Even before Muhammad (saw) was made a Prophet, there was a stone that

would say salaam to him

The Prophet had most severe dislike for soothsayers, who would deceive &
manipulate people
1.
2.

He was so concerned about being afflicted by these people. He was worried that
hed become one of the soothsayers when he went on to spread Allahs message.
Jibril appeared to the Prophet as he was coming down the Cave of Hira from
Mountain of Noor. This is when Muhammad saw Jibril in his true form
After the Prophet talks with Khadijah & she consoles him, they go to her cousin
Waraqah & tell him about the divine revelation
Waraqah recites some poetry, Oh Khadijah, if what you say is the truth, then
what you say about Ahmad is that he is the Messenger. Whoever will follow him
will succeed along with Muhammads success by repenting & turning back to
Allah. The one who will oppose Muhammad & the one who will lead people away
from Muhammad is the unfortunate one. There are two groups one who stands
by Muhammad and one who will be inside the pits of the Fire of Hell and they
will be tortured therein. When they are called to the valleys of Jahannam, they
will be struck, punished, & burned in the Fire of Hell. How absolutely perfect is
the One that the winds blow by His Command, & everything that happens in time
happens solely through His Command. His throne is above the heavens, & His
decisions among His creations can never be changed.
After the Prophet received his first divine revelation, there was a time period
that followed called Fatrat al-Wahi, the Pause or Break in Revelation
Some scholars say that after the Prophet & Khadijah have their talk with
Waraqah & they go back home, the Prophet immediately receives his 2nd
revelation the first few ayat of Surat Al-Qalam

Noon. By the pen and what they inscribe, You are not, [O Muhammad], by the
favor of your Lord, a madman. And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted.
And indeed, you are of a great moral character. So you will see and they will see
which of you is the afflicted [by a devil] (Surat Al-Qalam, 68:1-6)
This was the first time that Allah sends down the disjointed letter in the
beginning of a verse (the letter noon in this case). Its purpose is to catch the
attention of the listener
There is also a 3rd revelation
O you who wraps himself [in clothing], arise [to pray] the night, except for a
little half of it or subtract from it a little or add to it, and recite the Quran
with measured recitation. Indeed, We will cast upon you a heavy word. Indeed,
the hours of the night are more effective for concurrence [of the heart and
tongue] and more suitable for words (Surat Al-Muzzammil, 73:1-6)
The purpose of this revelation was to emphasize to the Prophet to have good

character, but he will be only as strong as his night prayers are.

Allah is telling the Prophet to pray long hours during the night, instead of resting.
Allah is also telling the Prophet that He will be sending a heavy Word down to
him periodically. This is Allahs version of real talk with the Prophet, that hes
going to have a lot more on his plate than he recognizes. This is important for
him to realize because its an opportunity for the Prophet to connect & converse
with Allah, an opportunity to recharge his spiritual batteries
It was after these first 3 revelations that the Prophet experienced Fatrat alWahi, the Pause in Revelation

The duration of the Pause in Revelation is not mentioned in the Books of Hadith
or in the Seerah
Some scholars state that the Pause was for 3 years. Some say that the Pause was
as short as few weeks or a few days. Allahu Alem (Allah knows best)
Why would there be a Pause in Revelation?
It was to give the Prophet some time to acclimate to what had just transpired.
Once he became comfortable with what happened, he was left with a bit of
anticipation of what was yet to come
Us regular folk dont have a frame of reference as to what its like to receive divine
revelation.
1 We dont know what its like to be squeezed by an angel theres no
way we can realize that. Whats it like to have the words of Allah
directly pierce into your heart from above the seven heavens? We
have no idea
2 This is why we have no idea of how much of an overwhelming &
traumatic experience this must have been for Muhammad. It must
have taken him a few days just to recover, to relax, to think
After the initial shock subsided, the Prophet then started to long for the
revelations again
He had no doubt of his Prophethood & he had no doubt that he had experienced
the Word of Allah
After a few more extra days went by, the anxiety settled in. The Prophet started to
worry, What if Allah is upset with me? What if Allah is angry with me? What if I
displeased Allah? What if I havent lived up to expectations? When will I receive
divine revelation? Will I receive divine revelation again?
The Prophet started to get more & more nervous and worried
In this state of nervousness & confusion & severe anxiety, the Prophet left his
home with the intention to climb up the mountain. The narration states that if
Allah was upset with him, then the Prophet would throw himself from the
mountain
This could be misinterpreted, that the Prophet wanted to kill himself (of course
he didnt)
This could be a figure of speech it could be an expression. To climb up the
mountain to throw yourself from it is like screaming from the rooftop why,

why Allah are you upset with me?

Also, even if this was meant literally, certain expressions of emotions are
subjective to time & culture. Some emotional expressions today may not have
been acceptable centuries ago
The Arab society of a millennia & a half ago were very comfortable with powerful
& emotional expressions. If someone had a tragedy, one of the ways they would
express their emotions was by going to a public area (like going to the Haram) &
ripping his shirt off. The person would scream & pull his hair
Imagine if someone did that now, in the modern era. Hed be seen as having a
psychological emotional disorder, but back then, people were a lot more
comfortable with these displays of emotions
There are some things within the Islamic mindset/worldview that will never be
reconciled with modern frames of scientific reference, because theyre coming
from irreligious perspective
Shaykh Abdul mentions the story of one his acquaintances, who is a professor of
psychology. When the professor started his graduate studies in psychology, he
had to take a psychological evaluation he had to answer a questionnaire
One of the first questions was, Do you think about death? Now this doctoral
student was a practicing Muslim, & obviously a practicing Muslim thinks about
death. The Prophet himself said, Frequently remember death. The professor
marked yes
The following question was, Do you feel like youre not in control of your life?
Thats Imaan 101 al-Qadaa wa al-Qadar (the divine will and decree of Allah,
in which He knew, wrote, willed, and created all things in due proportion and
according to a precise measure) The professor marked yes
When he got his evaluation analyzed, he was told that based on the
questionnaire, he would be diagnosed as depressed. He said, No, Im not. His
professor, the head of the department of psychology at the university, said, Yeah,
youre not, but this test says youre depressed based on these two questions.
The doctoral student explained to his professor that its a part of our spiritual
exercises to think about death, & that its a part of our belief system that were not
in control of our lives. We believe that Allah is in control of everything; were not
Therefore, you have to understand that the Prophets spiritual condition when he
went climbing up the mountain to throw himself from it. He was willing to do
anything to please his Lord
Sometimes, the simplistic approach to psychology can be very out of context. For
example, if a man voluntarily ran into a burning building, you might think hes
suicidal. But if you step back & look at the big picture, the man is a firefighter &
he went into the danger to save a baby inside a burning building, then all of a
sudden, hes a selfless hero, a role model
Thats why the Prophet would go up this mountain out of anxiety & concern for
Allahs displeasure
Jibril appeared to the Prophet & told him, You are indeed the Messenger of
Allah; you should have no doubt about that.
This calmed the nerves of the Prophet & he went back home
A few days passed. The Prophet was walking through the marketplace in

Makkah. He heard a sound from above him. He looked up and saw Jibril

This was the 2nd of the two times that the Prophet saw Jibril in his true physical
form (the first was on the very first day the Prophet received divine revelation)
1 The 2nd time of seeing Jibril in his true form was even more
overwhelming for Muhammad than it was the 1st time
Jibril was sitting on a throne, & he was as huge as before. He called for
Muhammads attention
1 The Prophet was so shaken to his core that he felt like he couldnt
walk, so he sat down exactly where he was to regain his composure.
He regained some of his breath & picked himself up & went home,
shaking
2 The Prophet asked Khadijah to wrap him in a blanket. Thats when
Allah sent down the ayahs form Surat Al-Muzzammil
Sometime after the revelation began, Prophet became very ill & bed-ridden for
2-3 nights, & he didnt receive any revelations
One of the idol-worshipping women of Makkah came to the Prophet & mocked
him, It looks like your buddy (Allah) has abandoned you. Other narrations say
that the women said, Your shaytan has abandoned you. Your shaytan doesnt
talk to you anymore.
In response, Allah said, By the morning brightness and [by] the night when it
covers with darkness, Your Lord has not abandoned you, nor is your Lord upset
with you (Surat Ad-Duhaa, 93:1-3)

Hifdhul Wahil the Protection of Revelation

3.
4.

Allah opened the doors of limitless treasure, an endless gift, an ocean without an
end these are the nature of revelations
1 When you have something of such value, it needs to be protected
What do Allahs revelations need to be protected from?
1 When the jinn met & interacted with the Prophet, they told him that
there are believers & disbelievers among them. The evil,
troublemaking jinn are known as shayatin, the army of Iblis. The
shayatin would eavesdrop on the malayika (angels) who would be
carrying the qadr (will) of Allah
2 Shayatin were given the ability to eavesdrop on the angels. If an
angel had a command to provide, to allow, or to facilitate a certain
command of Allah onto the people, then the shayatin would bring

5.

6.

this information to the soothsayers. People would come to these

soothsayers to have their fortune told, & they would know that a
certain event would happen at a certain town. The test for the
ummah was to not fall into reading or seeking out their fortunes to
be told
3 As the time of Muhammad & divine revelation came closer, the
angels would hurl rocks from the heavens to drive out the
eavesdropping shayatin
Theres a narration of the Prophet & some of his Sahaba went to the marketplaces
at Ukaaz, which is right outside Makkah. They stopped to do Fajr prayers. A
group of jinn passed by, & when they heard the Prophet recite the Quran, they
stopped to listen. The jinn said, This is what has come between us & the news of
the heavens. They went back to the rest of the jinn & told them, We heard a
remarkable Quran. It guides us to that which is good. We believed in it. We will
never associate anyone with our Lord today.
1 Thats when Allah revealed to the Prophet the ayat of the jinn
Another narration said this event transpired earlier. Iblis sent the shayatin to find
out whats going on. He sent them to Jerusalem & Bilad as Shaam, where the
Prophets of the Past had generally lived. The shayatin came back to Iblis with no
new information. Then Iblis went to Makkah, & he saw the Prophet coming down
from the Cave of Hira after he received his first divine revelation. Iblis also saw
Jibril (as) in the sky. Thats when Iblis knew exactly what happened
In the Hadith Al-Ifk (Slander of Aisha by hypocrites to discredit her), Aisha
(ra) narrated, Never did the Prophet ever leave a sitting, nor did anyone from
the family of the Prophet ever leave the house, except that he would receive
revelation

In English: Whenever the Prophet sat down somewhere for a decent amount of
time, he would receive revelation. Whenever someone would come & go to the
Prophets house, the Prophet would receive revelation this is a way of saying
that the revelations were frequent
The divine revelations were so heavy that the Prophet would sweat profusely

He would sweat whenever receiving the revelations, even if it was a very cold
night
Sweat would fall from Prophet like pearl beads dropping from a broken necklace
For 23 years, the Prophet was the filter between us & the words of Allah

What reached us from Allahs words are the wisdom, the beauty, & the sweetness
The Prophet was the filter who caught all the weight, the heaviness, & the burden
So acknowledge & appreciate the hardship that the Prophet went through to
deliver us Allahs message
Also, whenever revelation would be sent down to Prophet, people could hear
the sound of buzzing of bees close to his face. His face would get red as well,
because of the pressure he was feeling

This is important to note, because the people who speak ill of the Messenger

would try to claim that his divine revelation experiences were a sign of
psychological instability
The people around him could feel & sense that the Prophet was getting the
revelations
Umar bin al-Khattab (ra) recalls that he could hear the sound of bees buzzing
around the Prophets face
Abdullah bin Umm Maktum, a blind Sahabi who was also a muezzin, came to
the masjid & sat down next to the Prophet
Abdullah had heard the ayah, Not equal are those believers remaining [at home]
- other than the disabled - and the mujahideen, [who strive and fight] in the
cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives. Allah has preferred the
mujahideen through their wealth and their lives over those who remain [behind],
by degrees. And to both Allah has promised the best [reward]
Abdullah was devastated when he heard that ayah. He could not participate in
battles or take as much of an active part as the rest of the Sahaba because of his
blindness
When youre sitting Indian style in crowded area, sometimes your leg is over
another persons knee. Zayd ibn Thabit, the Prophets scribe, was sitting Indian
style with the Prophets knee over Zayds thigh. Zayd was recording the ayahs that
the Prophet was receiving that moment. When the revelations were coming
down, Zayd felt as though his leg was being crushed from the pressure
But Allah has preferred the mujahideen over those who remain [behind, due to
a disability or legitimate excuse] with a great reward (Surat An-Nisa, 4:95)
In another incident of the Prophet receiving revelations, the Prophet had taken
a cloth & draped it over his head; he had his head lowered (like he was trying to
keep a low profile). They were at Jeerana, which is little bit outside of Makkah on
the road to Taif
Umar ibn al-Khattab had recently accepted Islam after having opposed it so
much before. He was invited to witness the Prophet receive his divine revelations
Umar lifted the cloth from one side of the Prophets head. That tells you a couple
of things. Umar had the guts do actually do that, & that the Prophet was very
down to earth. The Prophet was sent as a leader to all of mankind & the Sahaba
had the utmost respect for him, but at the same time, they were very comfortable
around him.
Sometimes, the Sahaba, who felt such a close relationship & bond with the
Prophet, would be so casual (not disrespectful) with him that Allah would have to
remind the Sahaba of their boundaries.
Dont call out to the Messenger like you call out to each other. Dont raise your
voices above the voice of the Messenger.
Even when the Prophet would go home, the Sahaba would sometimes yell, Ya
Muhammad! Ya Rasullillah, we need to talk to you! from outside his house. The
Prophet would oblige, & Allah would tell the Prophet, Dont be upset. They dont
know any better.
Allah would tell the Sahaba, If you would wait until the Messenger came out of
his house of his own accord, then it would be better for you. When you go to the

house of the Messenger, dont enter unless you have been invited. When you
have been invited into the house of the Prophet & once you have eaten & taken
care of business, then go on your way. Dont hang around & chill out. The Prophet
is not going to kick you out of his house. Youre actually causing him quite a bit of
discomfort, but hes too shy to say anything to you. Hes too kind, too
compassionate.
This is how Allah called out the Sahaba, to remind them not to overstep their
boundaries & take advantage of the Prophets kind & generous nature. Allah lets
you know how it is
Anyway, Umar lifts the cloth from the Prophets head, & he sees that the
Prophets face was completely red
When the ayat of hijab came down, Sawda bint Zama, the Prophets wife, went
outside at night to relieve herself. At the time, the Sahaba were persecuted by the
non-Muslim tribes around Medina, who would harass the Muslims & the family
of the Prophet
Umar was outside, kind of standing guard, & he saw Sawda. He called her out for
going by herself at night when there was so much danger
Umar said to her, If I can recognize you at night, then someone else can also.
Youre the Mother of the Believers. If someone of ill intent was nearby, something
bad could have happened to you.
Sawda went back to the Prophet & told him what happened
At the time, the Prophet was having dinner. He was holding a bone with meat on
it, when Allah sent down an ayah (the bone was still in his hand)
Allah has given you permission to fulfill your needs.
Aisha notes that this tells us that divine revelation didnt take away the
consciousness of Prophet. He still was holding the bone, meaning he didnt lose
control of his body or pass out & then come to while getting revelations
The Sahaba narrated that the Prophets eyes would remain open when he
received divine revelation

The Prophets eyes would remain open, but his hearing & his heart would become
devoted to what was coming down. If you spoke to him at that time, he would not
respond to you. He was completely immersed in memorizing & internalizing
Allahs words
Another narration mentions that Aisha was holding the rope of Asba, the shecamel of Prophet. The Prophet was riding Asba when Surat Al-Maidah was
revealed in its entirety

Because divine revelations are so heavy in nature, it weighed down the camel
The camel could not even move
During the time of the earlier revelations, when Muhammad was new in his
Prophethood, he would move his lips very rapidly. As Jibril is reciting the Quran
to the Prophet, the Prophet would read it back. The Prophet would do this so that
he could retain all the ayahs in his memory

The Prophet understood the weight of his responsibility. He understood the

magnitude of the trust he was given by Allah to deliver His message to mankind,
& he did not want to come up short in living up to that responsibility, so he would
rapidly read back the ayahs that Jibril was reciting
While Jibril was reciting Surat Al-Qiyamah to the Prophet, the first few verses
were about warning mankind about the Day of Resurrection & the sins that we
will be held accountable for. The Prophet was of course, repeating these verses
under his breath as Jibril was saying them, when these ayahs were revealed to the
Prophet:
Move not your tongue with it, [O Muhammad], to hasten with recitation of the
Quran. Indeed, upon Us is its collection [in your heart] and [to make possible] its
recitation. So when We have recited it [through Gabriel], then follow its
recitation. Then upon Us is its clarification [to you] (Surat Al-Qiyamah, 75:1619)
In the above ayahs, Allah was telling the Prophet not to repeat back the ayahs
quickly to grab on to them, because Allah is saying that its solely upon Him to
compile it. Allah is guaranteeing the Prophet that he will not forget when the
revelations are complete, & that he will be able to recite it when its done
18th ayah: Allah is also instructing the Prophet, that after Hes finished revealing
the verses to the Prophet, he should follow it up, & recite them to someone else
19th ayah: After the Prophet recites those ayahs to someone else & the ayahs have
been transcribed, then once again it is solely Allahs responsibility to give the
explanation & understanding of those verses to the Prophet. Allah will take care
of the tafseer; thats the Raabs guarantee
Thus, the Prophet was the first hafidh of the Quran. As soon as he received it, he
had it memorized
He could read it back to someone else with ease. The scribes of the revelations
would be called upon (keep in mind that very few people in the Arab society were
literate at the time) to record the Prophets recitation
So high [above all] is Allah, the Sovereign, the Truth. And, [O Muhammad] do
not hasten with [recitation of] the Quran before its revelation is completed to
you, and say, My Lord, increase me in knowledge. (Surat Taha; 20:114)