Reports on the sending of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

Abdullah bin Shaqiq reports that a man asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Since when have you been (made) a prophet?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) replied: "I was a prophet while Adam was between the spirit and the body."

It is narrated from Abdullah bin Shaddad bin al-Had that Jibril came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and covered him (peace and blessings be upon him), then said to him (peace and blessings be upon him): "Read!" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What shall I read?" The narrator said: Jibril covered him (peace and blessings be upon him) again and said: "Read!" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What shall I read?" Jibril said: "Read in the name of your Lord who created." He (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Sayyidah Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) and told her what he had seen. She went to Waraqah bin Nawfal and mentioned this to him. Waraqah said to Khadijah: "Has your husband seen this companion of his while in a settled place?" Khadijah said: "Yes!" Waraqah said: "Then your husband is a prophet, and he will soon meet with trial from his own nation."

Abu Maysarah reports that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went out to an open place, he (peace and blessings be upon him) would hear a caller calling him: "O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)!" When he (peace and blessings be upon him) heard this voice, he would begin to run away. He (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Sayyidah Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her), mentioned this to her and said: "O Khadijah! I fear that something has become mixed into my mind. When I go out to an open place, I hear a caller but see nothing, so I come running away. Suddenly that caller is right with me, and he is calling me." Sayyidah Khadijah said: "Allah Almighty will not do this to you. As far as I know you, you speak the truth, you fulfill trusts and you maintain the ties of kinship. So Allah Almighty will not do this to you." Sayyidah Khadijah told this in confidence to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Abu Bakr was his (peace and blessings be upon him) friend in the time of Ignorance. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr took his (peace and blessings be upon him) hand and led him (peace and blessings be upon him) toward Waraqah. He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "What is the matter?" Sayyiduna Abu Bakr related the whole matter that Sayyidah Khadijah had told him. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Waraqah and mentioned this incident. Waraqah asked: "Have you seen anything?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "No! But when I go out, I hear a voice, and I see nothing, so I go running away; and suddenly that caller is right with me." Waraqah said: "Do not do (that). When you hear the voice, stay where you are until you have heard what he says to you." Then when he (peace and blessings be upon him) went out to an open place, he (peace and blessings be upon him) heard the voice: "O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)!" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Here I am!" The caller said: "Say: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is His servant and His Messenger." Then the caller said to him (peace and blessings be upon him): "All praise is for Allah, the Lord of the worlds, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment," and had him recite to the end of Surah al-Fatihah. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Waraqah and mentioned this to him, and Waraqah said: "Glad tidings to you, then glad tidings to you, then glad tidings to you! I bear witness that you are the very Messenger of whom Isa (peace be upon him) gave glad tidings. (He said): 'A Messenger who will come after me, whose name will be Ahmad.' So I bear witness that you are Ahmad, and I bear witness that you are Muhammad, and I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah. It is near that you will be commanded to fight (jihad), and if you are commanded to fight while I am alive, I will most certainly fight alongside you (peace and blessings be upon him)." Then (after this) Waraqah died. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I saw this Christian scholar in Paradise in green garments."

Al-Hasan said: Allah Almighty once sent the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to bring a man into Paradise. The narrator said: He (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by one of the places of worship of the Jews and went in to them while they were reading their book. When they saw him (peace and blessings be upon him), they closed the book and went out. In one corner of the place of worship a man lay close to death. The narrator said: He (peace and blessings be upon him) came to this man, and the man said: "What has stopped them (the Jews) from reading is that you have come to them, and they were (at that moment) reading the attributes of a prophet, who is none other than you." Then the man came to the book, opened it, read it and said: "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah." Then the man's soul was taken. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Take care of your brother." The narrator said: So the Companions washed him, shrouded him and applied hunut (burial perfume) to him, and then he (peace and blessings be upon him) offered the funeral prayer over him.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that Jibril came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while he (peace and blessings be upon him) was playing with the children. Jibril took hold of him (peace and blessings be upon him) and laid him (peace and blessings be upon him) on the ground, then split open his (peace and blessings be upon him) blessed chest, took out his (peace and blessings be upon him) blessed heart, then took a clot out of the blessed heart and said: "This is Satan's share from you (from your heart)." Then Jibril washed the heart in a golden basin with Zamzam water, then Jibril sewed his (peace and blessings be upon him) heart and put it back in its place. The narrator said: The children came running to his (peace and blessings be upon him) mother, (that is,) his wet nurse, and said: "Muhammad has been killed." The narrator said: The people came toward him (peace and blessings be upon him), and his (peace and blessings be upon him) color had changed. Sayyiduna Anas said: I saw the marks of the needle on his (peace and blessings be upon him) chest.

Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: At the very beginning, revelation stopped coming to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and seclusion became dear to him (peace and blessings be upon him), so he (peace and blessings be upon him) would go into seclusion in Hira. While he (peace and blessings be upon him) was coming back from Hira, he said: "I heard a faint sound above me, so I raised my head. Suddenly I saw something on a chair. When I saw it, I sank to the ground in fright, and I came quickly to my family and said: 'Cover me with a blanket, cover me with a blanket.' Then Jibril came to me and began to say: 'O you wrapped in a cloak, arise and warn, and magnify your Lord, and purify your garments, and shun the filth.'"

It is reported from Ikrimah, regarding the words of Allah "O you wrapped in a cloak", that he said: This matter has been wrapped upon you, so stand up with it. And regarding the words of Allah "O you enveloped in a garment", it is reported that he said: This matter has been wound around you, so stand up with it.