Sahih Al-Bukhari, hadithi 4

This hadith is the Prophet ﷺ describing, in his own words, one of the most important turning points of his life. It begins with something completely ordinary: "While I was walking." He was not in seclusion, not in the cave, not in a moment of special worship. Then a voice called from above, and when he looked up he saw the very same angel who had come to him in the cave of Hira, seated on a chair between the sky and the earth.

That phrase, "the same angel," matters. It tells us he recognised the visitor, and that this was a continuation of what began at Hira, not a new or separate experience. Muslims understand this angel to be Jibril (Gabriel), the messenger of revelation.

His reaction was deeply human: he was frightened, he went home, and he asked to be wrapped up. The word he used, "zammiluni," means "cover me" or "wrap me up." There is no shame in this fear. The scene was overwhelming, and the honest record of it, preserved by the Prophet ﷺ himself, shows that revelation was not something he imagined or sought out. It came to him, and it shook him.

Then Allah revealed the opening of Surah al-Muddaththir (chapter 74). The address "O you who are wrapped in your cloak" speaks to him exactly as he was in that moment. Arabic speakers have long noted the tenderness of calling someone by their present state. But the very next command lifts him out of that state: "Arise and warn." The verses then instruct him to magnify his Lord, purify his garments, and shun "ar-rujz," which the narrator Abu Salamah explained as idols. In a few short lines, the private experience of Hira became a public mission. The first revelation had said "Read"; this one said "Arise."

The hadith ends with the words "the revelation then became intense and came continuously." The period of pause was over, and revelation would keep coming, steadily, for more than twenty years. The short technical notes at the end of the Arabic (that other narrators "followed" this report, and that Yunus and Ma'mar said "bawadiruhu") are al-Bukhari's own scholarly remarks. He is showing that the report was transmitted by several students of az-Zuhri, and noting that in the preceding hadith about the first revelation, some narrators described the trembling of the flesh between his neck and shoulders ("bawadir") rather than of his heart. Even in these small notes we see how carefully the early scholars preserved every detail.

The first revelation came to the Prophet ﷺ in the cave of Hira, on the mountain near Makkah now called Jabal an-Nur, when he was about forty years old, around the year 610 CE. After that first encounter there was a pause in revelation, known in Arabic as "fatrat al-wahy." Early reports differ about how long it lasted, and scholars have discussed it without reaching one certain figure; what is clear is that it was a difficult time for him, as he waited without knowing what would come next.

This hadith describes how that waiting ended. Jabir ibn Abdullah was a young boy in Madinah at the time and did not witness it himself; he is reporting what he later heard the Prophet ﷺ say about it. The verses revealed on this occasion mark the beginning of the call to warn and invite people, which began quietly among those close to him in Makkah and later became open and public.

Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, in Fath al-Bari, his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari, uses this hadith to settle a well-known question: which part of the Qur'an was revealed first? Jabir held the view that it was the opening of al-Muddaththir. Ibn Hajar, like most scholars, points out that the hadith itself contains the answer, since the Prophet ﷺ says this was "the same angel who came to me at Hira," which shows the Hira encounter, with the opening verses of Surah al-'Alaq ("Read"), came first. Al-Muddaththir is therefore understood as the first revelation after the pause, and the first command to warn. Ibn Hajar also discusses the differing reports about how long the pause lasted.

An-Nawawi, in his Sharh Sahih Muslim, comments on the same report as it appears in Sahih Muslim, where Jabir is asked directly which surah came first. An-Nawawi states that the correct view is that the opening of Surah al-'Alaq was absolutely the first revelation, and that Jabir's statement is to be understood as referring to what came after the pause.

Badr ad-Din al-'Ayni, in 'Umdat al-Qari, his own commentary on al-Bukhari, likewise draws out the order of events and the lessons of the report, including that fear in the face of something overwhelming is a natural human response and does not contradict faith or prophethood. Together these commentators show that the hadith is valued both as history, recording how the mission unfolded, and as guidance, showing the movement from personal experience to public responsibility.

• Read the first seven verses of Surah al-Muddaththir (74:1-7) today, slowly, with a translation, and note each of the commands it contains.
• When something overwhelms you, do what the Prophet ﷺ did: go to a safe place and to people you trust, and let them comfort you before you face the next step.
• Take one concrete step to "purify your garments": check that your clothes for prayer are clean, and ask yourself what inner habit also needs cleaning.
• Identify one modern "idol" in your life, such as an app, habit, or obsession that takes Allah's place in your attention, and set a limit on it this week.
• Say "Allahu akbar" (Allah is greater) with presence of heart at least ten times today, remembering the command "and your Lord, magnify."
• If you have been waiting for a sign before starting something good, treat today as your "arise": take the first small action.

This hadith shows the Prophet's ﷺ remarkable honesty. He could have told this story in a way that made him look fearless, yet he openly described being frightened and asking to be wrapped up. That humility is part of what made him trustworthy: he never exaggerated his own strength. At the same time, the moment the command came to "arise and warn," he did not hide behind his fear. He carried the message for the rest of his life, through hardship and opposition, showing that true courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness to rise despite it.

Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari was from the Banu Salimah clan of the Khazraj tribe in Madinah. As a youth he accompanied his father to the Second Pledge of 'Aqabah, when the people of Madinah pledged to support the Prophet ﷺ. His father, Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn Haram, was martyred at the Battle of Uhud, leaving Jabir to care for his sisters and settle his father's debts. Sahih al-Bukhari records how the Prophet ﷺ came to his orchard and prayed for blessing in his dates, so that the harvest was enough to pay every creditor with dates left over.

Jabir became one of the companions who narrated the most hadith, numbering well over a thousand reports. He lived long, teaching in the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah, and died there in old age around 78 AH, among the last of the Companions to pass away in the city. Much of what we know about the Prophet's Hajj, his daily life, and his teachings comes through Jabir's careful memory.

Scholars genuinely differed over which revelation came first. Jabir ibn Abdullah, the narrator, held that the first was the opening of Surah al-Muddaththir. The great majority, including Ibn Hajar and an-Nawawi, held that the first was the opening of Surah al-'Alaq ("Read in the name of your Lord"), based on the hadith of 'A'ishah about the cave of Hira, which comes just before this one in Sahih al-Bukhari. Most scholars reconcile the two views by explaining that al-'Alaq was the first revelation absolutely, while al-Muddaththir was the first after the pause and the first to command him to warn people. Jabir's view is respected as his honest understanding of what he heard, and the reconciliation allows both reports to stand as authentic.

Imagine you have just finished a beautiful Ramadan or a powerful retreat. You felt close to Allah, your prayers were full of meaning, and you promised yourself things would be different. Then weeks pass, the feeling fades, and everything seems quiet and flat. You start to wonder whether that closeness was ever real.

The Prophet ﷺ himself lived through a period when revelation paused, and then it returned stronger than before. How might you treat your own quiet seasons differently if you saw them as a time of preparation rather than a sign that Allah has left you?