Narrator:Ā’ishah
وَعَنْ عَائِشَةَ قَالَتْ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:
" يَا عَائِشَةُ لَوْ شِئْتُ لَسَارَتْ مَعِي جِبَالُ الذَّهَبِ جَاءَنِي مَلَكٌ وَإِنَّ حُجْزَتَهُ لَتُسَاوِي الْكَعْبَةَ فَقَالَ: إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يَقْرَأُ عَلَيْكَ السَّلَامَ وَيَقُولُ: إِنْ شِئْتَ نَبِيًّا عَبْدًا وَإِنْ شِئْتَ نَبِيًّا مَلِكًا فَنَظَرْتُ إِلَى جِبْرِيلَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ فَأَشَارَ إِلَيَّ أَنْ ضَعْ نَفْسَكَ "
`A'isha reported God's messenger as saying, "If I wished, `A'isha, mountains of gold would go with me. An angel whose waist was as high as the Ka'ba came to me and told me that my Lord sent me a greeting and said that if I wished I could be a prophet and a servant, or if I wished I could be a prophet and a king. I looked at Gabriel and he gave me a sign to humble myself. (In the version by Ibn `Abbas it says that God's messenger turned to Gabriel as one asking his advice and Gabriel made a gesture with his hand indicating that he should be humble.) I then said that I would be a prophet and a servant." `A'isha said that after that God's messenger did not eat reclining, saying he would eat like a slave and sit like a slave. It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna.
Cited in Mishkat al-Masabih (No. 5835).