Jibreel, Teacher of Our Teacher (Hadith No. 500)

Salam,
Bismillah.

Kitaab Mawaqeet as-Salah [Book of Times of Prayers] starts today.

Volume 1, Book 10, Number 500:

Narrated Ibn Shihab:

Once’Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz delayed the prayer and ‘Urwa bin Az-Zubair went to him and said, “Once in ‘Iraq, Al-MughTra bin Shu’ba delayed his prayers and Abi Mas’ud Al-Ansari went to him and said, ‘O Mughira! What is this? Don’t you know that once Gabriel came and offered the prayer (Fajr prayer) and Allah’s Apostle prayed too, then he prayed again (Zuhr prayer) and so did Allah’s Apostle and again he prayed (‘Asr prayers and Allah’s Apostle did the same; again he prayed (Maghrib-prayer) and so did Allah’s Apostle and again prayed (‘Isha prayer) and so did Allah’s Apostle and (Gabriel) said, ‘I was ordered to do so (to demonstrate the prayers prescribed to you)?'” ‘Umar (bin ‘Abdul ‘AzTz) said to ‘Urwa, “Be sure of what you Say. Did Gabriel lead Allah’s Apostle at the stated times of the prayers?” ‘Urwa replied, “Bashir bin Abi Mas’ud narrated like this on the authority of his father.” Urwa added, “Aisha told me that Allah’s Apostle used to pray ‘Asr prayer when the sun-shine was still inside her residence (during the early time of ‘Asr).”

The Hadith points towards the stretch in prayer times. We’ll do this in plenty of details inshaAllah. But right now, I want to bring another point to to your attention: Jibreel (AS) used to teach Muhammad (SAW) directly.

We all know how the Qur’an was sent down, right? Allah -> Jibreel -> Muhammad (SAW).
Jibreel (AS) wasn’t just a messenger, he was a teacher. He used to show Prophet (SAW) how to implement some of the teachings practically. For example, the famous Hadith of Jibreel, in which he comes in form of a human and asks a few questions. That was him teaching the Prophet (SAW) and his companions the definitions of Islam, Imaan and Ihsaan. Similarly, in the above narration, he leads the prayer so that the Prophet (SAW) knows exactly how to perform it + when to perform it.

So indirectly, we’re Jibreel (AS)’s students as well. Yay! :D

Wassalam.