This article is concerned with two different versions of an Islamic tradition relating how the first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to the prophet Muhammad. The two traditions can be found in the Sira of the prophet and from the Sahîh of Bukhârî, respectively. The original Arabic text of these two traditions is analysed linguistically, and this analysis reveals that the two accounts are mutually incompatible regarding the words of the prophet to the angel Gabriel. The tradition stemming from Bukhârî, which in all probability is the latest of the two, is written in a way that supports the Islamic dogma of the illiteracy of the prophet, while the other is merely the telling of a prophetic experience.