—six hundred wings.’

He said, “I asked ʿĀṣim about the wings, but he refused to inform me.” He added, “Some of his companions later told me that a single wing stretches from the east to the west.” These are sound, robust chains of transmission preserved uniquely by Aḥmad.

Aḥmad (1) also said: “Zayd ibn al-Ḥabbāb narrated to us; Ḥusayn narrated to me; Ḥuṣayn narrated to me; Shaqīq narrated to me: I heard Ibn Masʿūd say: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘Gabriel came to me wearing green garments on which pearls were hanging.’ Its chain is sound (ṣaḥīḥ).”

Ibn Jarīr (3) said: “Ibn Bazīʿ al-Baghdādī narrated to us; Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr narrated to us; Isrāʾīl narrated to us, from Abū Isḥāq, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd, from ʿAbd Allāh—regarding the verse, ‘The heart did not lie about what it saw’ (Q 53:11)—who said: ‘The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, saw Gabriel in two green robes of brocade that filled the space between heaven and earth.’ This isnād is good and strong.

In the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections (4) there is the report of ʿĀmir al-Shaʿbī from Masrūq: “I was with ʿĀʾishah and said, ‘Does not God say, “And he surely saw him on the clear horizon” (Q 81:23) and “Indeed he saw him another time” (Q 53:13)?’ She replied, ‘I was the first of this community to ask the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, about that.’ He said, ‘That was Gabriel.’ He did not see him in the form in which he was created except twice; he saw him descending from heaven to earth, the immensity of his form filling the space between heaven and earth.”

Al-Bukhārī (5) said: “Abū Nuʿaym narrated to us; ʿUmar ibn Dharr—and Yaḥyā ibn Jaʿfar also narrated to me—Wakiʿ narrated to us, from ʿUmar ibn Dharr, from his father, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Gabriel, ‘Why do you not visit us more often than you do?’ Then the verse was revealed: ‘We do not descend except by the command of your Lord; to Him belongs whatever is before us and whatever is behind us…’ (Q 19:64).”

Al-Bukhārī (6) also transmitted, through al-Zuhrī, from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from Ibn ʿAbbās: “The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, was the most generous of people, and he was never more generous than in Ramadan when Gabriel met him. Gabriel would meet him every night of Ramadan to review the Qurʾān with him, and the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, was more lavish in goodness than the blowing wind.”

Al-Bukhārī (7) likewise said: “Qutaybah narrated to us; al-Layth related to us, from Ibn Shihāb, that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz once delayed the ʿAṣr prayer slightly. ʿUrwah said to him, ‘Indeed, Gabriel descended and led the prayer in front of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him.’ ʿUmar replied, ‘I know what you are saying, O ʿUrwah.’ He said, ‘I heard Bashīr ibn Abī Masʿūd say: I heard Abū Masʿūd say: I heard the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him—’