The story of ʿUmar secretly listening to the Prophet ﷺ reciting the Quran before his conversion

I went out looking for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ before I became Muslim, and I found that he had reached the mosque before me. I stood behind him and he started to recite Sūrat al-Ḥāqqah, and I was amazed by the way in which the Quran was composed. I said: By Allah, this man is a poet as the Quraysh has said. Then he recited: "This is, verily, the word of an honored Messenger (Jibrīl or Muhammad ﷺ) and it is not the word of a poet, little is that you believe!” [Ḥāqqah 69:40-41]. I said: ˹He must be˺ a soothsayer (mind reader). He ˹recited˺: “Nor is it the word of a soothsayer, little is that you remember! This is the Revelation sent down from the Lord of the worlds. And if he (Muhammad ﷺ) had forged a false saying concerning Us, we surely would have seized him by his right hand, and then We certainly would have cut off his aorta, and none of you could have withheld us from ˹punishing˺ him...” [Ḥāqqah 69:42-47]. ˹ʿUmar˺ said: Then I felt an overwhelming attraction to Islam.

خَرَجْتُ أَتَعَرَّضُ رَسُولَ اللهِ ﷺ قَبْلَ أَنْ أُسْلِمَ فَوَجَدْتُهُ قَدْ سَبَقَنِي إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ فَقُمْتُ خَلْفَهُ فَاسْتَفْتَحَ سُورَةَ الْحَاقَّةِ فَجَعَلْتُ أَعْجَبُ مِنْ تَأْلِيفِ الْقُرْآنِ۔ قَالَ فَقُلْتُ: هَذَا وَاللهِ شَاعِرٌ كَمَا قَالَتْ قُرَيْشٌ۔ قَالَ: فَقَرَأَ {إِنَّهُ لَقَوْلُ رَسُولٍ كَرِيمٍ وَمَا هُوَ بِقَوْلِ شَاعِرٍ قَلِيلًا مَّا تُؤْمِنُونَ} قَالَ قُلْتُ: كَاهِنٌ قَالَ {وَلَا بِقَوْلِ كَاهِنٍ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ تَنْزِيلٌ مِّنْ رَّبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَلَوْ تَقَوَّلَ عَلَيْنَا بَعْضَ الْأَقَاوِيلِ لَأَخَذْنَا مِنْهُ بِالْيَمِينِ ثُمَّ لَقَطَعْنَا مِنْهُ الْوَتِينَ فَمَا مِنْكُمْ مِّنْ أَحَدٍ عَنْهُ حَاجِزِينَ} [الحاقة 42-47] إِلَى آخِرِ السُّورَةِ قَالَ: فَوَقَعَ الْإِسْلامُ فِي قَلْبِي كُلَّ مَوْقِعٍ