مسند امام احمد بن حنبل · Hadith 107

Shuraih bin 'Ubaid narrated that 'Umar bin al-Khattab said: I went out looking for the Messenger of Allah before I became Muslim, and I found that he had reached the mosque before me. I stood behind him and he started to recite Sooratal-Haqqah, and I was amazed by the way in which the Qur'an was composed. I said: By Allah, this man is a poet as Quraish said. Then he recited: "That this is verily, the word of an honoured Messenger [i.e. Jibreel (Gabriel) or Muhammad which he has brought from Allah]. It is not the word of a poet, little is that you believe!" [al-Haqqah 69:40*41]. I said: (He is a) soothsayer. He said: "Nor is it the word of a soothsayer (or a foreteller), little is that you remember! This is the Revelation sent down from the Lord of the 'Alameen (mankind, jinn and all that exists). And if he (Muhammad had forged a false saying concerning Us (Allah). We surely would have seized him by his right hand (or with power and might). And then We certainly would have cut off his life artery (aorta). And none of you could have withheld Us from (punishing) him..." [al-Haqqah 69:42-47]. He said: Then i felt an over-whelming attraction to Islam.

Translated by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan · Reviewed by Islamic University of Madinah · Published March 2020