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 people1. 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.2. 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 al-Wahi, 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.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 ideaThis 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)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 attentionThe 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, shakingThe 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 Revelation3. Allah opened the doors of limitless treasure, an endless gift, an ocean without an end these are the nature of revelationsWhen you have something of such value, it needs to be protected4. What do Allahs revelations need to be protected from?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 AllahShayatin 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 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 toldAs the time of Muhammad & divine revelation came closer, the angels would hurl rocks from the heavens to drive out the eavesdropping shayatin5. 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.Thats when Allah revealed to the Prophet the ayat of the jinn6. 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 she-camel 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, 75:16-19) 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)