with the Holy Spirit.”

In the Sahīh, Anas reports:

“It is as though I can still see the dust rising in the lane of Banū Ghunm from Gabriel’s procession.”

In the two Sahīh collections, ‘Ā’isha reports that al-Hārith ibn Hishām asked, “O Messenger of Allah, how does revelation come to you?”

He replied:

“Sometimes it comes to me like the ringing of a bell, and this is the most difficult form for me. Then it ceases, and I have retained what he said. At other times, the angel appears to me in the form of a man and speaks to me, and I retain what he says.”

The accounts of Gabriel coming to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—sometimes in the form of a Bedouin and sometimes in the form of Dihya al-Kalbī—and repeatedly speaking to him and teaching him to recite are too numerous to recount here.

In the two Sahīh collections, Abū Hurayra reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Angels take turns among you by night and by day, and they gather at the dawn and afternoon prayers. Then those who spent the night among you ascend, and their Lord asks them—though He knows better than they do—‘In what state did you leave My servants?’ They reply, ‘We left them praying, and we came to them while they were praying.’”

In the two Sahīh collections, ‘Ā’isha reports:

“I stuffed a pillow bearing images for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace; it resembled a cushion. He came and stood there, and the expression on his face began to change. I asked, ‘What is the matter, O Messenger of Allah?’

“He said, ‘What is this pillow?’

“I replied, ‘It is a pillow I made for you to recline on.’

“He said, ‘Did you not know that the angels do not enter a house containing an image? Those who make images will be punished on the Day of Resurrection and told, “Give life to what you have created.”’”

And in the two Sahīh collections,