah, and its peak is visible from a great distance. Even one can see Kaa’ba straight and clearly from this cave. The legendary Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) spent a great deal of time in this cave. This is the place; a lot can be written on it if someone wants to write about the imperativeness of Jabal Al-Nour. Jabal al-Noor in the mountainous desert is one of the loneliest of places. However, the cave within, which faces the direction of the Kaaba, is even more isolated.
This is the site chosen by Allah for worshipping his messenger in solitude to commence a new era of life on earth when ignorance eclipsed human society for several centuries and bid farewell to the light of knowledge and wisdom. Allah’s Messenger Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) used to spend their time for many months praying to Allah in loneliness away from all interventions of this world.
It was the day of the earth and skies, and all of them were waiting anxiously for a long time. It was the day when Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) was assigned the duty of preaching Allah’s orders to the entire mankind and Jinn. This “Cave of Hira”, the sanctum of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), is a place of his great devotions and meditations, a sacred cave where the Holy Qur’an began to be revealed.
Allah’s last Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had just stepped into the 40 years of his life when, during a night in the month of Ramadan, the first 5 verses of the Surah Al-Alaq (96) were revealed to him, and the mountain was given the title of “Jabal Al-Noor”. The precise date of the first revelation can be seen through investigation to fix the time to Monday, the 21st of Ramadan, at night, i.e., August 10, 610 C.E., or exactly 40 lunar years, 6 months, and 12 days of age, i.e., 39 Gregorian years, 3 months, and 22 days.
Which is this place? No question; almost all Muslims know it. Jabal al-Noor has a steep slope that is 200 meters tall, and all Muslim devotees visiting Jabal al-Noor from various parts of the world walk a few steps on the plane and feel exhausted. Every year, countless people force their way up, neglecting harsh desert climate conditions, to see the place where their beloved Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) got his first heavenly revelation by Hazrat Gabriel (A.S.) “The Angel of Revelation”.
Therefore, one would wonder how Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) climbed this mountain countless times and stayed atop the mountain for many days in succession under these unfavorable conditions. One would really feel and shed some tears on the sacrifice shown by Hazrat Khadeeja-tul-Kubra (رضي الله عنها) at the age of 55 who climbed up taking provisions to her husband Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) at least once in a day.
The Noble Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) was living among extremely backward people who were devoid of any traces of civilization or humanity. He observed nothing in that society but the darkness of ignorance. So, he would go to the Ka’abah, but instead of witnessing the worship of God, he witnessed and was pained by the ugly customs and false thoughts of his people.
The pitiable condition of the poor and the destitute caused him great anguish. The disgraceful situation of women, who were treated worse than animals, as well as the prevalence of gambling, wine drinking, and murder, strenuous his blessed heart. These are extremely tough conditions that severely tormented his pure soul. Because when he dealt with people as a merchant, their depraved behavior gave him so severe an emotional tremor that he had to go to a lonely place where people’s inhuman behavior would not be tormented.
For these reasons and to find peace of mind, he would go to Mount Hira, and there he would think deeply about the amazing phenomena of nature and the vestiges of God’s all-embracing compassion. Ghar-e-Hira is both without water or vegetation other than a few thorns and higher than Thabir.
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