What the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw before prophethood

Amir said: Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) went to the Jews and said: "I adjure you by Allah, who sent down the Torah upon Musa: do you find Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) (his attributes) in your books?" The Jews said: "Yes." Sayyiduna Umar said: "Then what prevents you from following him?" The Jews said: "Allah Almighty has not sent any messenger without his having a companion from among the angels. The companion of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is Jibril, and he is the one who comes to him (peace and blessings be upon him). Among the angels, he is our enemy, whereas with Mika'il we are at peace. So if Mika'il were the one who came to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), we would have accepted Islam." Sayyiduna Umar said: "I adjure you by Allah, who sent down the Torah upon Musa: what is the rank and standing of these two angels with the Lord of the worlds?" The Jews said: "Jibril is on the right of Allah Almighty and Mika'il is on the left of Allah Almighty." Sayyiduna Umar said: "Then indeed I bear witness that these two angels descend only by the command of Allah Almighty, and Mika'il is not one to be at peace with the enemies of Jibril, nor is Jibril one to be at peace with the enemies of Mika'il." While Sayyiduna Umar was still with the Jews, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived, and the Jews said: "This is your companion, O son of al-Khattab!" So Sayyiduna Umar stood up toward him (peace and blessings be upon him) and came into his (peace and blessings be upon him) presence, and these verses had already been revealed to him (peace and blessings be upon him): "Say: Whoever is an enemy to Jibril, it is he who has brought it down upon your heart by the permission of Allah" up to His words: "then indeed Allah is an enemy to the disbelievers." [Al-Baqarah: 97, 98]

Abu Bakr bin Abi Musa narrates from his father (may Allah be pleased with him) that Abu Talib set out for Syria, and with him were the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and some elders of Quraysh. When they reached the monk, they made camp and dismounted from their mounts. The monk came out to them. Before this they used to pass by the monk, but he would not come out to them nor pay them any attention. The narrator said: While they were dismounting from their mounts, the monk began to move about among them, until he came and took the hand of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "This is the master of the worlds, and this is the messenger of the Lord of the worlds, and Allah Almighty has sent him as a mercy to the worlds." The men of Quraysh said to the monk: "What do you know of this?" He said: "When you came up from the mountain pass, no tree and no stone remained without bowing down in prostration, and these things prostrate only to prophets. And I recognize him by the seal of prophethood, which is below the soft bone of his shoulder, like an apple." 2. Then the monk returned and prepared food for them (the people of the caravan). When he brought the food to the people of the caravan, he (peace and blessings be upon him) was (assigned to) guarding the camels. The monk said: "Send (someone) to him." So he (peace and blessings be upon him) came, and a cloud was shading him (peace and blessings be upon him). The monk said: "Look at him! There is a cloud over him shading him." When he (peace and blessings be upon him) drew near the people, they had already gone ahead into the shade of the tree. When he (peace and blessings be upon him) sat down, the shade of the tree inclined toward him (peace and blessings be upon him). The monk said: "Look at the shade of the tree: it (too) has leaned toward him." 3. The narrator said: While the monk was standing by the people of the caravan and urging them not to take him to the Romans, because if the Romans saw him they would recognize him by (his) attributes and kill him, he turned and saw a group of nine (9) men who had come from the Romans. The monk turned toward them and asked: "What has brought you here?" They said: "We have received word that this prophet is to come forth in this very month. So no road remains without people having been sent to it. We have been informed about him, and we have been sent to this road of yours." The monk said to them: "Have you left behind you anyone better than yourselves?" They said: "No! We were informed of news about him only on this road of yours." The monk said: "Tell me about a matter that Allah Almighty has resolved to bring about: can anyone among people turn it back?" They said: "No!" The narrator said: So they accepted what the monk said and stayed with him. 4. Then the monk came to the people of the caravan and said: "I adjure you by Allah! Who is the guardian of this (boy)?" Abu Talib said: "I am his guardian." The monk kept pressing Abu Talib until Abu Talib sent him (peace and blessings be upon him) back, and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) sent Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) with him (peace and blessings be upon him). The monk gave him (peace and blessings be upon him) cake and olive oil as provisions for the journey.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that there was no tribe of the jinn without seats of its own for listening (to heavenly matters). He said: When revelation came down, the angels would hear a sound like the sound of iron that you throw onto a smooth rock. He said: When the angels heard this sound, they fell down in prostration, and they did not raise their heads until the revelation had come down. Once the revelation had come down, some of the angels would say to others: "What has your Lord said?" If the revelation concerned a heavenly matter, the angels would say: "He has spoken the truth, and He is the Most High, the Most Great." And if the revelation concerned an earthly matter, whether a matter of the unseen or a death or any other earthly matter, the angels would discuss it among themselves and say: "Such and such will happen." The devils would overhear these things and would then come and tell them to their allies (friends). When Allah Almighty sent Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), the devils were driven away with the stars. The first to come to know of this (the falling of the stars) was (the tribe of) Thaqif. So the owner of goats among them would go to his goats and slaughter one goat every day, and the owner of camels would slaughter one camel every day. The people began to rush through their wealth. Then some of them said to others: "Do not (do this). If these are the stars of guidance (then so be it); otherwise this is because of some new event." The people looked, and the stars of guidance were just as they had been; none of them had been cast down. So the people stopped. Allah Almighty turned the jinn (toward it), and they heard the Qur'an. When the jinn came to (the recitation of) the Qur'an, they said: "Be silent." Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: The devils went to Iblis and informed him, and he said: "It is this event that has occurred on the earth. So bring me soil from every land." When the devils brought Iblis the soil of Tihamah, he said: "Here is where this new event has occurred."

Sayyiduna Safwan bin Assal (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that a Jew said to his companion: "Take us to this prophet!" His companion said: "No! Do not say 'prophet', for if he heard you, he would have four eyes." The narrator said: The two of them came into the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him (peace and blessings be upon him) about nine clear signs, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not associate anything with Allah, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not kill the soul that Allah Almighty has made sacred except by right, do not inform against an innocent person to one in power so that he kills that innocent person, do not practice sorcery, do not consume usury (riba), do not slander a chaste woman, and do not turn your backs to flee on the day of battle. And upon you in particular, O Jews, it is also binding that you do not transgress concerning the Sabbath." The narrator said: The Jews kissed his (peace and blessings be upon him) hands and feet and began to say: "We bear witness that you are a true prophet." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What then prevents you from following me?" They said: "Dawud prayed that prophethood should continue in his offspring, and we fear that the Jews will kill us."