Tafsir of Al-`Alaq 96:3

(Read) means: perform that which you have been commanded to do, as an emphasis on the obligation and a prelude to what follows it from His, the Exalted’s, saying: "And your Lord is the Most Generous," etc. For it is a new statement, intended to remove the excuse which the Prophet, may Allah exalt him and grant him peace, gave to Gabriel, peace be upon him, when he said to him, "Read," and he replied, "I am not a reader." He meant that reading is the affair of one who writes and reads, whereas I am unlettered. Thus, it was said: "And your Lord"—the One who commanded you to read, beginning and initiating [the command] with His name—"is the Most Generous."