as one endowed with mighty power, “secure in the presence of the Lord of the Throne, obeyed there and trustworthy.”

The Prophet ﷺ likewise “saw him on the clear horizon,” and the revelation further portrays him as

“taught by one of tremendous might,
endowed with perfect balance;
he rose in majestic form
while he was on the highest horizon;
then he drew near and descended,
until he was two bow-lengths away, or even closer.
He conveyed to His servant what He conveyed.
The heart did not deny what it saw.
Will you then dispute with him about what he sees?
Indeed, he saw him once again,
by the Lote Tree at the farthest boundary,
near which lies the Garden of Refuge,
when there covered the Lote Tree whatever covered it.
The sight did not swerve nor overstep.
He certainly beheld some of his Lord’s greatest signs.”

It is established in the two Sahihs, on the authority of ʿAʾishah—may Allah be pleased with her—that the Prophet ﷺ saw Gabriel in the form in which he had been created only twice: the first time on the highest horizon, and the second at the Lote Tree of the Farthest Boundary.

Gabriel—peace be upon him—is also described elsewhere as the Trustworthy Spirit and the Holy Spirit, among other designations that show he is one of the greatest living, rational beings created by Allah: a real, self-subsisting entity, not a figment of the Prophet’s mind, as these atheist philosophers—who claim sainthood and imagine themselves more learned than the prophets—have alleged.