The work which is posted on this page for the English READERS comprise the historical chapters of the most important compilation of Traditions, the SAHIH AL-BUKHARI: Being The Historical Chapters of AL-BUKHARI compiled Imam Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ismail and translated by Muhammad Asad: containing following the most important chapters of Al-Bukhari:
(i) HOW THE REVEALATION BEGAN
(ii) THE MERITS OF THE PROPHET'S COMPANIONS.
(iii) THE BEGINNING OF ISLAM.
(IV) THE BOOK OF CAMPAIGNS 
This depicts the beginning of the Prophet's revelation and the early years of Islam up and including the decisive turning point of Islamic history, the battle of Badr.
It is not enough to know what this or that great man of the past thought about matters Islamic; it is not enough to live in the shadow of thoughts that have been thought at a period so remote from us that they can hardly have any immediate bearing on the exigencies of our present day life. What we most urgently need today is a new understanding and a direct appreciation of the true teachings of Islam. In order to achieve this we must once again make real the voice of the Prophet of Islam - real, as if he were speaking directly to us and for us ; and it is in the Hadith that his voice can be most clearly heard.

The term Hadith/Ahadith primarily denotes a narrative or report; in Islamic theological usage it has come to mean the records of the sayings and doings of the Prophet Muhammad, and is hence translated as "Tradition"

It was as much from the Master's example as from the Qur'an that the companions of the Prophet derived their beliefs and their rules of conduct. For the later generations of Muslims, who no longer had the life of the Prophet before their eyes, the exact knowledge of the records enshrining his teachings became even greater necessity; and so people began to compile and write down the Traditions handed down to them by the companions and their immediate successors. The prodigious memory of the Arabs, so amply borne out by history, was a great advantage for a faithful preservation of Traditions. Besides, even in the lifetime of the Prophet of Allah a few of his companions for example Abd Allah ibn 'Amr used to commit these reports to writing, and the increasing distance from the time of the Prophet made this practice imperative, However, until the beginning of the third century after the Hijrah, there was no system in these collections, and the individual Ahadith were hardly ever critically sifted. In consequence, much unreliable material got mixed up with genuine; and as a reaction to this, critical investigation of Traditions was taken up and rapidly developed into a science.

In the case of any historical document relating to a time interior to its composition, the means of verification are firstly, a corroboration of the evidence adduced in the document concerned by other, independent sources; and, secondly, a thorough investigation of the reliability of the authorities - or the chain of authorities - responsible for the transmission of the historical facts underlying the document in question. This principle was gradually, and with increasing rigor, applied to the Traditions. Different accounts bearing on one and the same accident or saying were critically compared, and every chain of narrators called isnad subjected to very intense scrutiny. In order that a Tradition be recognized as "sound" sahih, all facts about the lives of its narrators, commencing with the Prophet's companion or companions who first reported it, must be known and historically established, including the fact of an unbroken contiguity (in contact) in the line of narrators, and a positive proof that every one of them was in personal contact with his authority, i.e, the person who communicated to him the hadith in question. Every one of the narrator must be known to be truthful, pious, just, just and possessing a faultless memory- So much so that any substantiated challenge (ta'n) on any of these points automatically removes the narrator concerned from the rank of trustworthy authorities thiqat. And, finally, if two or more persons who otherwise could be regarded as reliable narrator intrinsically conflicting traditions on the same subject, they lose their position of unquestioned authority, with the result that no Tradition reported by them can by itself i.e without corroboration by another chain of narrators be classified as sahih.

It is not intended to give here the full methodology of hadith; the above lines should merely explain one of the reasons for the extraordinary esteem in which Al- Bukhari's kitab al-Jami-al-sahih has been held throughout the Muslim world. This appreciation is due to high sense of intellectual and moral responsibility and the extreme severity with which its author has - who lived in the first half of the third century after the Hijrah (9th century of Christian era)- approached the problem of hadith. His standard of investigation and scrutiny are far more rigorous than those of any other Traditionist before or after him; and it can safely be said that to this day they answer to the most exacting demands historical criticism. 
Our realization that the Traditions regarded as sahih by this most rigorous of all Traditionalists are indeed historically reliable is of the utmost importance to the ideological future of Islam: for it is in the sunnah - the way of life - of the Last Prophet of Allah that the spirit of Islam finds its authentic, concrete expression; and it is through ahadith alone that the Prophet's Sunnah is fully conveyed to us.
 
In other words our knowledge of Hadith is indispensible key to a full understanding of the sunnah and thus, of Islam.  
The necessity, for a Muslim of following the sunnah of the prophet is firmly established in the Quran itself. But one could ask ; assuming that the traditions as such are genuine and reliable, do the present day condition of the world and society permit a full application of sunnah to the practicle lives of the Muslims, or would such an application as – as some assert- result in complete social rigidity, and thus, constitute a permanent draw back to the cultural possibilities of the Muslim world, to this we have a definite answer; if, despite the clear cut Quranic injunctions, relating to the prophet’s sunnah that sunnah were not practicable at this or any other time, the only possible conclusion would be that the relevant Quranic injunctions are in themselves, meaningless and impracticable. For a Muslim who regards the Quran as the word of Allah this proposition is obviously unacceptable. Consequently if we have reason to believe that sources from which we draw our knowledge of sunnah that is ahadith are historically reliable then this sunnah, rightly understood must be practicable at all times and cannot be a drawback to Muslim life.
 
But what does” the sunnah rightly understood, “mean? Has its interpretation- nay, the interpretation of the holy Quran itself – been fixed for us, once and for all at some remote period of the past? This unfortunately, would seem to be the attitude of vast majority of Muslims. Since many centuries they have ceased to think independently about the teachings of Islam and contended themselves with the mere repetition of ideas and conceptions formed not later than in the fourth century after the hijrah and often reflecting the meanderings of new platonic philosophy which loomed so large in the minds of many Muslims scholars from the second century onwards; ideas and conceptions which do not in every case coincide with the intention of the last prophet and his companions. In short, it was the rigidity of the mediaeval Muslim thinking about the prophet’s teaching and not a supposed rigidity of sunnah as such that was undoubtedly one of the main causes of the cultural decay of the Muslim world. To be sure none can pretend that the works of early Muslim generations could be dispensed with in our days they are as necessary for us as they were necessary for our predecessors. But are we to assume that all possibilities of religious knowledge have been exhausted by those early works and that nothing remains for us but to follow them blindly without the right to scrutinize and interpret them anew?
 
Obviously, it cannot be so. The very greatness of the Quran- and consequently of the sunnah of its apostle-consists in the fact that the more our worldly knowledge increases, the more new and hitherto hidden meanings appear in them. The piety and the religious ardor of the Muslims may be lower in our days than in the earliest centuries of Islam, but certainly not our means of understanding. The interpretation given to the teachings of Islam by the last prophet will forever remain binding on Muslim, but beyond this he is free- in fact required to use his own intellect and his own conscience. This, and nothing else, was the attitude of the great Islamic thinkers whom we describe as imams (leaders). They never pretend to be infallible they were learned men devoted to the search for truth, and they knew that the duty of thinking could never cease to be a duty for man,  it is a duty for you and for me.
 
A genuine revival of Islam is impossible without an intensive inquiry into its original spirit. We must build further and higher on the foundations supplied by past generations of scholars and thinkers. We cannot accept the idea that the teachings of Islam could ever be exhausted in all their depth; and no word of anyone below the prophet can ever be considered to be final; all of us who labor at a better understanding of the word of Allah and the Example of HIS prophet are but travellers aiming at new discoveries in the domain of the spirit.
 
And in this endeavor of ours we cannot find a better aid and companion than the immortal Sahih al Bukhari.
 
  And the word of Allah – glorified be HIS name “Behold, WE revealed unto you as WE have revealed unto Noah and the prophets after him.*
 
Hadith 1:
 
Al Humaydi Abd Allah ibn Az Zuabyr related, Sufiyan related, Yahya ibn Sad al Ansari related saying: Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim at Tayiimi told what he heard Alqama ibn Waqas al Laysi say: I heard  Umer ibn al Khattab say on the pulpit : I heard the Messenger of Allah say : Behold the actions are but judged according to the intentions, and, behold, unto every man is due but what he intended. Thence, whoso migrated for the sake of this world or to wed a woman*, his migration is accounted for that unto which he migrated*. " 
 
*This introductory remark originated from Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Maatr al Firabi, the disciple of Al Buakhari responsible for the text we are using. He heard the Sahih twice from the lips of Al Bukhari once in his native town Firabr in the year 248 A.H. and once in Bukhara in the year 252 A.H.
 
*Al Bukhari opens this collection of traditions with this chapter because the belief in the reality of divine revelation and consequently the prophet hood of Muhammad PBUH is the main pillar of Islam. The revelation supplies an essential need of mankind. The human understanding is strictly limited in its possibilities; our mind is unable, by virtue of its nature, to understand the totality of things; our power of syntheses I restricted to elements provided by our experience thus, for example, we cannot comprehend infinity or eternity: nay, we don’t even know what life is in order to arrange our spiritual and material existence according to standards of perfection, we necessarily need the guidance of something more than the normal reasoning qualities and the subjective rationalism inherent in the human being: we need someone who is illuminated by the message coming from the Absolute, in one word, a prophet . indirectly the belief in prophet hood is equivalent to the belief in the existence of a divine purpose underlying the creation and maintenance of the worlds.- the opening chapter describes not only the actual beginning of the revelation but also the attitude of some of Muhammad’s contemporaries like Abu Sufyan and Hercules towards his prophetic mission.
 
*This is to show that the revelation granted to Muhammad PBUH was in its essence and origin, similar to those granted to the former prophets. The essentials were always the same the Quran only modified the laws governing man’s conduct in individual and social life. But apart from the fact that the former revelations have been corrupted and mutilated, they were from the very outset, purposely either limited in their scope as for example that of only to a certain time and certain people – as was the case with the revelation of Moses in such cases the limitation coming of a searching more universal more exhaustive in its coordination of the spiritual and the material elements of the human nature – the teachings of Islam.
 
*The word hijra going forth, immigration has several meanings in the Islamic Shariah: one is the immigration of Muslims from a place of danger to place of security, as in the case of the companions of the prophet who in order to escape the persecution of the Quraysh immigrated from Makkah to Abysinia another is immigration from the place where unbelief reigns to a place where it is possible to live according to the tenants of Islam. As in the case of the companions who immigrated with the prophet of Allah or after him from Makkah to Madinah. As for as the later entails great hardships and the giving up of whom and in many cases of family bonds for the sake of Allah and HIS apostle. It was regarded as an action of great merit. It happened however that even in the lifetime of the prophet some people immigrated from Makkah to Al Madinah for the sake of worldly gains only, and particularly for the sake of an easy marriage (UQ1, 33f). The Arabs in pre Islamic times use to give their daughters in marriage to those only who could boast of a linage not less noble than that of the girl.  But when Islam proclaimed the principle of equality of all Muslims many of the early believers hasten to offer their daughters in marriage to other Muslims without regard to their descent. Several Makkans of the lower classes took advantage of the facilities existing in the Muslim community of Al Madina migrated there and embraced Islam to such once refers this saying of the prophet but as the tem hijra often connotes a purely spiritual immigration from the domain of evil to that of righteousness (of tr.10) the above saying contains a general ethical principle for beyond the individual case or cases to which it originally referred.  
 
*It is significant that al Bukhari placed this tradition at the head of this compilation tough it does not bear upon the subject of the chapter vis, the beginning of revelation. He obviously did it in recognition of the fact that this saying of the prophet expresses one of the fundamental ethical principles of religion, and more over touches a problem which has intrigued the philosophers of all times: the problem of FREE WILL, The idea of God’s omniscience presupposes that of a divine preordination of all events and consequently, of human actions. The old question how man can be held responsible for his accounts though they have been preordained by God’s Will, is answered in the above tradition, not his actions are decisive for man’s spiritual destiny, but his intentions ( intention which immediately precede and accompany the actions, and not those which have been abandoned or changed at the moment of action). Man’s intentions are an expression of the intricate psychic mechanism which we call soul. And though frequently influenced by the various functions of the body, this soul is an independent, self-contained entity and stands in a direct, if inexplicable relation to the divine will (Amr as it is called in the Quran). It is with our souls about that we can comprehend and feel the existence of God. And we never could comprehend it if His existence were foreign to us in its essential quality. Because of this intimate and exalted relation to God the human soul partakes in the divine prerogative of freedom which is absent in all material complexes be they things or events. Thus if we are un free in and therefore in a higher sense not responsible for our actions owing to their material created character we are free in our intentions, because they  are of a spiritual that is primary or creative quality and therefore responsibility is attached to them.
 
As to the word ‘intention’ it may here be remarked that both in the Quran and in the tradition it is never used in the sense of a passing ‘wish’ but in that of a living impulse endowed with the quality of consciousness and directly related to the subsequent event, whatever shape the latter being preordained and thus beyond the control of our freewill- may ultimately take. This stress upon intention is certainly in line with the general trend of the Islamic teachings directed upon the development of inner wakefulness and consciousness in man.
   
 
THUS SAID IMAM ABU ABD ALLAH MUHAMMAD IBN ISMAIL IBN IBRAHIM IBN AL MUGHIRA AL BUKHARI *
 
HADITH POST 1
In the name of Allah the most gracious the dispenser of grace. 
HOW THE REVELATION TO THE APOSTLE OF ALLAH BEGAN*
And the word of Allah – glorified be HIS name “Behold, WE revealed unto you as WE have revealed unto Noah and the Prophets after him.*
 
Hadith 1:
 
Al Humaydi Abd Allah ibn Az Zuabyr related, Sufiyan related, Yahya ibn Sad al Ansari related saying: Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim at Tayiimi told what he heard Alqama ibn Waqas al Laysi say: I heard  Umer ibn al Khattab say on the pulpit : I heard the Messenger of Allah say : Behold the actions are but judged according to the intentions, and, behold, unto every man is due but what he intended. Thence, whoso migrated for the sake of this world or to wed a woman*, his migration is accounted for that unto which he migrated*. " 
 
*This introductory remark originated from Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Maatr al Firabi, the disciple of Al Buakhari responsible for the text we are using. He heard the Sahih twice from the lips of Al Bukhari once in his native town Firabr in the year 248 A.H. and once in Bukhara in the year 252 A.H.
 
*Al Bukhari opens this collection of traditions with this chapter because the belief in the reality of divine revelation and consequently the Prophet hood of Muhammad PBUH is the main pillar of Islam. The revelation supplies an essential need of mankind. The human understanding is strictly limited in its possibilities; our mind is unable, by virtue of its nature, to understand the totality of things; our power of syntheses I restricted to elements provided by our experience thus, for example, we cannot comprehend infinity or eternity: nay, we don’t even know what life is in order to arrange our spiritual and material existence according to standards of perfection, we necessarily need the guidance of something more than the normal reasoning qualities and the subjective rationalism inherent in the human being: we need someone who is illuminated by the message coming from the Absolute, in one word, a Prophet . indirectly the belief in Prophet hood is equivalent to the belief in the existence of a divine purpose underlying the creation and maintenance of the worlds.- the opening chapter describes not only the actual beginning of the revelation but also the attitude of some of Muhammad’s contemporaries like Abu Sufyan and Hercules towards his Prophetic mission.
 
*This is to show that the revelation granted to Muhammad PBUH was in its essence and origin, similar to those granted to the former Prophets. The essentials were always the same the Quran only modified the laws governing man’s conduct in individual and social life. But apart from the fact that the former revelations have been corrupted and mutilated, they were from the very outset, purposely either limited in their scope as for example that of only to a certain time and certain people – as was the case with the revelation of Moses in such cases the limitation coming of a searching more universal more exhaustive in its coordination of the spiritual and the material elements of the human nature – the teachings of Islam.
 
*The word hijra going forth, immigration has several meanings in the Islamic Shariah: one is the immigration of Muslims from a place of danger to place of security, as in the case of the companions of the Prophet who in order to escape the persecution of the Quraysh immigrated from Makkah to Abysinia another is immigration from the place where unbelief reigns to a place where it is possible to live according to the tenants of Islam. As in the case of the companions who immigrated with the Prophet of Allah or after him from Makkah to Madinah. As for as the later entails great hardships and the giving up of whom and in many cases of family bonds for the sake of Allah and HIS apostle. It was regarded as an action of great merit. It happened however that even in the lifetime of the Prophet some people immigrated from Makkah to Al Madinah for the sake of worldly gains only, and particularly for the sake of an easy marriage (UQ1, 33f). The Arabs in pre Islamic times use to give their daughters in marriage to those only who could boast of a linage not less noble than that of the girl.  But when Islam proclaimed the principle of equality of all Muslims many of the early believers hasten to offer their daughters in marriage to other Muslims without regard to their descent. Several Makkans of the lower classes took advantage of the facilities existing in the Muslim community of Al Madina migrated there and embraced Islam to such once refers this saying of the Prophet but as the tem hijra often connotes a purely spiritual immigration from the domain of evil to that of righteousness (of tr.10) the above saying contains a general ethical principle for beyond the individual case or cases to which it originally referred.  
 
*It is significant that al Bukhari placed this tradition at the head of this compilation tough it does not bear upon the subject of the chapter vis, the beginning of revelation. He obviously did it in recognition of the fact that this saying of the Prophet expresses one of the fundamental ethical principles of religion, and more over touches a problem which has intrigued the philosophers of all times: the problem of FREE WILL, The idea of God’s omniscience presupposes that of a divine preordination of all events and consequently, of human actions. The old question how man can be held responsible for his accounts though they have been preordained by God’s Will, is answered in the above tradition, not his actions are decisive for man’s spiritual destiny, but his intentions ( intention which immediately precede and accompany the actions, and not those which have been abandoned or changed at the moment of action). Man’s intentions are an expression of the intricate psychic mechanism which we call soul. And though frequently influenced by the various functions of the body, this soul is an independent, self-contained entity and stands in a direct, if inexplicable relation to the divine will (Amr as it is called in the Quran). It is with our souls about that we can comprehend and feel the existence of God. And we never could comprehend it if His existence were foreign to us in its essential quality. Because of this intimate and exalted relation to God the human soul partakes in the divine prerogative of freedom which is absent in all material complexes be they things or events. Thus if we are un free in and therefore in a higher sense not responsible for our actions owing to their material created character we are free in our intentions, because they  are of a spiritual that is primary or creative quality and therefore responsibility is attached to them.
 
As to the word ‘intention’ it may here be remarked that both in the Quran and in the tradition it is never used in the sense of a passing ‘wish’ but in that of a living impulse endowed with the quality of consciousness and directly related to the subsequent event, whatever shape the latter being preordained and thus beyond the control of our freewill- may ultimately take. This stress upon intention is certainly in line with the general trend of the Islamic teachings directed upon the development of inner wakefulness and consciousness in man.
 
HOW THE REVELATION TO THE APOSTLE OF ALLAH BEGAN
 
HADITH POST 2
HADITH 2:
 
Abd Allah ibn Yusuf related, Malik related on the authority of Hisham ibn Urwa on the authority of his father* on the authority of Aishah (the mother of the faithful)*


" Harith asked the Apostle of Allah and said : "O Apostle (Messenger) of Allah, How do the revelation come unto you ? " -- And the Apostle said:
“Sometime it come unto me like the ringing of a bell* - and that is the most hard on me; then it leave me, and indeed I retain in my memory what it said. And sometimes the angel assumed the likeness of a man for me and speaks unto me, I retain in my memory what he said."
A'ishah said : And verily, I saw him while the revelation descended upon him on day severe with cold; then it left him - and, behold, his brow was streaming with sweat.
 
*Urwa ibn Zaubayr
*Title of honor given to the wives of the Prophet of Allah in the Quran surah 32:6
*The expression like the ringing of a bell points to a peculiar disturbance of the Prophet’s sense of hearing when he was about to receive this kind of revelation. Similarly the chaotic maze of colors which we observe whenever our optical sense in widely disturbed- be it by a physical agency or by an over whelming emotions, the Prophet acoustic sensations were in such case transformed into a maze of sounds without distinction resembling the continuous buzzing or ringing of a bell. Some authorities are of the opinion that this disturbance of the Prophets’ acoustic faculties was a mean to isolate him, before the coming of the revelation, from the impression of the outer world and so to enable him entirely to devote himself to the spiritual voice of the angel. This vehement change from the customary that is sensual orientation to the purely spiritual one was necessarily full of anguish and that is most hard on me).
 
In other case when angel appeared in the likeness of a man the medium of revelation was transformed from a purely spiritual plane to the orbit of human, sensual concentration to the utmost, it never was quite free of anguish- Aisha’s subsequent description of the Prophet state during revelation obviously refers to first kind.
 
 
 
HOW THE REVELATION TO THE APOSTLE OF ALLAH BEGAN
 
HADITH POST 3:
HADITH 3:
 
In The Name Of Allah The Most Gracious The Dispenser of Grace 


Yahya ibn Bukayr related to us, saying: Al-Laith related to us, on the authority of Ibn Shihab, on the authority of Urwa ibn az Zubayr on the authority of Aishah,  Mother of faithful said: 
The first kind of revelation to which the Apostle of Allah was initiated was the true dream during sleep*; and he never saw a dream but it came like the dawn of the morn*.
Thereafter the solitude became dear unto him, and he withdrew into seclusion in the cave of Hira* and there applied himself to ardent devotion*. - that is worship* - 
during many nights ere he went home and provided himself with food therefore: then he would return unto Khadija and provide himself food for a similar number of days- until the truth* came unto him while he was in the Cave of Hira:
The angel came unto him and said; "Read!" - I said : " I am not of those who read.*" 
Apostle of Allah said in his narrative: Then he took me and pressed me until all strength went out of me: thereupon he released me and said : "Read" - I said, " I am not of those who read." 
Then he took me and pressed me again until all strength went out of me; thereupon he released me and said; "Read!" -- I said " I am not of those who read." 
Then he took me and pressed me a third time; thereupon he released me and said : 
"Read in the name of your Sustainer. Who has created, - created man from a clot! Read ! And Your Sustainer is the Most bountiful!"*-----
And thus the Apostle of Allah returned, his heart trembling, and came unto Khadija bint' khawailad and said : "Wrap me up! *
Wrap me up !" And they wrapped him up until the awe left him. Then he told Khadijah what happened and said unto her: 
" Verily, I fear for myself.*" -- thereupon Khadijah said : Nay, By Allah! Never will Allah humiliate you! Behold, you fulfill the duties of kinship, and support the weak and bring the gain to the destitute, and are bounteous toward a guest, and help those in genuine distress." 
Then Khadijah went with him unto Warqah ibn NAUFAL ibn Asad a son of Khadijah's uncle. He had embraced Christianity in the Time of ignorance* and wrote Hibrew script, and did write in Hibrew out of the Gospel whatever Allah willed him to write; and he was an old man and had become blind. And Khadijah Said unto him : "O my uncle's son hear unto your brother's son*, - - And Warqah said unto him: "O my brother's son? what do you see?"
Thereupon the Apostle of Allah told him what he has seen. That was an angel of revelation whom Allah has sent upon Moses, O would I were young! Would I were alive when your people drive you away !- Then Apostle of Allah said "why! Are they to drive me away ?" -- He said : " "yea, Never came a man with like you have come with, but was persecuted. And if your day of need witnessed me alive, I shall help you with a powerful help." --Thereafter Warqah took no part in these matters until he died*. And revelation broken off.*
 
*the first of these Prophetic dreams occurred in the month of Rabi ul awal in the year 13 before Hijra (February 610c) when the Prophet had just completed his 40^th year
*The clearness of light after darkness
*A hill about 3 miles north east of Makkah today known as ‘mount of light’  Jabl e Noor because there the first verses of the holy Quran were revealed. Many conjectures have been made as to the length of the Prophet’s retirement at hira and whether it took place only once or on several occasions. Ibn Hisham states that there were several such times of seclusion namely one month in every year but this is contradicted by the authentic tradition of SM Kitab at Tafsir in which the Prophet distinctly declared that he remained one month in all at hira. Moreover it is evident from tradition 3 of above work that Muhammad’s love of solitude dated from the beginning of the Prophetic dreams the first of which according to some authorities took place 6 months before Gabriel appearance at hira so; there can have been no question of his withdrawing into solitude one month every year. We must therefore assume that he withdrew in to the cave only once, and spent there about one month; this seclusion was interrupted by short visits home for the sake of taking provisions.
 
*It is somewhat difficult exactly to translate the term Tahannuf used in the Arabic text it is available in two readings, the other being Tahannuf. Tahanuf is derived from Hanth means avoidance of sins but as this does not all comply with subsequent remark “ that is worship” we must accept the second reading tahanuf as correct: and it is in fact a well-known linguistic peculiarity of the Arabs that in their speech they often transform the consonant f into th’ Now, the word tahannuf is not of Arabic origin. But probably derived from the Canaanite-Aramaic hanpa which literally means ‘ one who turns away”. In Syria it was prominently used to describe one who turns away from his religion, a renegade; so the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate who gave up Christianity and reverted to the old Roman faith is called, in Syrian Christian manuscripts, Yulyana hanpa; the same term often was applied to the Manichaens and Sabaeans presumably owing to the fact that their religion contained Christian elements without fully subscribing to the doctrines of the Christian church. When the Arabs, in pre-Islamic times, adapted this word to their language they used it in its original sense of turning away, namely from idolatry and subsequently from every kind of worldliness, Thence tahanuf came to denote the ardent devotions mainly consisting of long vigils and prayers of the Unitarians God-seekers who, consequently were called hunafa (sing, hanif)- a designation which was to become familiar to Muslims owing to its association in the Quran with the name of Abraham. There it is almost synonymous with Unitarian.
 
*This comment originators from the famous tabi’ (successor of the companions) Ibn Shihab, one of the narrators of the above tradition.  
 
*Truth means revelation in wakeful, state as contrasted with that in dream. Some traditions report that the appearance of Gabriel at Hira and was s dream experience like the Prophet’s former visions; but Al-Bukhari’s version which admittedly is more reliable and moreover supported by SM Kitab Al Tafsir does not allow of such and interpretation.
 
The appearance of Gabriel at Hira and consequently the first revelation of the Quran took place, according to all authorities during the month of Ramadan, 13 B. H (July August 610 c) but there is no agreement as to the exact date. Is as some commentators assume, the first revelation coincide with the lailat al qadr (night of destiny), then it would have been one of the last ten nights of Ramada, because the Prophet mentioned in other tarditions these ten nights ad those among which the lailat al Qadr is to be sought.
 
*These words of the Prophet are sometimes translated as “What shall I read.” From the linguistically point of view this interpretation is by no means impossible the particle ma can be used in an interrogative sense ‘what’ as well as in a negative ‘not’. But almost all phi logical authorities with the single exception of Al-Akhfash, apud UQ, I 67 are, for grammatical reasons against this interpretation. The translation ‘I am not a reader’ or ‘ I am not of those who read’ appears therefore, to be the correct one.  
 
*This beautiful story of the Prophet’s first encounter with the angel of revelation reminds us, in certain points of Jacobs’ wrestling with the angel as described in Genesis CH32. But whereas Jacob resisted Muhammad surrendered himself entirely to the angel’s embrace and here the highest quality of Prophet hood is manifested. The perfect Prophet is he who, at the time of revelation eliminates his own dynamic personality to such a degree that almost nothing remains in him but the faculty reception. This probably is the most difficult task ever set before man. In the average human being the impetuosity of feelings, desires and nervous sensations overpowers and dims his purely receptive qualities his ability to listen to the voice within him or from above him. To be a Prophet means no more and no less than to be full and empty at one and the same time a human being filled with the consciousness of his life and the natural impulses of action and self-assertion and at the same time, a passive purely receptive instrument endowed with nothing but the highest sensitiveness and power of exact registration. The primary duty of a Prophet in contrast with that of any other spiritual leaders is  not to produce images and ideas born in his own mind: it consists only in the reading out of the unseen book of Divine truth and reproducing of its meaning to mankind without additions and subtractions. In the word “Read “ which opened the first revelation to Muhammad this call to perfect   Prophet hood is already fully expressed. The law of Allah, the Eternal truth behind the perceptible things, was laid bare before him, waiting to be understood by him in its innermost meaning. Thus it would be wrong to translate here iqra by ‘recite’ though the Arabic language certainly permits it- because recitation implies the delivery before an audience of something committed to memory- and at the moment of the angel’s first appearance there was nothing as yet in the Prophet’s memory, and there was no audience. On the other hand reading implies the conscious following and mental assimilation of words or ideas from an outside source; and this without doubt was the thing required from the Prophet. At first he was under the illusion of having been ordered to read actual script and this he knew he could not do because he was illiterate. But when the angel concluded this revelation the Prophet understood in sudden illumination that he was ordered to receive the spiritual message of the Supreme Being, and the magnitude of this task with all its implications of responsibility and self-sacrifice overwhelmed him and filled him with awe.
 
*Because he shivered from the excitement caused by the vision. The calming influence of a cover drawn over the whole body was known to the Arab kahanah (sing, kahin), or soothsayers of pre-Islamic times, and it is very probable that its use by the Prophet led the heathen Quraysh to the erroneous assumption that he belonged to the same class of visionaries.
 
*The fear expressed by the Prophet had its origin in the noble humanity of his soul: he thought himself unworthy of the exalted position of Prophet hood. The explanation given by some of the commentators that he was afraid of death or of having become insane, is purely hypothetical and moreover, not corresponding with Khadijah’s answer to the Prophet” never will Allah humiliate you”-which means “never will Allah confer a task upon you which you are unable to perform”. The suggestion of other commentators that he was afraid of persecution by his countrymen is entirely without foundation. As is evident from the subsequent talk between the Prophet and Waraqah ibn Naufal, the Prophet had no notion of a danger from that direction until Waraqah told him so.  
 
*”Time of ignorance” (jahiliyah) is the period before the announcement of Muhammad’s Prophetic mission.
 
*Waraqah was not in reality an uncle of the Prophet, though they belonged to the same branch of Quraysh, but it is an Arab custom prevalent even in these days, to address an old and respected man as “uncle”; hence Khadijah’s expression ‘your brother’s son’.
 
*Most commentators agree that Waraqah died before the Prophet began preaching Islam in public, ie., before the persecution by the Quraysh started. Only Ibn Ishaq (apud FB I,21) mentions that Waraqah was present when Bilal was maltreated on account of his adherence to the Prophet; but as this account is contradicted by the evidence of traditions in the compilations of both Al-Bukhari and Muslim it must be regarded as a historical mistake.
 
*Between the first revelation mentioned in the above tradition and the next one mentioned in the following account of Jabir ibn Abd Allah a period of about three years elapsed during which the Prophet received no revelation. This period is called ‘the break in revelation’ (fatrat al-wahi). It was a time of deepest distress for the Prophet. The absence of revelation almost led him to believe that his first experience at Hira was an illusion; and it was only due to Khadijah’s undaunted faith in his Prophetic mission that he did not entirely lose his courage.
 
 
 
HOW THE REVELATION TO THE APOSTLE OF ALLAH BEGAN
 
HADITH POST 4
HADITH 4:
 
In The Name Of Allah The Most Gracious The Dispenser of Grace 


Ibn Shihab* said and Abu Salamah ibn Abd Ar Rahman told that Jabir ibn Abd Allah al Ansari said:
 
 AND- while speaking of the break in the revelation - the Prophet of Allah said in his narrative : . . ...."once; "while I walked, I heard a voice from heaven and I lifted my eyes - and there was the angel who had come unto me at Hir'a; sitting on a throne between heaven and earth. And he inspired me with awe, and I returned home and said: Wrap me up ! Wrap me up ! " Then Allah, the Most High, sent down the revelation: " O you wrapped in a cloak ! Arise and warn ! "..... to His words:…and pollution shun!”*
There upon the revelation became intensive and continuous .
 
Abd Allah ibn Yusuf and Abu Salih concurred with him* and Hilal ibn Radda concurred with him* likewise on the authotity of Az Zuhri. And Yunus and Maamr said “his shoulders.”*
 
*Al-Bukhari opens the isnad of this tradition with the name of Ibn Shihab az Zuhri (who was not his contemporary) not because the links between him and the latter are missing, but because the line of narrators between that ibn Shihab and the author is here the same as in tradition 3. The particle ‘and’ before Abu Salamah denotes that Ibn Shihab az Zuhri related this tradition in conjunction with the foregoing one, as if he said: Urwa ibn Az Zuhri told me this and Abu Salamh told me, in addition to this, the following. Therefore the author places the corroboration of both traditions after tradition 4. It obviously was this peculiarity of the isnad which led some historians who were not traditionists to the mistaken notion that the event related in tradtion4 took place immediately after that related in tradition 3 or even that both traditions refer to one and clear beyond any possibility of doubt that the prophet’s second encounter with the angel Gabriel occurred at a much later time, namely after the ‘break in the revelation’.
 
*Q. lxxiv, 1/5. Thus for the first time the prophet was ordered to preach Islam in public.
 
*ie., with Yahya ibn Bukayr. This is atypical form of corroboration adopted by Al Bukhari. He thus intimates that he received the same tradition independently from three different narrators, viz Yahya ibn Bukayr Abd Allah ibn Yusuf and Abu Salih; all of them heard it from Al-Laith.
 
*Here the reference is to Uqail; he and Hilal ibn Raddad were disciples of Az Zuhri as also were Yunus and Maamar mentioned in the next sentence. This shows that Al Laith heard this tradition from four authorities.
 
*-instead of the words ‘his heart’ used by Uqail. Thus the difference between the narratives of Yunus and Maamr and those of Uqail and Hilal ibn Raddad consisted in one single word.
 
 
HOW THE REVELATION TO THE APOSTLE OF ALLAH BEGAN
 
HADITH POST 5
HADITH 5:
 
In The Name Of Allah The Most Gracious The Dispenser of Grace 


 
Musa ibn Ismail related, Abu Awanah related, Musa ibn Abi Aishah related, Said ibn Jubayr related on the authority of Ibn Abbass concerning the word of the most High: Move not your tongue with this to make haste with it.” Ibn Abbass said:
 
The Apostle of Allah was severally affected by the revelation , and would move his lips*
" I shall move them in the same way the Apostle of Allah would move them."
Thereupon Allah the Most High sent down the revelation : " Move not your tongue with this to make haste with it. Behold, upon Us rest the putting together thereof and the reciting thereof.*"
Ibn Abas said: "It is for Allah to put it together in your heart and then you shall recite it."and when we recite it you but follow its recitation *
" and listen unto it and remain silent. "

" Thereafter , behold, its manifestation rests upon Us."*
 
Ibn Abbas said: thereafter behold, it rest upon Us to make you recite it.
And after that, when Gabriel came unto him, the Apostle of Allah would listen, and when Gabriel departed the Prophet would recite it in the way Gabriel had recited it.
 
 
*Regarding the causes of the prophet’s suffering during revelation see I8, faced as he was the tremendous responsibility of exactly reproducing the Word of Allah, the prophet was afraid lest he should forget the words of the Revelation; he therefore used to repeat them rapidly while Gabriel was speaking.
 
*Quran surah al Qiyama 75: 16-17 “MOVE NOT your tongue in haste, repeating the words of the revelation: for, behold, it is for Us to gather it in thy heart, and to cause it to be read as it ought to be read.
 
*Quran surah al Qiyama 75:18 “Thus, when We recite it, follow you its wording with all thy mind:
 
*Quran surah al Qiyama 75: 19 “and then, behold, it will be for Us to make its meaning clear.”
 
HOW THE REVELATION TO THE APOSTLE OF ALLAH BEGAN
 
HADITH POST 6
HADITH 6:
 
Abdan related, Abd Allah told, Yunus told, on the authority of  Az Zuhri, Al Bukhari said and Bishr ibn Muhammad related*, Abd Allah told, Yunus and Maamr told, on the authrotiy of Az Zuhri who said: Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah told on the authrotiy of Ibn Abbass who said : The Apostle of Allah was the most generous of men, and he was more generous than ever during Ramadan when Gabreil came unto him - and he would come unto him every night during Ramadan and impart the knowledge of the Qura'n unto him,- then, indeed, the Apostle of Allah was more generous in doing good than the speeding wind. *
 
*This term indicates that the version of Bishr ibn Muhammad was in every respect identical with that of Abdan.
 
*This can mean two things: he was more generous than the storm wind which brings rain loaded clouds and thus life to the earth: or that he used to help others quickly without least delay.