He heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ speaking about the pause in revelation. He said, "As I was walking, I heard a voice from the sky. I raised my eyes toward the sky, and there was the angel who had come to me at Hira, seated on a throne between the sky and the earth. I was so terrified of him that I sank to the ground. I went to my family and said, 'Wrap me up, wrap me up.' So they wrapped me up, and Allah Most High revealed, "You who are wrapped in a cloak, arise and warn" through to His words, "and shun."" [Muddaththir 74:1–5]Abu Salama said that "defilement" here means idols.Then the revelation grew intense and came in close succession.
أنه سمع رسول الله ﷺ يحدث عن فترة الوحي: فبينا أنا أمشي سمعت صوتا من السماء، فرفعت بصري قبل السماء، فإذا الملك الذي جاءني بحراء قاعد على كرسي بين السماء والأرض، فجئثت منه حتى هويت إلى الأرض، فجئت أهلي فقلت: زملوني زملوني، فزملوني، فأنزل الله تعالى: {يأيها المدثر قم فانذر} إلى قوله: {فاهجر}- قال أبو سلمة: والرجز الأوثان-، ثم حمي الوحي وتتابع.
Bukhari related it in Tafsir (4926), and Muslim in Iman (161:256), both of them through Layth, who said, Aqeel bin Khalid told me, from Zuhri, who said, I heard Abu Salama bin Abdul-Rahman say, Jabir bin Abdullah told me, and he mentioned it. The wording is Bukhari's, and Muslim did not give his wording in full with this chain, but mentioned part of it and referred the rest back to the chain before it.