Surah Al-Alaq – Yousef Bin Noah Ahmad

Al-Alaq ("The Clot", or "the clinging substance"), also known as Iqra' ("Read"), is the 96th surah of the Quran, in Juz' Amma. Meccan, it has 19 verses. For the great majority of scholars, its first five verses are the very first revelation received by the Prophet ﷺ, hence its first place in the traditional order of revelation.

According to Aisha, Gabriel came to the Prophet ﷺ in the cave of Hira and, after commanding him three times to read, recited: "Read in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clinging substance" (96:1-2), up to "taught man what he did not know" (96:5) (al-Bukhari, Muslim). They glorify the Creator and the pen, the means of knowledge.

The rest came later, after Abu Jahl threatened to tread on the Prophet's neck if he saw him praying at the Ka'ba (al-Bukhari, Muslim). It denounces man who transgresses once he thinks himself self-sufficient, and the one who forbids a servant to pray: "Does he not know that God sees?" (96:14). It ends: "Prostrate and draw near" (96:19).

It is a place of prostration: Abu Hurayra prostrated there with the Prophet ﷺ (Muslim).