Abdullah Ibn Abbas (RA) remembered the moment Surah Al-An'am was revealed to the Prophet ﷺ with startling clarity.

He looked up and saw Jibreel (AS) descending, but he wasn't alone; 70,000 angels were escorting this single chapter, all praising Allah as they brought it down to the Prophet ﷺ.

The Prophet ﷺ was sitting on a camel when it began.

As the revelation started to descend, the companions watched something extraordinary happen: the camel's knees began to buckle under the weight.

Not the physical weight of the Prophet ﷺ, but the spiritual weight of what was being placed upon his heart.

Surah Al-An'am is over 20 pages long, and it came to the Prophet ﷺ all at once, with this celestial reception.

Allah tells us in the Quran that if this Quran were sent down upon a mountain, it would crush the mountain out of awe of Allah.

Now it was coming to the heart of the Prophet ﷺ, and the companions were witnessing it firsthand.

When they later asked the Prophet ﷺ what receiving revelation felt like, he described the most intense form:

"It's like the ringing of a heavy bell."

The Prophet ﷺ would focus with complete concentration to grasp everything Jibreel (AS) was bringing to him.

Aisha (RA) observed the physical toll it took on him.

The Prophet ﷺ would sweat profusely when revelation came, beads of perspiration rolling down his face even in cold weather.

He would shiver, and it would consume his entire being.

But here's what's remarkable: the moment the Prophet ﷺ finished receiving the revelation, he didn't need recovery time.

He didn't stumble or stutter.

Immediately, he would speak the words smoothly and perfectly, exactly as they had been placed in his heart.

Allah had promised him: "Don't rush with your tongue, O Muhammad, trying to capture it.We will gather it in your heart." (75:16)

And that's exactly what happened; it was gathered in the Prophet's ﷺ heart, and then he would speak, and the scribes would write.

Zayd Ibn Thabit (RA), one of the most prominent writers of revelation, described his experience: "As soon as the Prophet ﷺ would speak, I would start to write."

But he also remembered one particular moment that showed just how physically intense receiving revelation was.

"By Allah, there was one time when the revelation came down and the Prophet's ﷺ leg happened to be on my leg.

Because of how heavy the Prophet's ﷺ body became during the revelation, I thought my leg had broken.

I thought I would never be able to walk again because of the weight."

Think about this: the same revelation that would crush mountains was being channeled through the heart of a human being.

The spiritual weight was so immense that it manifested physically.

Camels buckled, companions felt their bones might break, and the Prophet ﷺ himself would sweat and shiver under the magnitude of what he was receiving.

Yet he bore it all, perfectly preserving every word, every letter, every pause and emphasis, so that we could receive this guidance exactly as Allah intended.

The physical strain was temporary, but the spiritual gift was eternal: and it came to us through a pure heart strong enough to carry the weight of divine revelation without breaking.