Khadijah and Waraqah

When his trembling eased, Khadijah (ra) did not debate or wait. She took her husband ﷺ to her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal, an aged man who had left idols long ago, become a Christian in the way of the earlier revelation, and studied the scriptures deeply. He was blind now, and near the end of his life.

Listen, son of my brother, he said, and the Prophet ﷺ described what he had seen. Waraqah's answer came without hesitation: this is the same Namus, the angel of revelation, who came to Musa (as). Then the old man's voice turned wistful: would that I were young when your people drive you out.

Will they drive me out? he ﷺ asked, startled. The city that called him al-Amin, expel him? Yes, said Waraqah. Never has a man brought what you bring without being met with enmity. If I live to see that day, I will support you with all my strength. He did not live to see it; Waraqah died soon after, having believed in what he heard.

So the first circle of faith was formed in a single household: Khadijah (ra), the first of this ummah to believe, who never wavered for a moment, and an old scholar who recognised in one description what a lifetime of study had taught him to await. Revelation paused after that for a time, a silence that grieved the Prophet ﷺ deeply, until the heavens opened again.