of your progeny.” Obeying Allah’s command, Adam went to them and greeted the seated angels, saying, “As-salāmu ʿalaykum (peace be upon you).” They answered, “As-salāmu ʿalayka wa-raḥmatullāh (peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah),” adding the words “and the mercy of Allah.”

1. This ḥadīth shows that the human vicegerency began from absolute non-existence; mankind had once been nothing worthy of mention, just as Allah, Exalted is He, says: “Has there not come upon man a period of time when he was nothing to be mentioned?” (Q 76:1). Humanity had been nothing, then Allah brought it into being for a sublime purpose. Thus, when Allah informed the angels that He would place a vicegerent on earth, they said, “Will You place therein one who will spread corruption and shed blood, while we glorify You with praise and sanctify You?” He replied, “Indeed, I know what you do not know.” (Q 2:30). Allah created this human race and raised from among them the prophets, the messengers, the truly truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous.

2. The angels are corporeal beings; they are not mere spirits without bodies. Proof of this is that they were sitting, and sitting is an attribute of a body. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also saw Gabriel in the form in which he had been created, with six hundred wings filling the horizon. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “He made the angels messengers possessed of wings…” (Q 35:1). Accordingly, the angels have bodies, though Allah has veiled them from us and placed them in the realm of the unseen, just as the jinn are bodily creatures whom Allah has likewise concealed, making them an unseen world, even though at times they may appear