Angels’ Ability to Take on Different Forms

Allah SWT has given the angels the ability to take on forms different from their own. Allah SWT sent Jibreel to Maryam in human form:

[“And; mention in the Book [the Qur’an, O Muhammad, the story of] Maryam, when she withdrew in seclusion from her family to a place facing east. She placed a screen [to screen herself] from them; then We sent to her Our Rooḥ [angel Jibreel (Gabriel)], and he appeared before her in the form of a man in all respects. She said: ‘Verily, I seek refuge with the Most Gracious [Allah] from you, if you do fear Allah.”[The angel] said: ‘I am only a messenger from your Lord, [to announce] to you the gift of a righteous son.”]

(Maryam 19:16-19)

The angels came to Ibrahim (AS) in human form, and he did not know that they were angels until they told him who they really were. We have quoted above the ayaat which speak of that.

The angels came to the Prophet Loot (Lot) in the form of young men with handsome faces and he was grieved on account of them and feared that they may be harmed by his people, for they were an evil people who committed evil actions, and they used to commit sodomy:

[“And when Our messengers came to Loot [Lot], he was grieved on account of them and felt himself straitened for them [lest the town people should approach them to commit sodomy with them]. He said: “This is a distressful day.”]

(Hud 11:77)

Ibn Katheer said: “The angels appeared to him in the form of handsome young men as a test and a trial, so that proof might be established against the people of Loot, and Allah might seize them with a mighty punishment. ” (Al-Bidaayah wan-Nihaayah, 1/43)

Jibreel used to come to the Messenger (SAW) in different forms. Sometimes he came in the form of Duḥyah ibn Khaleefah al-Kalbi (a Sahaabi who was of handsome appearance), and sometimes in the form of a Bedouin.

Many of the Sahaabah saw him when he came in that form. In Şaheeḥayn (Bukhaari and Muslim) it is narrated that ‘Umar ibn al- Khaṭṭaab said:

“Whilst we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (SAW) one day, a man came to us whose clothes were exceedingly white and whose hair was exceedingly black. There were no signs of travel on him and none of us knew him. He sat down in front of the Prophet (SAW), with his knees touching his, and put his hands on his thighs, and said, ‘O Muhammad, tell me about Islam…”” The hadith states that he asked him about iman (faith), iḥsan and the Hour and its signs.”

(Muslim, 1/37, hadith no. 8. Bukhaari from Abu Hurayrah, 1/114, hadith no. 49. This version is narrated by Muslim)

Then the Messenger (SAW) stated that the one who asked these questions was Jibreel, and that he had come to teach the Sahaabah their religion. ‘Aa’ishah saw the Messenger (SAW) patting the head of Dubyah al-Kalbi’s horse and speaking to him. When she asked him about that, he (SAW) said, “That was Jibreel, and he sends salaam to you.”

(Aḥmad in Musnad, Ibn Sa’d in At-Tabaqaat, with a hasan isnaad. The hadith about Jibreel sending salaams to ‘Aa’ishah without her seeing him, is narrated by Bukhaari in his Şaheeḥ, 6/305, hadith no. 3217; 7/106, hadith no. 3768.)

The Messenger (SAW) told us of a man who killed ninety-nine persons, and when he set out repentant, death came to him when he was halfway to the land to which he was migrating. The angels of mercy and the angels of punishment disputed concerning him, and they referred the matter to an angel who came to them in human form. He (SAW) said: “An angel in human form came to them, and they appointed him (to arbitrate) between them. He said, ‘Measure the distance between the two lands (the evil place he was leaving and the good place to which he was headed), and whichever one he is closer to is where he belongs.”” No doubt they appointed him as an arbitrator by the command of Allah, and Allah sent this angel to them in human form. The story is narrated in Saheeḥ Muslim, in Baab at-Tawbah (chapter on repentance). (Muslim, 4/2118, hadith no. 2766.)

In the story of the three people from among the Children of Israel whom Allah tested, the leper, the bald man and the blind man, we will see that an angel appeared to them in human form.

Some of the scholars indulged in discussions of how the angels change their form from a rational point of view, and they came up with ideas that are of no value. They should not have indulged in this discussion of this matter of the unseen.

Allah has told us that angels may take on different forms, but He has not told us how they do so. These scholars should have been content with what the Messenger of Allah and his Companions were content with, and they should have stopped where they stopped. If you want to read some of the discussions on this issue, see the book by Suyooți, Al-Habaa’ik fi Akhbaar al-Malaa’ik pp.261.

Source: The World of the Noble Angels, In the Light of the Qur’an and Sunnah by Dr. ‘Umar S. al-Ashqar