about the pause in revelation:

“While I was walking, I heard a voice. I looked up towards heaven, and there was the angel who had come to me at Hirā’, sitting on a chair between heaven and earth. I went on until I fell to the ground. Then I came to my family and said, ‘Wrap me up! Wrap me up!’ So they wrapped me up. Then Allah Most High revealed, ‘O you wrapped in your cloak, arise and warn,’ down to His words, ‘And shun uncleanliness.’”’

This makes clear that Sūrat al-Muddaththir was revealed after that pause, and that this occurred after he saw the angel who had first come to him at Hirā’. He had thus seen the angel twice. This explains the hadith of Jābir transmitted through another chain, as the two compilers narrated from Yahyā ibn Abī Kathīr, who said:

“I asked Abū Salamah ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān about the first passage of the Quran to be revealed.

“He replied, ‘O you wrapped in your cloak.’

“I said, ‘People say it was “Read in the name of your Lord who created.”’

“Abū Salamah said, ‘I asked Jābir ibn ‘Abd Allāh about that and said to him just what you have said. Jābir replied, “I will tell you only what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told us. He said: ‘I stayed in retreat at Hirā’. When I had completed my retreat, I descended, and someone called out to me. I looked to my right but saw nothing. I looked to my left but saw nothing. I looked ahead of me but saw nothing. I looked behind me but saw nothing. Then I raised my head and saw something. I went to Khadījah and said, “Cover me up and pour cold water over me.” So they covered me up and poured cold water over me.