According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad received his first revelation in 610 in the Cave of Hira near Mecca. The event took place in a stark Arabian environment of mountains, desert routes, stars, wells, and sacred pilgrimage. It began the revelation of the Qur'an and transformed the religious culture of Arabia.

The Qur'an's language drew powerfully on desert, rain, gardens, night skies, camels, winds, and water as signs of divine meaning. Its cadenced Arabic reshaped poetic culture, challenging pre-Islamic tribal poetry while preserving the environment as a major field of metaphor and moral reflection.