“Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists)” is a command to recite from memory, not from a written page

It is clear from questions such
as this one that the reason for asking it is a lack of knowledge of the
Arabic language in which the Qur’an was revealed, and not being aware of the
ways in which the Arabs use the words and phrases that appear in it. There
is no real problem in this question; rather it seems that the answer will be
easy for the questioner if he understands the meaning of the word “Iqra’
” in Arabic. 

This word is used to mean two
things: 

1.Reading
from a written text.

This is the meaning that people
may think of in the first instance, as in the verse in which Allah, may He
be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “(It will be said to
him): “Read your book. You yourself are sufficient as a reckoner against you
this Day’” [al-Isra’
17:14]. 

2.
Recitation from memory (i.e., something that one has learned by heart).

This refers to recitation only,
without looking at anything written. Examples of that include the passage in
which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“It is for Us to collect it and
to give you (O Muhammad) the ability to recite it (the Qu’ran),

And when We have recited it to
you (O Muhammad, through Jibrael (Gabriel)), then follow its (the Quran’s)
recital.”

[al-Qiyaamah 75:17,18].

It is well known that Jibreel
(peace be upon him) used to recite the Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), not from a book. 

Further examples can be seen in
the verses in which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“So when you want to recite the
Quran, seek refuge with Allah from Shaitan (Satan), the outcast (the cursed
one)”

[an-Nahl 16:98]

“And when you (Muhammad SAW)
recite the Quran, We put between you and those who believe not in the
Hereafter, an invisible veil (or screen their hearts, so they hear or
understand it not)”

[al-Isra’ 17:45]

“And (it is) a Quran which We
have divided (into parts), in order that you might recite it to men at
intervals. And We have revealed it by stages. (in 23 years)”

[al-Isra’ 17:106]. 

All of these verses describe the
Prophet’s recitation of the holy book as qiraa’ah (lit. reading),
even though he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was unlettered and
could not read from books; rather he recited from his memory that which
Allah had enabled him to learn by heart. 

This is how we should understand
the passage in which Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):

“Read! In the Name of your Lord,
Who has created (all that exists),

Has created man from a clot (a
piece of thick coagulated blood).

Read! And your Lord is the Most
Generous”

[al-‘Alaq 96:1-3].

We should understand it as
meaning that he was commanded to recite from memory, and to recite the words
that Jibreel (peace be upon him) would teach him. The Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) responded by saying, “I am not a reader,” i.e.,
I do not know how to read from a book, so how can I read something that I
have not memorized and that I do not know? 

Shaykh ‘Atiyyah Saalim (may
Allah have mercy on him) said: 

Qiraa’ah (reading or reciting) means making manifest and causing to stand out,
as it may be said concerning a she-camel, lam taqra’ janeenan (she did not
bring forth any young), i.e., she did not produce any offspring. We
previously referred to the Shaykh’s explanation of the linguistic meaning.
There is no contradiction in the fact that the command to read or recite was
addressed to an unlettered Prophet, because reading or reciting may be from
a written text or it may be something recited from memory. In this case it
was something to be recited from memory that which Jibreel (peace be upon
him) recited to him. This further highlights the miracle, because the one
who was unlettered yesterday became a teacher today. The context indicates
both meanings of qiraa’ah as it mentions reading or reciting along with
teaching by the pen (v. 4)

End quote from Tatimmah Adwa’
al-Bayaan fi Eedaah al-Qur’an bi’l-Qur’an, 9/13 

Al-‘Allaamah Taahir ibn ‘Ashoor
(may Allah have mercy on him) says: 

The word “Iqra’ (read or
recite)” is a command to read or recite. This word refers to speaking
particular words that are either written or memorized by heart. 

The command to read or recite
may be an instruction to do so immediately or in the future. What is being
requested in the word “Iqra’” is to read or recite immediately or in
the near future (near in relation to the point in time at which this command
was given), i.e., to say that which is going to be recited to him. What may
indicate that this was an instruction to recite in the near future was the
fact that it was not preceded by the dictation of some words to him so that
he could memorize them and then be asked to recite them, nor was he given a
page and asked to read from it. This is like when a teacher says to his
student, “Write”, so he gets ready to write what is going to be dictated to
him. 

In the hadeeth in as-Saheehayn
from ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), she says: … (This went on)
until the truth came to him when he was in the cave of Hiraa’. The angel
came and said, “Read (or recite)!” He (the Messenger of Allah (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him)) said: “I said: ‘I am not a reader.’ Then he
took hold of me and squeezed me until I could not bear it any more, then he
released me and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘I am not a reader.’ He took hold of
me and squeezed me a second time until I could not bear it any more, then he
released me and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘I am not a reader.’ He took hold of
me and squeezed me a third time until I could not bear it any more, then he
released me and said: ‘Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created
(all that exists) … He has taught man that which he knew not.’ [al-‘Alaq
96:1-5].” 

This hadeeth was narrated by
‘Aa’ishah from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him), because she says: He said: “I said: ‘I am not a reader.’” Everything
that she mentioned in this report is undoubtedly what she narrated from him.
And in this report she said: Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) went back with them, his heart beating
wildly, i.e., he went back with the verses that had been dictated to him; in
other words, he went back with them still in his memory. This indicates that
the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) had
received what had been revealed to him, and he recited it at that time. That
is made clearer by what she says in the hadeeth: Then Khadeejah took him to
Waraqah ibn Nawfal, and Khadeejah said to him: O son of my uncle, listen to
what your nephew says – i.e., listen to the words that have been revealed to
him. This indicates when it was said to the Messenger of Allah (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) after the third squeezing, “Read! In the
Name of your Lord”, i.e., the five verses (from the beginning of Soorat
al-‘Alaq), he recited them at that moment as Allah had commanded him, and he
went back from the cave of Hira’ to his home reciting them. 

It was in this sense that the
angel said to him on the three occasions “Iqra’ (read or recite),” repeating
the phrase that had been revealed by Allah, and it was a repetition intended
to put him at ease with a recitation that he had not learned before. 

No object is mentioned for the
verb “read” (or “recite”), either because it came in the form of an
intransitive verb; or it was because what was to be read or recited was
clear from the context, and what was meant was: recite what We are going to
send down to you of the Qur’an.

End quote from at-Tahreer
wa’t-Tanweer, 30/435 

To sum up, the command to read
or recite in this verse, “Read! In the Name of your Lord”, does not
refer to reading from a written page; rather it refers to reciting from
memory something that he had learned. The Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) replied that he was unlettered and had not memorized
anything from a book before that. But Jibreel taught him the first verses of
Soorat al-‘Alaq so that he could read them, i.e., memorize them and recite
them after that. 

And Allah knows best.