Created man from blood.
Cry! for thy Lord is the Bountifullest!
Who taught the pen,
Taught man what he did not know.”
Korān, ch. xcvi.
At first he thought he was possessed with a devil, and the refuge of suicide was often present to his mind. But yet again he heard the voice—“Thou art the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.” He went back to Khadīja, worn out in body and mind. “Wrap me, wrap me,” he cried. And then the word came to him:—
“O thou who art wrapped, rise up and warn!
And thy Lord magnify,
And thy raiment purify,
And abomination shun!