In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
A Summary of the Prophetic biography (Seerah).
The pause in the revelation and its subsequent return.
The revelation paused for the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
after the first time the angel Jibril, peace be upon him, descended
upon the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
The wisdom behind this
was to make the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, yearn for it once more.
Imam Ahmad narrated in his Musnad with a hasan (sound) chain of narration
from Jabir Ibn 'Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said:
"The revelation was withheld from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, at the beginning of his mission,
and seclusion was made beloved to him.
So, he began to seclude himself in [the cave of] Hira'.
While he was returning from Hira',
I heard a sound from above me.
I raised my head,
and behold, the one who had come to me at Hira'
was sitting on a throne between the heaven and the earth.
When I saw him, I fell to the ground in terror.
When I recovered,
I went to my family in haste and said,
'Wrap me up! Wrap me up!'
Then Jibril came to me and said,
'O you who are wrapped in garments, arise and warn,
and your Lord magnify,
and your garments purify,
and the idols avoid.'"
The two Shaykhs (al-Bukhari and Muslim) narrated in their Sahih collections,
as did Imam Ahmad in his Musnad—the wording being that of Ahmad—
from Abu Salamah Ibn 'Abd al-Rahman, who said:
"Jabir Ibn 'Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with them both, informed me
that he heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, saying:
'Then the revelation paused for me for a period.
While I was walking,
I heard a voice from the sky.
I raised my gaze toward the sky,
and behold, the angel who had come to me at Hira'
was sitting on a throne between the heaven and the earth.
I was struck with such terror that I fell to the ground.
I went to my family and said,
'Cover me! Cover me! Cover me!'
So they covered me.
Then Allah the Exalted revealed:
'O you who are wrapped in garments,
arise and warn,
and your Lord magnify,
and your garments purify,
and the idols avoid.'
Then the revelation intensified and followed in succession.
Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir said:
"Allah then commanded His Messenger, peace be upon him, in this verse
to warn his people and call them to Allah."
So he, peace be upon him, girded himself for the task of the mission,
and stood in the obedience of Allah, the Glorified, in the most perfect manner,
calling to Allah, the Glorified, both the old and the young,
the free and the slave,
the men and the women,
the black and the red.
This was due to the universality of his message, peace be upon him,
as the Exalted said:
“And We have not sent thee (O Muhammad) save as a bringer of good tidings and a warner unto all mankind; but most of mankind know not.” (34:28)
"As a bringer of glad tidings and a warner,
but most of mankind do not know."
And as He said:
“We sent thee not save as a mercy for the peoples.” (21:107)
A Summary of the Prophetic biography (Seerah),
authored by Shaykh Musa bin Rashid al-'Azimi,
and presented by the Mawaddah Association in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
If the longing of the worlds for one another is long,
the longing for you is beyond measure.
May Allah send blessings upon you as long as the call to prayer is raised,
and lips move with the remainder of the remembrance.