Performing Salah requires preparation a warm-up.

You dont just dive into

prayer
1.
2.
3.
4.

Be sure youre clean & you have wudu

Face the Qiblah
Place a sutra in front of you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutrah
Even the divine revelation experienced by the Prophet (saw) had a warm-up
the rediscovery of the well of Zamzam, Year of the Elephant, the gradual decrease
of interaction between the jinn & the soothsayers, etc.
Shayatin would bring bits of info to the soothsayers.

There was a time period when shayatin were delayed in bringing news to the
soothsayers. Soothsayers getting nervous because their business is going down
the drain.
Soothsayer: Whats up? Where you been? Ive been sitting here waiting for you.
Shayatin: A prophet is about to come from these Arabs, and you will call towards
Allah, and you will call towards the worship of Allah.
This one soothsayer says, Im very shocked by whats going on with these jinn.
Theyve lost control of their situation how all their information has been cut off
from them.
A lot of these jinn were even leaving for Makkah

Were going to receive guidance. Were going there to meet this Prophet.
Were going to Safwa bin Hashim to kiss the eyes and head of this Prophet.
Bad jinn are trying to keep their business going. Good jinn are going to Makkah
to receive Prophets message
A narration states that a Prophet was approached by a man who came to accept
Islam

The man is so excited to meet the Prophet. I was a soothsayer, and I used to be
visited by the jinn. For quite some time, I took advantage of this situation, until
one day they came to me and told me to go to Makkah and find the final Prophet
and accept Islam. Now that Ive found you, its so overwhelming to see you with
my own eyes.
Prophet asks him, Do these jinn still come to talk to you now?
Man says, Ever since I first recited a line from the Quran, the shayatin dont
come to me anymore.
From the age of 25-35, we dont have a lot of narrations of the Muhammads
life

Being the ultimate role model, his main achievement at this time was establishing
a home & a family
Its not an empty part in the seerah we cant say nothing happened during

this time just because it wasnt documented

He invested time into his family & building a home at that time
Muhammad ventures a bit outside of Makkah to clear his head from daily life

While walking around, he goes up into the mountains & the hills (like a hike)
1 He goes to the hills to the Jabbal Noor
He climbs on one mountain (treacherous) and climbs off the other side
He sees a cave with a small opening, & it has barely enough room for 2 people
1 The cave has two openings: one of the openings is big enough for a
person to enter, and the other opening is very small, just big enough
to let in a breeze
2 On the side of the small opening, there are some big rocks, so it
gives a feel of being in a private room
When Muhammad sits at the opening of the cave and he looks out, he can see
Baytullah in the distance. He had very sharp vision
The first occasion when Muhammad meditated in the Hannuth (isolation) was
during the month of Ramadan 2 years before the first revelation
He packed some food & went to the Cave of Hira. Some scholars say that
Muhammad stayed in the cave for the entire month, & some say that he stayed
part of the month, until his supplies were exhausted

For 600+ years, the doors of revelation were closed

Up until the point Muhammad received Prophethood, he lived a full life,
buidling a home & working
5.
6.

He matured into a very intelligent & successful businessman. He married a great

woman & was raising their kids
At this point his attention turned towards his society. This caused him to seek out
isolation for periods of time to meditate & reflect on life at the Cave of Hira
His habit of going & isolating himself in the cave was during the month of
Ramadan
The established Sunnah of isolating oneself in the masjid during Ramadan began
here
He found peace & tranquility in the cave. This was all preparing him to be able to
receive divine revelation
Badlul Wahi (The Beginning of Revelation)
Imam Bukhari mentions a narration, that Aisha narrated, The very first thing
that began with Prophet receiving revelation, was that he started to receive true
dreams dreams that would materialize & come true in the morning.
These dreams happened frequently. He saw both big & little things come true

He had also seen in a dream that an angel came & recited the word of Allah to
him
Whats the purpose of dreams?

Dreams are a form of divine revelation (e.g. Ibrahim being ordered to sacrifice his
most precious possession)
Allah wanted the Prophet to learn to trust his heart , to not be frightened, to not
doubt at any level the visions that were occurring to him
So that the Prophet would become internally focused, & that he would trust what
is in his heart
After a while, Muhammad learned to trust
In sleep, he would see dreams that would come to fruition. As true as the
morning is, so were the dreams
Muhammad would seek out isolation in the Cave of Hira

At-tahannut comes from al-hanathu, which means to break or violate an oath

At-tahannuth means to depart from something, to pull/draw away from
something
Muhammad was drawing away from the corruption, the shirk, the idolworshipping
This is how Muhammad (unknowingly) prepared himself physically, spiritually,
& emotionally to receive divine revelation. To be able to receive divine revelation,
take yourself out of the bad surroundings
He would spend many nights in the Cave of Hira before returning to his family
Haqq means stable, something has a stable foundation
When Allah refers to the Quran and Islam as haqq, He means that it has a
stable foundation
Prophet came with foundation of Islam
The angel Jibril came to Muhammad with the divine revelation, and said,
Iqra. Read.
The Prophet said, I am not a reader. This is explained in 2 ways
He was unlettered, meaning he did not know how to read & write
The Prophet was expressing his sentiment, What do you mean, read? What are
you talking about?
Jibril completely smothered/embraced tightly Muhammad. The angel held on to
the Prophet until I had lost all my energy from trying to resist.
Jibril released the Prophet
Jibril again said, Read. The Prophet replied, I dont read.
Jibril then again embraced the Prophet tightly, until the Prophet could not resist
anymore and Jibril released him again.
The angel said, Read. The Prophet replied for the 3rd time, I dont read.
Again, the angel embraced the Prophet tightly for a long time before releasing
him again
This whole physical interaction was part of the preparation of receiving divine
revelation

Hajj is as much a spiritual activity as it is a physical activity. Both the spiritual &
physical interact in a persons imaan
The Prophet would sometimes pray at the Haram. He couldnt openly preach
yet, but because of his uncle Abu Talibs protection, the Prophet could at least
pray at the Haram

Umar bin al-Khattab, who had not accepted Islam yet, once saw the Prophet
praying, so he got close enough to the Prophet to hear what he was saying
The Prophet was reciting Surat Al-Haqqah. Umar heard the Prophet recite ayah,
Indeed, the Quran is the word of a noble Messenger (Surat Al-Haqqah, 69:40)
When Umar heard that ayah, he thought to himself, No, its not! Get out of here.
Its just a bunch of poetry.
Then the Prophet recited the next ayah, And it is not the word of a poet; little do
you believe (Surat Al-Haqqah, 69:41)
That was like a slap in the face for Umar, who did not expect that. He thought to
himself, How did he know what I was thinking?! Oh, I know whats up. Hes a
soothsayer. Hes a magician. Hes spooky.
Then the Prophet recited the next ayah, Nor [is it] the word of a soothsayer; little
do you remember (Surat Al-Haqqah, 69:42)
Then Umar was even more surprised. He thought to himself, This is not poetry.
And its not magic stuff. So what could it be?
Then the Prophet recited the next ayah, It is a revelation from the Lord of the
worlds.
At this point, Umar just turned around & walked away, thinking, You best forget
about this.
This is the second time that Umar was faced with the truth of Islam, but he
walked away from it

The first time was when Umar stumbled into a monastery in his drunken stupor
& fell asleep there. He woke up when he heard a bunch of idol-worshippers
sacrifice a goat. They were about to take the innards out of the goat to offer to the
idol, when a voice from within the dead goat started reciting the Shahadah
Umar thought he was seeing things, so he turned around & fell back to sleep
again
Umar finally accepts Islam when faced with the Truth the 3rd time

He barges into his sisters home to assassinate the Prophet. He picks up the
Quran, & he reads the ayah of Surah Taha, when that finally got to him. Umar
needed to be broken into spiritually before he could accept Islam, which is the
same thing that happened to the Prophet when Jibril embraced the Prophet
tightly before he could receive divine revelation
The scholars say that you need to experience pressure & then be broken into.
The third thing is to allow yourself some breathing room (which is why Jibril
would release the Prophet momentarily before telling the Messenger to read
again)

Now the Prophet is at the peak of his spiritual condition

It is at this point Jibril gives the Prophet his first revelation, Surat Al-Alaq
Recite, in the name of your Lord who created. Created man out of a clot of
congealed blood. Recite and your Lord is the most Generous. Who taught by the
pen. Taught man that which he knew not (Surat Al-Alaq, 96:1-5)

Prior to Prophethood, every Prophet would receive dreams & those dreams
would come true (usually in a time period of 6 months)
7.
8.

This was so that the Prophet would trust his heart. This is so that when people
would say to them, No, no, what you think you have seen is not true at all. Its
just your mind playing tricks on you.
So when Muhammad (saw) met Jibril (as) & spoke with the angel, he knew it was
for real
Majority of scholars say that Muhammad was 40 years old when he received
his first revelation
However, there is a minority who say that he was 36-37 years old or 42-43 years
old
The reason that there is this minor debate over the Prophets age is that
immediately following his first revelation, there were 2-3 years of a time period
where it was very silent
1 There was not a lot of active preaching/dawah or even any
revelations, because the Prophet was given this time to completely
embrace his role & this experience of Prophethood
The Prophets first revelation occurred on a Monday
The Prophet was very particular about fasting on Mondays. He said, Thats the
day I was born on, & thats the day I received revelation
Most scholars say that the first revelation was in the 21st night of Ramadan,
though others say it was the 14th or 27th night
Ibn Ishaq & most scholars heavily lean toward 21st night of Ramadan
The Prophet was meditating in the Cave of Hira when Jibril suddenly appeared
before him, commanding the Prophet to Read.
The Prophet replied that he did not know how to read, whereupon the angel
squeezed the Prophet, completely engulfing Muhammad in his embrace until the
Prophet just gave up resisting
Then the angel let the Prophet catch his breath for a little bit, before again telling
him, Read. The Prophet gave the same reply as before, & again the angel
embraced him tightly.
The angel again let go of the Prophet & told him to read. The Prophet, for the 3rd
time, said that he didnt know how to read. Jibril again hugged the Prophet
tightly, leaving him completely breathless before releasing the Prophet again
Jibril then said, Read, with the help of the name of your Lord. The One who
Created. Created the human being from a clot of blood. Read, and your Lord is

the Most Dignified. The One who taught using the pen. He taught the human
being that which he did not know.
From the beginning, Muhammad felt a huge burden of responsibility Can I
serve this cause properly? Can I live up to this expectation? I would rather kill
myself than abuse what responsibility has been given to me.

As soon as he left the cave of Hira, the Prophet started having these doubts. As he
was climbing a mountain & thinking these thoughts, he heard a voice from above
him
Ya Muhammad, anta Rasulillah. Innaka Rasulillah, wa ana Jibril.
O Muhammad, you are the Messenger of God. And I am Jibril.
Prophet looks up to see where the sound is coming from
This was one of the two occasions when Prophet got to see Jibril (as) in his true
form
Jibrils feet were slightly above the ground and his head was all the way up in the
clouds. He had 600 wings; when he opened 2 of his wings, it covered the entire
horizon from the east to the west
The Prophet recalls, I looked to the left, and all I could see is Jibril. I looked to
the right, and all I could see is Jibril. I felt so overwhelmed that I wanted to see
the open sky; everywhere I looked, all I saw is Jibril he covered everything.
Jibril said, You are the Messenger of Allah. Dont have any doubts about
yourself. I was there when you received the message.
This was Jibril comforting & reassuring the Prophet. As overwhelming as that
experience was for Muhammad, Jibrils words had a calming effect on him
Muhammad then returned home to Khadijah, but still, he was shaken up from
the experience
He told his wife, Zammiluni, zammiluni Cover me up, cover me up.
1 Khadijah immediately covered up the Prophet in a blanket & sat
down next to him, holding his hand. What happened?
After a few deep breaths, Muhammad tells Khadijah what transpired
1 The Prophet said, I feared for my life
Khadijah comforts her husband, Under no circumstances should you fear for
your life. Wallahi. Allah will not ruin you. Allah will not disgrace you, because you
maintain very good relationships with your family. You honor your guests. You
carry the weight & burdens of the people. You take care of people who are less
fortunate. You are always looking for any good cause to aid in.
1 These amazing words had a very calming effect on Muhammad.
Khadijah strengthen the Prophet through her words
Khadijah went to see her cousin Waraqah bin Nawfal
Waraqah was among the Hunafa, the handful of people worshipped as purely as
possible & stuck closely to the teachings of the Prophets of the Past
Waraqah had traveled to ash-Shaam (modern-day Syria) & learned Christianity.
He spent a good part of his life translating the Tawrat & Injeel to Arabic
Khadijah knew that Waraqah always spoke of these types of things the
prophecies, so she went to him

Some narrations that Khadijah went to Waraqah by herself & told him what
happened. Other narrations say that both Muhammad & Khadijah went together
to see Waraqah
At this time, Waraqah was a very old man. He had gone blind in his old age

When told of what had happened to Muhammad, Waraqah jumped up in

excitement. He said, This is the truth! This is the truth! This is the same namoos
(a carrier of the message/truth referring to Jibril) that used to come to Musa.
Waraqah is just so overwhelmed by what he hears that he says, I wish that I have
life to witness this all comes to fruition. I want to be around. I want to take a part
in the establishment of this truth. I pray that I am alive when your own people
will kick you out.
When the Prophet hears this, he is shocked. They are going to kick me out?! This
is my family, these are my neighbors! These people love me; they have nothing
against me. They would really kick me out of my city?
Waraqah confirms, Yes, they will. Whenever anyone came with the type of
message that youve come with, that person was always opposed. Never did a
person ever bring what you are bringing, except that they were opposed. They
were made an enemy of their people. If I am still around that day, I will help you
with everything I got.
Waraqah didnt live long after that meeting
This wasnt Waraqahs only meeting with Muhammad

Shortly after receiving Prophethood, Muhammad had a daily practice of sitting in

Kabah in deep reflection
One day, Waraqah is there at the Haram, worshipping. He saw the Prophet &
went up to him. Waraqah tells the Prophet, I believe in what youre saying & I
hope I have the opportunity to stand by & help you. Then he kissed the forehead
of Prophet.
Shortly after that, Waraqah passed away
The Prophet saw Waraqah (the Priest) in a dream few times

I saw the Priest wearing silk garments in Paradise because he believed in me.
When Prophet returned from Cave of Hira, he felt like the revelation was
written onto his heart. He remembered every word, every sound, every instance
of that moment

There was a brief pause after that first revelation

al-wahi, divine revelation, is in 5 forms

The 1st form is when Jibril presents himself in his true physical form to inform
Muhammad of his Prophethood. This was very overwhelming for Muhammad
he had seen Jibril in true form twice
The 2nd form of divine revelation was when Jibril would bring the divine
message to Prophet for the rest of his life, hed come in the form of a human
being to make it easier for Prophet

The form of human being Jibril would take was of a real Sahabiya named Dihya
from tribe of Al-Kalbi. Dihya was an actual human being, and an actual Sahabiya
who would visit the Prophet rarely. This is why Jibril would take Dihyas form,
who was a very handsome man
The 3rd form was when Muhammad would receive his message in a dream
The 4th from is that Allahs words would be directly inspired in Muhammads
heart from behind the curtain/screen/barrier.
The 5th & the harshest form of divine revelation was this long continuous ringing
of a bell, which would pierce Prophets mind. It would weigh down on him
heavily, so much so that if he was riding a camel at the time, the camel would be
forced to sit.
One time, the Prophet was resting his head on Aishas lap, and divine revelation
came. Aisha recalls that she felt as though her leg would be crushed
The Prophet would be exhausted after he was done receiving the divine
revelation. He would sweat profusely. Even if it was a very cold day, the Sahaba
could see that the perspiration would be so hot, that it would be steaming