Muslim also narrated the report through the isnād of Shuʿbah (1), while al-Tirmidhī transmitted it through Sufyān al-Thawrī (2) and ruled it “ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.”
Ibn Mājah likewise recorded it (3) from Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah → Yaḥyā ibn Ādam → ʿAmmār ibn Zurayq → Abū Isḥāq, with a chain and wording to the same effect.
There are, in fact, many ḥadīths that convey this meaning.
In the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad and the Sunan, on the authority of Abū al-Dardāʾ, the following marfūʿ tradition is cited:
“The angels surely lower their wings for the seeker of knowledge, pleased with what he is doing.” (4)
That is, they humble themselves before him, just as the Exalted One says,
“So lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy” (Q 17:24),
and He says,
“Lower your wing to those who follow you of the believers” (Q 26:215).
Imām Aḥmad also related: Wakiʿ told us, from Sufyān, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sāʾib, from Zādān, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“Indeed Allah has angels who roam the earth conveying to me the greetings of my ummah.” (5)
Al-Nasāʾī recorded the same ḥadīth (6) through Sufyān al-Thawrī and Sulaymān al-Aʿmash, both from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sāʾib.
Imām Aḥmad further said (7): ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; Maʿmar narrated to us, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) declared,
“The angels were created from light, the jinn were created from a smokeless flame of fire, and Adam was created from that which has been described to you.”
Muslim likewise reported this ḥadīth (8) from Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ and ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, both transmitting from ʿAbd al-Razzāq.
The narrations concerning the angels are exceedingly numerous; we have mentioned what Allah has made easy, and to Him belongs all praise.
Section
Scholars have differed over whether the angels are superior to human beings, and several views have been expressed. The topic is found mostly in works of scholastic theology, with the dispute centering on the Muʿtazilah and those who adopted their position. The earliest statement I have seen on the issue is what al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir cites in his History (9) under the biography of Umayyah ibn ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ, that he attended