with a message you are to convey to your people; it is truly a matter of prophethood. If I live to see your time, I shall follow you.”

He then said, “Rejoice, O son of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, in the glad tidings with which Allah has favored you.”

The narrator adds: Waraqah’s declaration and his endorsement of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ soon spread, and this greatly upset the leaders of Quraysh. After that the revelation paused, and they said, “Had it really been from Allah it would have continued; rather, Allah has abandoned him.” In response Allah revealed Sūrat al-Ḍuḥā and Sūrat Alam Nashraḥ in their entirety (2).

Al-Bayhaqī relates (3): Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ told us, Abū al-ʿAbbās told us, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār told us, Yūnus narrated to us from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Ḥakīm, the client of the family of al-Zubayr, told me that Khadījah bint Khuwaylid said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—seeking to reassure him about the honor Allah had granted him through prophethood:

“Dear cousin, can you let me know about this companion of yours whenever he comes to you?”

He answered, “Yes.”

She said, “Then, when he comes, tell me.”

While the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was with her, Gabriel arrived; the Prophet ﷺ saw him and said, “O Khadījah, this is Gabriel.”

She asked, “Do you see him now?”

He replied, “Yes.”

She said, “Sit to my right side.” He moved and sat to her right.

She asked again, “Do you see him now?”

He said, “Yes.”

She said, “Move and sit in my lap.” He moved and sat in her lap.

She asked, “Do you see him now?”

He said, “Yes.”

She then uncovered her head and removed her veil while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sitting in her lap, and said, “Do you see him now?”

He answered, “No.”

She said, “This is not a devil; this is an angel, dear cousin. Stand firm and rejoice!” She thereupon believed in him and testified that what he had brought is the truth.

Ibn Isḥāq (4) said: I recounted this report to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥasan, and he said, “I heard my mother Fāṭimah bint al-Ḥusayn relate this same account from Khadījah, except that I heard her say: she placed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ between herself and her mantle, at which point Gabriel departed.”

Al-Bayhaqī (5) commented: This was something Khadījah did to gain further certainty—out of caution for her faith and in order to be fully convinced. As for the Prophet ﷺ, he was already confident of what Gabriel had told him and of the signs the angel had shown him time and again, including the repeated salutations of the trees and stones upon him ﷺ.

Muslim records in his Ṣaḥīḥ (6): Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us, Yaḥyā ibn Abī Bukayr narrated to us, Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭahmān narrated to me, from Samāk ibn Ḥarb, from Jābir ibn Samurah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“I know a stone in Mecca that used to greet me before I was commissioned; indeed, I recognize it even now.”

Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī (7) said: Sulaymān ibn Muʿādh narrated to us, from Samāk ibn Ḥarb, from Jābir ibn Samurah, that