According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad’s first wife Khadijah was also the first to accept Islam. It is said that Muhammad used to go to a cave called Hira in Jabal al-Noor (the Mountain of Light) to meditate. On one such occasion, the angel Gabriel appeared to him to deliver God’s final religion: Islam. Terrified at having encountered a supernatural being, Muhammad hurried back to his wife Khadija. She consoled the shaken prophet and would become the first convert to Islam—thus beginning Muhammad’s life-long prophetic mission to bring Islam to the people of Arabia—and the world.

However, there is one companion who may have preceded even Khadija in the honor of being the first Muslim. His name is lost to us, but I have it on good authority that he may have been asleep inside the cave with Muhammad when Gabriel appeared. Roused by the angel’s booming voice, he became the only living creature to witness those first magical moments between Muhammad and Gabriel. (Or, he may have found it politically expedient to corroborate Muhammad’s story or risk being stomped on or fed to a feral desert cat.) Let’s call this character “Muslim Mouse.” We do know (if little else) that the rodent had a sense of humor (as I hope you also do, dear reader).

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Special thanks to Andrew Hall who runs the Patheos blog Laughing in Disbelief!