Part 20

Naba' 78:38) What is meant by Ar-Rooh here is mankind ,

accordi ng to •Abdu llah Ibn ' Abbas ~, AIHasan a nd Qatadah.

It was also sa id that it means a group of angel s resembling

mankind in appeara nce. Thi s was also sa id by 'Abdullah Ibn

'Abbas ~ , Mujahid , Abu Salih and A IA ' mash. It was also sa id

th at it refers to librae l. Thi s was the opinion of Ash-Sha'b i,

Sa'eed Ibn Jubair and Ad-Dahhak. It was a lso said that it refers

to an angel who is known as Ar-Rooh, who is responsi bl e for

all mankind. 'A li Ibn Abi Talhah reported on the authority of

'Abdull ah Ibn ' Abbas ... ,n ,hat he said rega rding the Words of

All ah, Most High: ( The Day that Ar-Rooh ... will stand fo rth

) that it is one of the greatest of the ange ls in for m. A great

thing has been mentioned in the descri ption of l ibrae l ~ in

the Words of Allah , Most Hi gh: ( I-I c has been taught by One

Mighty in power :' (Soorah AI1-Najlll 53:5). The sc holars sa id

Ihat so great is his slrength tha t he lifted up the c ities of th e

peop le of Loot &..9. - and they were seve n in number - w ith

a ll of their inhabi tants; they nu mbered four hundred thousand,

in add ition to their li vestock and other animal s. He also lifted

up all the cities of th e surrounding lands and their bui ldi ngs,

e lc. He lifted all of the se on the tip of one of hi s wings unti l it

was as hi gh as the clouds in th e sky, so that the ange ls heard

the barking of dogs and th e crowi ng of th eir cockere ls. Th en

he turn ed them upside-dowil - and that is the One Mighty in

( I) According 10 scholars of /Jatieelli , . Al i Ibn Abi Talhah did not hear from

. Abdullah Ibn· Abbas 4 .

,\lemiOll of Ihe Creatioll oflile ..Il1geh alld Their 99

Powcr. As for Hi s Saying: ( /J/I/I Mirra" ), it mea ns: handso me

in fo rm , splcndi d and radi ant , as Allah , Most High, says in

anOl her Vc rse: ( Ve rily. thi s is the Word o f a 1110St honorable

messe nger. ) (SoO/'all Al~ /-Iaqqall 69: 40), i.c. Ji brae l . and

thc word ( honorable ) hcre mean s beautiful in appearan ce.

Hi s Saying: ( on e mi ght y in powe r ) mea ns that he possesses

grcat strength and e normOliS power. ( With th c Lord o f th e

Th rone means that he has a high status a nd eleva ted stati on,

nex t 10 A ll ah, the Lord of the Glorious T hrone. ( Obeyed there

) mea ns l ibrael is obeyed by the heavenl y host (i.c. the an gels).

( And trustworthy ) mean s grea t trust has been placed ill him

by A ll ah, w hi ch is why he wns the ambassad or betwec n A llah

and Hi s Prophets (peace be upon them all ), desce nding to them

with Revelati on co nt ainin g true informnti on and just laws.

He used to comc to the Messc nger o f A llah ;t\ and he would

dcscend to him in a number o f d i lTerent forms, as we me ntioncd

earl ier. He saw in him in the fo ml in whic h A ll ah created him

on two occasions. He has six hundred w ings, according to the

narrati on of A I~Bukh a r i , onlh c auth ority of Ta lq Ibn Ghanna m,

who re ported on th e authority o f Za' idah As h-S haiban i that he

sa id , " I asked Zirr abo ut the Words o f All ah: ( And was at a

distance of two bows' Icngth or less. So did li e con\'cy thc

In sp irati on to I li s slave . ) (Soorall An-Najm 53 :9, I 0) and hc

said, "'Abdulla h (' Abdu lla h Ibn Mas'ood .J;o) in fo rmed LIS that

Mu ham mad ~ saw J ibrael ':2ii~ a nd he had six hundred wings." (I)

Imam Ahmad narra ted on the a uthority o f Abu Wa' il, who

reported on th e au thority of' Abdullah ~ that he said , " The

Mcssengerof A ll ah :t saw lib rac l ~ in hi s (ori ginal) for m and

he had six hund rcd win gs and each wing fi ll cd the horizon and

pearl s and prec ious stones of a ll co lors fe ll from hi s win gs, in

(I) Narrated by AI-Bukhari (4857).

100 M el/firm of fhe Cremio" oJtllf! AlIgd,~ alld Their

a manner tha t only A ll ah knows." ' II

In the Sallee/will it was reponed on the au thority of Masrooq

that he sa id, " I was with 'A' ishah and 1 said, 'Docs not Allah

say, ( And in deed he (M uhamm ad >l') saw him ill the c lear

ho ri zon (toward the East) ) (Sooret/l At-Takweer 8 1:23) and ,

( A nd ind eed he (Muham mad ¥t ) saw him at a second descent

(a noth er time» (50omh AII-Najlll 53: 13)' She said, ' [ was the

first of this nation 10 ask th e Messenger o f All ah ~ about thi s

and he s;'lid, 'Tha t refers to none other than Jibracl ~' .'" (2) He

did not sec hi m in the form in wh ich All ah crcnlcd hi m except

on two occasions: he saw him descending from the heaven LO

th e Ea rth , the greatness o f hi s size fi lling what li es be twccn the

AI·B ukhari narra ted on the authority of •Abdullah Ibn

'Abbas .;.. that he said, "The Messenger of A\lah ~ said 10

lib rael ~~ , ' Wi ll you not visit li S more than you do?' Upon

wh ich Allah revea led: ( And we (angels) descend not except by

th e Comma nd of your Lord (0, Muhammad). To Him belongs

what is be fore us and what is beh ind us ) , " (Soora ll Mel/ y am

AI·Bukhari narrated on the aut hori ty of' Abdull ah Ibn ' Abbas

~ that he said, '·The Messenger of Allah ~ was the most

generolls of people and he was at his 1110st generalis during

the mont h of Ramadan, when l ibrac l ~ met hi m. Jibrael ..f;t,

lIsed to meet him 0 11 every nigh t of Ramad,m ti ll the end of the

mont h. The Prophet used to recite the Holy Qu r'an to Jihrac l,

and when Jibrael met him, he used to be mo rc gene rolls than a

( I) This iS:I sound (IIasllll) tradit ion narrated by Imam Ahmad (3905. 4382).

(2) Narrated by AI·13ukhari (3235) and Muslim (177) and the wording is that

Melllioll oIIIIe Creali!m of lite AI/gels lIlId Tlleir 10 1

fas t wind (whic h brings rai n and we lfare)." (I)

One o flh e attributes o f Israfee l - who is one of th e bearers of

the Thron e - is that he wi ll bl ow the trumpet by the Command

o f hi s Lord three times. The first trump is th e trump o fl error, the

second will be the Irump o f swooning and th e third will be th e

tru mp o f Resurrecti on. The trumpet is a horn on whi ch he will

blow. Every circle of iL is like the di stance between the heave n

and th e Ea rth. And in it th ere is a place in which th e soul s o f

the slaves arc placed when All ah commands the bl ow ing orthe

trumpet. When it is blown, the sou ls will come ou l of it and the

Lord , the All-Powerful wi ll say, " By My Might an d My Power,

let evc ry so ul return 10 the body whi ch it inhabited during its

earthl y li fe." They wi ll enter the bodies in the graves and they

wi ll enLer them, as po ison enters a person who ha s been stun g,

Then the bodi es will come to life and th e graves will split open

ove r th cm and th ey will emerge fro m them and hasten to the

This is why th e Messenger of All ah ~ sai d, " I-low ca n [ li ve

a life of ease when the bearer of the hom has pu t it to hi s li ps

and raiscd hi s forehead anti cipa ti ng to hear th e call , so when

he is ordered to bl ow, he will bl ow." Th e Co mpani ons said ,

"Whal shoul d we say (s uppli cale) 0 , Messe nge r of Allah?" He

rep lied: "Say. 'S uffi cient is All ah for ti S and He is the best of

Guardians, we put our trust in All ah, our Lord ' ," (2)

AIHafiz Ab ul-Qasim At-Tabaran i narrat ed on the authority

o f ' Abdullah Ibn ' Abbas ~ thai he sa id: Change on ly thi s

Whil e the Messcngcr of Allah ~ was with .librael ~ in a

sec luded place, the hor izon o f the heaven split and Israfce l ~1

( I) Narrated by AI-Bukhari (1902).

(2) Narrated by Ahmad (1 1299) and graded authenlic. d ue to sup porting nar-

102 Mell/ioll of/he Creatioll o/tlte Angds (lnd 71leir

approac hed, comin g cl ose to the Earth and swayed and then an

ange l stood be fore the Prophet :IS and said , "0, Muhamm ad!

Veril y, Al lah commands you to choose be tween (being) a slave-

prop het and a kin gproph et. " He said , "Gab ri el ~ signed to

me with hi s hand to be humble and I knew that hc was advising