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Gabriel used to come to the Prophet in a human form. But he appeared to him (ﷺ) twice in his angelic form: once at the beginning of the Prophet’s mission (when the angel manifested himself, filling the horizon, the Prophet (ﷺ) lost his consciousness), and another time during the Prophet’s Night Journey to the seventh heaven to receive the order to pray directly from Allah (see 17:1).
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Cf. 81:23 and the corresponding note [8]. According to the Qur'an and the testimony of authentic Traditions, the Prophet had no more than twice in his lifetime a vision of this angelic force "manifested in its true shape and nature" (which, as pointed out by Zamakhshari, is the meaning of the expression istawa in this context): once after the period called fatrat al-wahy (see introductory note to surah {74}), and another time, as alluded to in verses {13-18}, in the course of his mystic vision known as the "Ascension" (see Appendix IV).
Gabriel appeared in stately form. Istawa in verse 61 translated "appeared", means literally "mounted" or "ascended", or "set himself to execute a design"; see n. 1386 to x. 3.
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This graphic "description" of the angel's approach, based on an Arabian figure of speech, is meant to convey the idea that the Angel of Revelation became a clearly perceptible, almost tangible, presence.
lit., he was only two bow-draws away.
Two bow-shots (counting 100 to 150 yards to a bow-shot) would be a clearly visible distance.
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Lit., "whatever He revealed": an allusion to the exceptional manifestation of the angel "in his true shape and nature" as well as to the contents of divine revelation as such. In its deeper sense the above phrase implies that even to His chosen prophets God does not entirely unveil the ultimate mysteries of existence, of life and death, of the purpose for which He has created the universe, or of the nature of the universe itself.
Gabriel would be just a messenger, to do no more than convey Allah's Message to Allah's Messenger.
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Inasmuch as the Prophet was fully aware of the spiritual character of his experience, there was no conflict between his conscious mind and his intuitive perception (the "vision of the heart") of what is normally not perceptible.
"Heart" in Arabic includes the faculty of intelligence as well as the faculty of feeling. The impression conveyed was pure truth; there was no illusion in it.
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Thus the Qur'an makes it clear that the Prophet's vision of the angel was not a delusion but a true spiritual experience: but precisely because it was purely spiritual in nature, it could be conveyed to others only by means of symbols and allegories, which sceptics all too readily dismiss as fancies, "contending with him as to what he saw".
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I.e., he saw the angel "manifested in his true shape and nature".
The first occasion when Gabriel appeared in a visible form was at the Mountain of Light, when he brought his first revelation beginning with Iqraa:. The second was at the Prophet's Miraj or Ascension: see Introduction to S. xvii.
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I.e., on the occasion of his mystic experience of the "Ascension" (mi'raj). Explaining the vision conveyed in the expression sidrat al-muntaha, Raghib suggests that owing to the abundance of its leafy shade, the sidr or sidrah (the Arabian lote-tree) appears in the Qur'an as well as in the Traditions relating to the Ascension as a symbol of the "shade - i.e., the spiritual peace and fulfilment - of paradise. One may assume that the qualifying term al-muntaha ("of the utmost [or "farthest"] limit") is indicative of the fact that God has set a definite limit to all knowledge accessible to created beings, as pointed out in the Nihayah: implying, in particular, that human knowledge, though potentially vast and penetrating, can never - not even in paradise (the "garden of promise" mentioned in the next verse) - attain to an understanding of the ultimate reality, which the Creator has reserved for Himself (cf. note [6] above).
For the Lote-tree in its literal meaning, see n. 3814 to xxxiv. 16. The wild Lote is thorny; under cultivation it yields good fruit and shade, and is symbolic of heavenly bliss, as here and in lvi. 28.
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The "Garden of Abode" (Jannat al-Mawa) lies close to the Lote-Tree and, in the opinion of some authorities, is so called because the souls of believers will find their abode therein.
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Lit., "when the lote-tree was veiled with whatever veiled [it]": a phrase deliberately vague (mubham), indicative of the inconceivable majesty and splendour attaching to this symbol of paradise "which no description can picture and no definition can embrace" (Zamakhshari).
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Lit., "[some] of the greatest of his Sustainer's symbols (ayat)" For this specific rendering of the term ayah, see note [2] on 17:1 , which refers to the same mystic experience, namely, the Ascension. In both these Qur'anic allusions the Prophet is said to have been "made to see" (i.e., given to understand) some, but not all, of the ultimate truths (cf. also {7:187-188}); and this, too, serves to explain the idea expressed in verse {10} above.
The Prophet was taken to heaven to see some of Allah’s magnificent signs. He only saw what he was told to see.
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From the heights of divine Glory, we come back again to this sorry earth, with its base idolatries. We are asked to "look at this picture, and at that!" The three principal idols of Pagan Arab Idolatry were the goddesses Lat, Uzza, and Manat. Opinions differ as to their exact forms: one version is that Lat was in human shape, Uzza had its origin in a sacred tree, and Manat in a white stone.
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After pointing out that the Prophet was granted true insight into some of the most profound verities, the Our'an draws our attention to the "false symbols" which men so often choose to invest with divine qualities or powers: in this instance - by way of example - to the blasphemous imagery of the Prophet's pagan contemporaries epitomized in the triad of Al-Lat, Manat and Al-Uzza. These three goddesses - regarded by the pagan Arabs as "God's daughters" side by side with the angels (who, too, were conceived of as females) - were worshipped in most of pre-Islamic Arabia, and had several shrines in the Hijaz and in Najd. The worship of Al-Lat was particularly ancient and almost certainly of South-Arabian origin; she may have been the prototype of the Greek semi-goddess Leto, one of the wives of Zeus and mother of Apollo and Artemis.
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