The day of Mab‘ath is when the Prophet Muhammad was officially entrusted with the responsibility of prophethood at the age of forty. There is a near consensus amongst Shī‘ī scholars that this event occurred on the 27th of Rajab (Al-Kāfī, vol. 2, pg. 149; Al-Faqīh, vol. 2, pg. 90; Thawāb al-A‘māl, pg. 99; Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām, vol. 1, pg. 438.). Before this, the Prophet was known to have visited the cave of Hira on the outskirts of Makkah for meditation for a number of years, but on one such occasion, he encountered the angel Gabriel in the cave.