Waraqa bin Nawfal bin Asad bin 'Abd Al-'Uzza, who had embraced
Christianity in the pre-Islamic period, and used to write the Bible in
Hebrew. He was a blind old man. Khadijah said: "My cousin! Listen to
your nephew!" Waraqa said: "O my nephew! What did you see?"
TheMessenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) told him what had happened
to him. Waraqa replied: "This is ' Namus' i.e. (the angel who is
entrusted with Divine Secrets) that Allâh sent to Moses. I wish I were
younger. I wish I could live up to the time when your people would
turn you out." Muhammad (Peace be upon him) asked: "Will they drive me
out?" Waraqa answered in the affirmative and said: "Anyonewho came
with something similar to what you have broughtwas treated with
hostility; and if I should be alive till that day, thenI would support
you strongly." A few days later Waraqa died and the revelation also
subsided.
At-Tabari and Ibn Hisham reported that the Messenger of Allâh (Peace
be upon him) left thecave of Hira' after being surprised by the
Revelation, but later on, returned to the cave andcontinued his
solitude. Afterwards, he came back to Makkah. At-Tabari reported on
this incident, saying:
After mentioning the coming of the Revelation, the Messenger of Allâh
(Peace be upon him) said: "Ihave never abhorred anyone more than a
poet or a mad man. I can not stand looking at either of them. I will
never tell anyone of Quraish of my Revelation. I willclimb a mountain
and throw myself down and die. That will relieve me. I went to do that
but halfway up the mountain, I hearda voice from the sky saying 'O
Muhammad! You are the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) and I am
Gabriel.' I looked upwards and saw Gabriel in the form of a man
putting his legs on the horizon. He said: 'O Muhammad You are the
Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) and I am Gabriel.' I stopped
and looked at him. His sight distracted my attention from what I had
intended to do. Istood in my place transfixed. I tried to shift my
eyes away from him. He was in every direction I looked at. I stopped
in my place without any movement until Khadijah sent someone to look
for me. He went down to Makkahand came back while I was standing in
the same place. Gabriel then left, and I went back home. I found
Khadijah at home, so I sat very close to her. She asked: 'Father of
Al-Qasim! Wherehave you been? I sent someone to look for you. He went
to Makkah and returned to me.' I told her of what I had seen. She
replied: 'It is a propitious sign, O my husband. Pull yourself
together, I swear by Allâh that you are a Messenger for this nation.'
Then she stood up and went to Waraqa and informed him. Waraqa said: 'I
swear by Allâh that he has received the same Namus , i.e. angel that
was sent to Moses. He is the Prophet of this nation. Tell him to be
patient.' She came back to him and told him of Waraqa's words. When
the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) finished his solitary stay
and went down to Makkah, he went to Waraqa, whotold him: 'You are the
Prophet of this nation. I swear by Allâh that you have received the
same angel that was sent to Moses.'"
INTERRUPION OF REVELATION:
Ibn Sa'd reported on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that the Revelation
paused for a few days.After careful study, this seems to be the most
possible. To say that it lasted for three anda half years, as some
scholars allege, is not correct, but here there is no room to go into
moredetails.
Meanwhile, the Prophet (Peace be upon him), was caught in a sort of
depression coupled with astonishment and perplexity. Al-Bukhari
reported:
The Divine inspiration paused fora while and the Prophet (Peace be
upon him) became so sad, as we have heard, that he intended several
times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains,and every time
he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down,
Gabriel would appear before him and say: "O Muhammad! You are indeed
Allâh's Messenger in truth," whereupon his heart would become quiet
and he would calm down and return home. Whenever the period of the
coming of the Revelation used to become long, he would do as before,
but Gabriel would appear again before him and sayto him what he had
said before.
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