crafts which they attributed to Solomon and to two angels at Babel. Solomon is declared to be innocent of evil practices, and the story of the two angels a fabrication. All reliable commentators have taken the same view of the Quranic statement. The ḥadīth which is quoted in support of the other view is not to be met with in the six reliable collections, but only in the Musnad of Aḥmad, and the Musnad contains many untrustworthy reports. Moreover, nothing which contradicts the very principles laid down in the Holy Qur’ān can be accepted on the basis of such weak authority. The commentators have actually condemned the alleged report as untrue (fāsid) and repudiated (mardūd) (Rz.). Another authority says that nothing in this story can be traced to the Holy Prophet and calls it puerile and worthless (khurāfāt) (RM.). Hence the alleged story of Hārūt and Mārūt which is rejected by the Holy Qur’ān, and is not based on any authentic ḥadīth, cannot be made a basis for rejecting the principles laid down in the Holy Qur’ān that angels cannot be seen.

Nature of angels

Though angels are spoken of as beings, they are not endowed with powers of discrimination like those of human beings; in this respect, indeed, they may be said to partake more of the attributes of the powers of nature than of man. Their function is to obey and they cannot disobey. The Holy Qur’ān says plainly: “They do not disobey Allāh in that which He commands them, but (they) do as they are commanded” (66:6); which also shows that the story of Hārūt and Mārūt, which ascribes disobedience to angels, is without foundation. And inasmuch as man is endowed with a will while the angel is not, man is superior to the angel; which superiority is also evident from the fact that angels were commanded to make obeisance to him (2:34).

The angel’s coming to the Holy Prophet

It is true that the angel Gabriel is spoken of as coming to the Holy Prophet with the Divine revelation, but as has been already shown, it was with the spiritual senses that the Holy Prophet received the revelation, and therefore it was not with the physical eye that he beheld Gabriel. The angel came to him sometimes in the shape of