No contradiction between a verse and Hadeeth describing the Angels
Fatwa No: 52750

Question

Allaah The Almighty Has Described the angels in the Noble Quran Saying that they have two, three or four wings while the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, describing Jibreel (Gabriel), that he has six hundred wings. How can we reconcile these two descriptions?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

There is no contradiction between what Allaah The Almighty Says in the Noble Quran (which means): {[All] praise is [due] to Allaah, Creator of the heavens and the earth, [Who] Made the angels messengers having wings, two or three or four. He Increases in creation what He Wills. Indeed, Allaah Is over all things competent.}[Quran 35:1] and what is mentioned in the Hadeeths of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, that were narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim and others in which the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said that he saw Jibreel with six hundred wings. Actually, there is no contradiction at all. It is impossible to find any slight contradiction between the texts of the sacred Revelation of Allaah The Almighty and that of the honorable Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, as Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {If it had been from [any] other than Allaah, they would have found within it much contradiction.}[Quran 4:82] The verse indicates that some of the angels have two wings, some others have three, some others have four, some others have six hundred wings and so on up to what Allaah The Almighty Wills. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {He Increases in creation what He Wills.}

Scholars of Tafseer said that Allaah The Almighty Increases in their creation and wings what He Wills and He Created Jibreel with six hundred wings.

Accordingly, there is no any contradiction between the verse and the Hadeeth of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

Allaah Knows best.

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