The  Second  Aspect  is  members  of  God’s  Messenger’s  (UWBP)  community seeing them and speaking with them, as a miracle of his.

Thus, the leading scholars of Hadith, and foremost Bukhari and Muslim, unanimously relate: “One time, an angel, that is, Gabriel, appeared in the form of a man dressed in white. He approached God’s Messenger (UWBP), who was sitting among his Companions, and asked: ‘What is Islam? What is belief? And what is goodness?   Explain   them.’   The   Messenger   (UWBP)   explained   them,   and   the Companions gathered there both received valuable instruction, and saw the person clearly. Although he seemed like a traveller, he displayed no sign of a journey. He suddenly rose and disappeared. God’s Messenger (UWBP) then said: ‘Gabriel did that in order to teach you!’”[279]

Also, the authorities  on Hadith relate  through certain and authentic  narrations about which there is ‘consensus  in meaning:’  “The Companions  saw Gabriel with God’s  Messenger   (UWBP)  many  times  in  the  form  of  Dihya,  who  was  ver y handsome.” For instance, ‘Umar, Ibn ‘Abbas, Usama b. Zayd, Harith, ‘A’isha al- Siddiqa,  and  Umm  Salama  established  and  related  certainly:  “We  frequently  saw Gabriel with the God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) in the form of Dihya.”[280]  Is it at all possible that such people would say that they had seen him if they had not?

Also,  the conqueror  of Persia,  Sa‘d  b.  Abi Waqqas,  who  was one of the ten promised Paradise, relates in an authentic narration: “At the Battle of Uhud we saw two white-dressed  persons either side of God’s Messenger  (UWBP), guarding him like sentries. We understood that they were the angels, Gabriel and Michael.”[281]  Is it possible that if such a hero of Islam says he saw them, he had not seen them?

Also, Abu Sufyan b. Harith b. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet’s (UWBP) cousin, relates in an authentic narration: “At the Battle of Badr, we saw horsemen dressed in white between the sky and the earth.”[282]

Also, Hamza pleaded with the Noble Messenger (UWBP) to see Gabriel. So he showed him to Hamza in the Ka‘ba, but he could not endure it and fell to the ground unconscious.[283]

[279] Bukhari, Iman, 37; Muslim, Iman, 1-7.

[280] Bukhari, Fada’il al-Ashab, 30; al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, ix, 276-7; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Fada’il al-Sahaba (Tahqiq: Wasiyyullah), nos: 1817, 1853, 1918; Musnad, i, 212; al-‘Asqalani, al-Isaba, i, 598.

[281] Bukhari, Maghazi, 18; Libas, 24; Muslim, Fada’il, 46-7, no: 2306; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 361.

[282] Musnad, i, 147, 353; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 362; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa’, iii, 281; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 735.

[283] Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 362; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa’, iii, 282; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 736.