ibn sa‘d reported on the authority of ibn ‘abbas that the revelation paused for a few days.[fath al-bari 1/27,12/360] after careful study, this seems to be the most possible. to say that it lasted for three and a half years, as some scholars allege, is not correct, but here there is no room to go into more details.

meanwhile, the prophet [pbuh], was caught in a sort of depression coupled with astonishment and perplexity. al-bukhari reported:

the divine inspiration paused for a while and the prophet [pbuh] became so sad, as we have heard, that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains, and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down, gabriel would appear before him and say: "o muhammad! you are indeed allâh’s messenger in truth," whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm down and return home. whenever the period of the coming of the revelation used to become long, he would do as before, but gabriel would appear again before him and say to him what he had said before. [bukhari 2/340]