The pause of the revelation: the first suras after the interruption

The pause of the revelation and the Prophet’s grief

al-Boukhari related in his earlier version: then the revelation knew a pause, until the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) felt, as has reached us, such grief that he would go, day after day, to cast himself from the summits of steep mountains. Every time he reached the top of a mountain to cast himself down, Jibril would appear to him and say: “O Muhammad, you are truly the Messenger of Allah.” His heart would then be appeased, his soul reassured, and he would return; then, when the pause grew long, he would do the same, and every time he reached the top of a mountain, Jibril would appear to him and say the same to him.

Jabir’s hadith and the first sura after the pause

In the two Sahihs, from Abd ar-Razzak, from Ma’mar, from az-Zuhri, that he heard Abu Salama ibn Abd ar-Rahman relate from Jabir ibn Abdallah: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to narrate the pause of the revelation: “As I was walking, I heard a voice from the sky: I raised my sight and there was the angel who had come to me at Hira, seated on a throne between the sky and the earth. I was seized with such fear that I fell to the ground, I returned to my family and said: Cover me, cover me.” Allah then sent down: “O you who covers himself! Arise and warn. And your Lord glorify. And your garments purify. And uncleanliness avoid.” Then the revelation intensified and followed one after another. This is thus what descended first of the Quran after the pause of the revelation, not absolutely: absolutely, it is “Read, in the name of your Lord who created.” It is established from Jabir that the first thing sent down was “O you who covers himself!”, and the preceding is compatible with his words: his own account indicates that the angel he recognized the second time came to him by what he had first recognized him by; and his words “used to narrate the pause of the revelation” prove that a revelation had already preceded this event: Allah is most knowing.

A month of retreat at Hira and the vision of the Throne

In the two Sahihs likewise, from Ali ibn al-Moubarak; and with Mouslim and al-Awzaï, both from Yahya ibn Abi Kathir, who said: I asked Abu Salama ibn Abd ar-Rahman: which sura came down first? He answered: “O you who covers himself!” I said: and “Read, in the name of your Lord who created”? He said: I asked Jabir ibn Abdallah: which sura came down first? He said: “O you who covers himself!” I said: and “Read, in the name of your Lord who created”? He said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “I retreated to Hira for a month; when I completed my retreat I came down and crossed the valley. A voice called me: I looked before me, behind me, to my right and to my left, and saw nothing; then I looked up to the sky: there he was, upon the Throne, in the air. A shiver seized me, or he said: a dread. I came to Khadija and ordered that I be covered.” Allah sent down “O you who covers himself!” up to “And your garments purify.” In one version: “and there was the angel who had come to me at Hira, seated on a throne between the sky and the earth: I was seized with fear.” This is explicit that the angel came to him and that Allah’s revelation descended upon him, as we have mentioned: Allah is most knowing.

The sura ad-Douha: after another pause

Some claimed that the first sura sent down after the pause was “By the forenoon! And by the night when it covers! Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor has He detested you,” to its end. That is the view of Muhammad ibn Ishaq. Some reciters said: that is why the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said Allah Akbar at its beginning, out of joy. Ibn Kathir answers: that is a far-fetched view, contradicted by the relations of the two Shaykhs establishing that the first Quran sent down after the pause was “O you who covers himself! Arise and warn”; the sura ad-Douha rather descended after another pause of a few nights, as is established in the two Sahihs and elsewhere, from al-Aswad ibn Qays, from Joundoub ibn Abdallah al-Bajali: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) fell ill and did not stand one night or two or three. A woman said: “I see your devil has abandoned you.” Allah then sent down “By the forenoon! And by the night when it covers! Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor has He detested you.” Through the first event the sending to the people was realized, and through the first, prophethood was accomplished.

The length of the pause and the first believers

Some said the duration of the pause was close to two years, or two and a half years. What appears, and Allah is most knowing, is that it was the period in which he was paired with Mika’il, as ach-Cha’bi and others said. This does not exclude that Jibril’s inspiration first reached him by “Read, in the name of your Lord who created,” then came the pause paired with Mika’il, then Jibril was paired with him again after the descent of “O you who covers himself! Arise and warn. And your Lord glorify. And your garments purify. And uncleanliness avoid”; the revelation then intensified and followed one after another, that is, it came successively. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) then rose in the mission in the most complete manner: he launched the call of Allah, to the near and the far, to the free and the enslaved. Believed at that time every discerning, fortunate man, and persisted in opposing and disobeying every obstinate tyrant. The first of the free men to rush to faith was Abu Bakr as-Siddiq; of the youths, Ali ibn Abi Talib; of the women, Khadija bint Khuwaylid, his wife; of the freed slaves, his freed slave Zayd ibn Haritha al-Kalbi (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and He was pleased with them. The case of Waraqa ibn Nawfal, who believed by what he found in the revelation and died during the pause (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), has already been treated.