Tahannuth in Cave of Hira

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

Blessings and salutations of peace be upon you my Master, Apostle of Allah

In his hatred for Sufism the antichrist Jawed Ghamidi followed the path of Ghulam Ahmad Parwez in denying the event of the Prophet Muhammad’s first encounter with the Angel Gabriel in the Cave of Hira. The narrative of these deceivers, callers at the gates of Hell, seeking to misguide the people from the Straight Path, is that the story of the Cave of Hira is a Sufi fabrication to justify mystical practices like meditative seclusion. Additionally, Ghamidi claims this narration concerning the Prophet Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم vision of the Angel Gabriel at the Cave of Hira is false because it implies that Prophesy is something attained through labor and in the case of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم not granted by Allah without any effort or anticipation from him. The answer to this charge is that it was Allah Himself Who set upon the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم the state in which he felt inclined toward seclusion, as is mentioned in the Hadith that is being challenged:

ثُمَّ حُبِّبَ إِلَيْهِ الْخَلاَءُ وَكَانَ يَخْلُو بِغَارِ حِرَاءٍ فَيَتَحَنَّثُ فِيهِ وَهُوَ التَّعَبُّدُ اللَّيَالِيَ ذَوَاتِ الْعَدَدِ

Then seclusion was made beloved to him, and he would seclude himself in the Cave of Hira. He would practice Tahannuth—and that is worship—in it for many nights (Sahih al-Bukhari)

The word حُبِّبَ is a verb in the passive voice, meaning “it was made beloved”, indicating that it was not the Prophet’s own effort or from himself to reach the rank of Prophesy, but that the unseen Hand of God was moving him. The Prussian Jewish orientalist Hartwig Hirschfeld was perhaps the first to suggest that the term Tahannuth, which Muslim scholars have disputed as to its etymology and actual meaning, corresponds to the Hebrew term Tehinnot or Tehinnoth meaning prayers, traditionally understood by Jews to refer to voluntary devotions apart from the official liturgy (New researches into the composition and exegesis of the Qoran, p.19). Allah and His Apostle know best!