Sahih al-Bukhari 6982

Translation

✧ The first form of revelation with which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ began was the true dream in sleep. He would not see any dream except that it came like the break of dawn. He would go to Hira and devote himself to worship there—that is, worship—for a number of nights, taking provisions for that. He would then return to Khadijah, and she would provide him with provisions for a similar period, until the Truth came upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him there and said, "Read." The Prophet ﷺ said to her: "I said, 'I am not a reader.' He took hold of me and pressed me until I reached the limit of my endurance. Then he released me and said, 'Read.' I said, 'I am not a reader.' He took hold of me and pressed me a second time until I reached the limit of my endurance. Then he released me and said, 'Read.' I said, 'I am not a reader.' He pressed me a third time until I reached the limit of my endurance. Then he released me and said, 'Read in the name of your Lord who created,' until he reached, 'what he did not know.'" He returned with it, the muscles between his neck and shoulders trembling, until he entered upon Khadijah and said, "Wrap me up! Wrap me up!" They wrapped him up until his fear subsided. He then said, "Khadijah, what is happening to me?" He told her what had happened and said, "I fear for myself." She said to him, "No! Be of good cheer. By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You maintain ties of kinship, speak the truth, support those burdened by need, honor the guest, and assist people through the vicissitudes that befall them in the cause of truth." Khadijah then took him to Waraqah b. Nawfal b. Asad b. Abd al-Uzza b. Qusayy. He was Khadijah's paternal cousin, the brother of her father. He was a man who had embraced Christianity in the pre-Islamic period. He used to write the Arabic script and would write in Arabic from the Gospel as much as Allah willed him to write. He was an elderly man who had become blind. Khadijah said to him, "O my cousin, listen to your nephew." Waraqah said, "My nephew, what have you seen?" The Prophet ﷺ told him what he had seen. Waraqah said, "This is the Namus who was sent down to Moses. If only I were young at that time! If only I were alive when your people drive you out!" The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Will they drive me out?" Waraqah said, "Yes. No man has ever brought what you have brought without being met with hostility. If I live to see your day, I will give you mighty support." Not long afterward, Waraqah died, and revelation ceased for a period.  According to what has reached us, the Prophet ﷺ became so grieved that he repeatedly went out intending to throw himself from the summits of high mountains. Whenever he reached the summit of a mountain in order to cast himself from it, Gabriel appeared to him and said, "O Muhammad, you are truly the Messenger of Allah." At this, his heart would become calm, his soul would settle, and he would return. Whenever the cessation of revelation lasted long for him, he would go out to do the same. When he reached the summit of a mountain, Gabriel would appear to him and say the same thing.

Notes

• ✧ Ibn Abbas said, "The Cleaver of daybreak" means the light of the sun by day and the light of the moon by night.

• قَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ {فَالِقُ الإِصْبَاحِ} ضَوْءُ الشَّمْسِ بِالنَّهَارِ وَضَوْءُ الْقَمَرِ بِاللَّيْلِ

Grades by grader

Other narrations of this report

Sahih al-Bukhari 4956Sahih Muslim 160aMusannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 36966al-Sunan al-Kubra (al-Bayhaqi) 17794al-Mustadrak (al-Hakim) 2873al-Mustadrak (al-Hakim) 3953

Narrators

1. 1
   ʿĀʾishah bt. Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq

   Mother of the Believers, the most knowledgeable woman in jurisprudence absolutely (afqah al-nisāʾ muṭlaqan)d. 57 AH, or 58 AH
   عَائِشَةُ بِنْتُ أَبِي بَكْرٍ الصِّدِّيقِأم المؤمنين ، أفقه النساء مطلقا
   عن
2. 2
   ʿUrwah b. al-Zubayr

   trustworthy (thiqah), a jurist (faqīh), well-known (mashhūr)d. 91 AH, or 92, or 93 AH, or 94 AH, or 95 AH, or 99 AH, or 100 AH, or 101 AH
   عُرْوَةُثقة فقيه مشهور
   أخبرني
3. 3
   al-Zuhrī

   The jurist and memorizer (ḥāfiẓ), whose eminence, precision and reliability are agreed upond. Ḍamrah b. Rabīʿah and others said: 123 AH. The nephew of al-Zuhrī and others said: 124 AH. Ibn Yūnus and others said: 125 AH
   الزُّهْرِيُّالفقيه الحافظ ، متفق على جلالته وإتقانه وثبته
   عن
4. 4
   ʿUqayl

   trustworthy, precise (thiqah thabt)d. 141 AH, or: 142 AH, or: 144 AH
   عُقَيْلٍثقة ثبت
   عن
5. 5
   al-Layth b. Saʿd

   Trustworthy (thiqah), reliable (thabt), a jurist (faqīh), a well-known imamd. 175 AH, or 176 AH, or 177 AH
   اللَّيْثُثقة ثبت ، فقيه إمام مشهور
   حدثنا
6. 6
   Yaḥyā b. Bukayr

   Trustworthy (thiqah) in narrating from al-Layth, but they spoke critically about his hearing from Mālikd. 231 AH or 232 AH
   يَحْيَى بْنُ بُكَيْرٍثقة في الليث ، وتكلموا في سماعه من مالك
   حدثنا
7. 7
   al-Bukhārī

   a mountain of memorization and the leader of the world in the comprehension of hadith (jabal al-ḥifẓ wa-imām al-dunyā fī fiqh al-ḥadīth)d. 256 AH
   الْبُخَارِيُّجبل الحفظ وإمام الدنيا في فقه الحديث

Who each narrator was and how reliable, from hdith.com

Latin names and English verdicts with a dotted underline are machine translations, not reviewed.

Also in

Mishkat al-Masabih 5842