Allah?” They said, “Gabriel is at His right, and Michael at His left.” Umar said, “Then I bear witness that whoever is an enemy to Gabriel is an enemy to Michael, and whoever is an enemy to Michael is an enemy to Gabriel; and whoever is an enemy to both of them, Allah is his enemy.” Umar then returned to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and found that Gabriel had preceded him with the revelation. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, recited this verse and said, “Your Lord has concurred with you, Umar.” Umar said, “After that, I found myself firmer than stone in the religion of Allah.” (1)

Allah Most High says: “Say, ‘Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel—indeed, he has brought it down’”—that is, Gabriel has brought down the Quran; this is an indirect reference to something not explicitly mentioned—“upon your heart, O Muhammad, by Allah’s permission,” that is, by Allah’s command, “confirming,” meaning in agreement with, “what came before it,” namely the earlier Scriptures, “and as guidance and glad tidings for the believers.”

His saying, exalted is He: “Whoever is an enemy to Allah, His angels, His messengers, Gabriel, and Michael”: He singled out Gabriel and Michael for mention although they are included among His angels, as an honour and particular distinction, just as He says: “In both are fruit, date palms, and pomegranates” (al-Rahman, 68). He specifically mentioned date palms and pomegranates even though they are included in the mention of fruit. The conjunction here has the sense of “or”; that is, whoever is an enemy to any one of these is an enemy to all of them, for whoever disbelieves in one disbelieves in all. “Then indeed Allah is an enemy to the disbelievers.”

Ikrimah said: Jīr, Mīk, and Isrāf mean “servant” in Syriac, while Īl means Allah Most High; their meanings are “servant of Allah” and “servant of the Most Merciful.”

Ibn Kathir read Gabriel as Jabrīl, with an open vowel on the initial consonant and without a hamzah, following the pattern faʿlīl. Hassan said:

“Gabriel is Allah’s messenger among us, ...
and the Holy Spirit has no equal.”

Hamzah and al-Kisa’i read it with a hamzah and full vowel articulation, following the pattern salsabīl; Abu Bakr read it with abbreviated vowel articulation; and the others read it with a kasrah on the initial consonant and without a hamzah. As for Michael, Abu Amr, Yaqub, and Hafs read it as Mīkāl, without a hamzah. Jarir said:

“They worshipped the cross and denied Muhammad, ...
and Gabriel; and they denied Mīkāl.” (2)

Another poet said:

“On the day of Badr, when we met you, we had reinforcements ...
along with victory: Gabriel and Mīkāl.” (3)

Nafiʿ read it with a hamzah and abbreviated vowel articulation, following the pattern mīfāʿil, while the others read it with a hamzah and full vowel articulation, following the pattern mīkāʾīl. Ibn Suriya said, “You have brought us nothing that we recognize.” So Allah Most High sent down: “We have certainly sent down to you clear verses”—that is, plain verses. (4)