Why and when Revelations stopped
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's
Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:
As salaam alaikum Burhan!
My question is on the revelation of Allah Subhanahu`s Glorious Book - Al
Qur`aan. Sometime during Prophet Muhammad`s (saws) prophethood the wahye had
stopped for a period of 40 days. Would you know at what stage the inspiration
stopped, what was the last ayat before the revelation stopped and the
first ayat immediately the revelation started again?
Shukran and looking forward to hearing from you.
Was salaam.
(There
may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum
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Answer:
Why
and when Revelations stopped
In the
name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness.
Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray,
none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no
person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai, nobody!) worthy of
worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His
slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah Israa verse 106: (It is) a Qur'an which We have divided (into parts from time to
time) in order that thou mightest recite it to men at intervals: We have
revealed it by stages.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 25 Surah Furqaan verses 32-33:
32 Those who reject Faith say: "Why is not the Qur'an revealed to
him all at once?" Thus (is it revealed) that We may strengthen thy heart
thereby, and We have rehearsed it to thee in slow well-arranged stages
gradually.
33 And no question do they bring to thee, but We reveal to thee the
Truth and the best explanation (thereof).
The
All-Wise, All-Knowing Lord did not reveal the Glorious Quran all at once, but
rather in His Wisdom and Mercy revealed it in stages over a period of 23 odd
years, so that the believers might
truly digest and ponder over its contents upon Revelation, or whenever the
disbelievers asked a question to the Prophet (saws) regarding the unseen, Allah
Subhanah would reveal the answers in Truth.
The
Prophet Mohamed (saws) nor Hadrat Jibrael (a.s.) had absolutely no control over
the stages, times, contents, or the volumes of when and how many of the Aayahs
were revealed. This control was in the
absolute control and power of the Lord All-Mighty.
The
Muslim Ummah is almost unanimous in their opinion that the first verses of the
Quran which were revealed to Prophet Mohamed (saws) in the cave of Hira on the
Night of Qadr in the month of Ramadan were the first five Aayah of Surah
Al-Alaq:
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 96 Surah Al-Alaq verses 1-5:
1 Proclaim! (or Read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher Who
created!
2 Created man out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood:
3 Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful
4 He, Who taught (the use of) the Pen
5 Taught man that which he knew not.
After the
Revelation of the above five verses of Surah Al-Alaq, it is established by
authentic tradition that no Revelation came down for quite some time.
Ibn Jarir in his commentary states: “Revelation to the Holy
Prophet (saws) remained suspended for quite some time, and it was such a period
of deep grief and distress for him (saws), that he started going to the top of
the mountains.”
Hadrat Jabir ibn Abdullah (r.a.) reported that the Messenger of
Allah (saws) describing the period of ‘fairat al-wahi’ (break in Revelation)
said: ‘One day when I was passing on the way, I suddenly heard a call from heaven. I raised my head and saw that the same Angel
(Jibrael (a.s.)) who visited me in the Cave of Hira was sitting on a throne
between the heaven and the earth. This
struck terror into my heart, and upon reaching home quickly, I said (to his
wife Hadrat Khadijah (r.a.)), “Cover me up!
Cover me up!”. So the people of
the house covered me up with a quilt.
At that time, Allah sent down the Revelation: Yaa Ayyuhal Muddaththir….
(the first seven verses of Surah 74).
From then on the Revelations became intense and continuous.”
Narrated by Al Bukhari, Muslim, Musnad Ahmad.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 74 Surah Muddaththir verses
1-7:
1 O thou wrapped up (in a mantle)!
2 Arise and deliver thy warning!
3 And thy Lord do thou magnify!
4 And thy garments keep free from stain!
5 And all abomination shun!
6 Nor expect in giving any increase (for thyself)!
7 But for thy Lord's (Cause) be patient and constant!
Sometimes
there would be such a huge time gap between two Revelations, that the Messenger
of Allah (saws) would get greatly distressed and disturbed at the intervals,
thinking that maybe he had not fulfilled his duties as Allah’s Messenger, and
the All-Mighty Lord had thus been displeased and forsaken him! On one such occasion the Merciful Lord sent
down these Aayah to console the Prophet (saws) of his anxiety, and inform him
that neither the Lord was displeased nor had He forsaken Him; but the
suspension was because that was within the Plan of the All-Knowing, All-Wise
Lord of the Worlds.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 93 Surah Ad-Dhuha verses 1-5:
1 By the Glorious Morning Light.
2 And by the Night when it is still
3 The Guardian-Lord Hath not forsaken thee, Nor is He displeased.
4 And verily the hereafter will be better for thee than the present.
5 And soon will thy Guardian-Lord give thee (that wherewith) thou
shalt be well-pleased.
This
state of anxiety at the suspension of Revelations was experienced by the Holy
Prophet (saws) in the initial stage of the Prophethood when he was not yet accustomed
to the intensity of Revelations.
Whatever
written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance,
and whatever of error is of me. Allah
Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in Islam,
Burhan