ABSTRACT
There is no better way to discover Islam than to climb Mount Hira, a few miles from Makkah. The ascent provides insights into the nature of Islam and its Prophet. On the bleak top the winds blow with ferocity, creating a sense of elemental power, exactly as it must have been in the seventh century. The place speaks of a man looking for solitude, of a man searching for answers. Here the Prophet suffered the agony of rejecting an old religion, and experienced the ecstasy of discovering a new one. There is nothing man-made on the peak. Abruptly loneliness, then awe, and finally exaltation fill the heart. In the most profound sense one is face to face with oneself.
