Saheeh Seerah Al Albaanee English

Chapter 20: A discussion on which Aayaat were revealed first, and the
two periods of interruption of al-Waḥee (Revelation)
In the “Ṣaḥeeḥain”, Jaabir Ibn `Abdullaah Al-Ansari رضيُاهللُعنهما narrated that the Prophet
while talking about the intermission in the Revelation, said: ❝While I was ‏,ﷺ
walking, all of a sudden I heard a voice from the sky. I looked up and saw the same
angel who had visited me at the cave of Ḥiraa’ sitting on a chair between the sky and
the earth. I got afraid of him and came back home and said: ‘Wrap me (in blankets).’
And then Allaah revealed the following Aayaat (of Qur’aan):
‏﴿يَاُأَيُّهَاُال م دَّثِّر ‏ُُ*ُق م ‏ُُفَأَنذِر ‏ُ﴾ُإىلُ﴿وَالرُّج زَُُفَاه ج ر ُ﴾
{O you (i.e. Muḥammad)! Wrapped up in garments! Arise and warn (the people
against Allaah’s Punishment)...} up to {and desert the idols.} [Surah al-Muddaththir
(74):1-5] After this, the Revelation started coming strongly, frequently and regularly
(uninterrupted).❞ 143
The above Aayaat were the first to be sent down from the Qur’aan after the period of
pause in Revelation, 144 not which were first revealed in an absolute sense (i.e. the
Aayaat of Surah al-`Alaq were revealed first and then after the period of pause the
Aayaat from Surah al-Muddaththir were revealed). 145
What has been established from the Ḥadeeth of Jaabir رضيُاهللُعنه is that the first Aayah to
be revealed was: {O you (i.e. Muḥammad)! Wrapped up in garments!}. But what is
more correct is to interpret his statement in light of what we have mentioned earlier,
because in the context of this narration it is evident that the Angel had visited the
Prophet ﷺ earlier, as he ﷺ was able to recognize him in his second visit because
of what he saw during his earlier visit. Moreover, Jaabir’s statement: “while talking
143 Ṣaḥeeḥ al-Bukhaaree (4, 3238, 4925, 4926, 4954, 6214) and Ṣaḥeeḥ Muslim (161-255, 256,)
144 [TN: Questioned: For how long did the Revelation stop?
Shaikh Ibn Baaz رمحهُاهلل said: “There is a difference of opinion on this. Some say it stopped for 3 years and some say
] البخاري [ that.” that it was less than
احلللُاْلبريزيةُمنُالتعليقاتُالبازيةُعلىُصحيحُ‏
Ibn Ḥajar also mentioned the same in “Al-Fatḥ” (1/27)]
145 (Shaikh al-Albaanee said): The Ḥadeeth of `Aaishah ‏,رضيُاهللُعنها which was mentioned in the previous chapter, is
clear about this issue.
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