Recordings › Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth · 16 Feb 2021 › Segment 12 of 57
Did the companions actually see the angel Jibril?
hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith muftis rawi raawi ruwat rijal sahabah sahaba sahabi sahabiyyah sahabiyat salafi salafis salafism wahhabi wahhabismDid the companions see Jibril? The narrator's interpretation, not the Prophet's words
Watch the answer
Open on YouTube at 40:34The player starts at 40:34, where the answer begins.
This segment39:54 to 42:20 · 2 min 26 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth says the report that it was Jibril may be the companion's interpretation, not the Prophet's words; repeated 'he said' in Arabic narration makes the speaker unclear.
In more detail
Saying he had already answered the liberal Islam question, Mufti Abu Layth takes a chat objection: last week he said the companions did not see Jibril, but the hadith says it was Jibril and the Prophet confirmed it. He answers yes and no: it depends how one reads the report, since its 'he said' may be the companion's interpretation that it was Jibril rather than something the Prophet taught. He explains that Arabic narration often repeats 'he said' without restating the pronoun, so it can be unclear to whom it goes back, and a narrator may assume the Prophet said a part that was in fact the companion's explanation of the event.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedLast week you said the companions didn't see Jibril, but the hadith says it was, and then the Prophet confirmed it.
- Some terms in this segment are uncertain
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says that, depending on how the report is read, its statement that the figure was Jibril is the companion's interpretation rather than something the Prophet taught them.
“so this hadith is really the interpretation that he says that that was jibril and the he here was the companion now they assumed that it's not that the prophet taught them”
Category: method
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine39:54 to 42:20 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
ah ah your hobbies this is the thing you see the weird world where they walk around in a frock and sandals all day [Laughter] wearing at the bottom on their heads with eyeliner on and then they say having a necklace like this makes you a woman [Laughter] ah god the joys of being a wahabi it's just uh it's fun fun and games
people fun and games not so turn 80 says you ain't gonna answer the question i thought i just answered this question liberal islam wasn't it i just said that this this is really it's a misapplied term doesn't really mean anything right so orenthal james musti last week you said the companions didn't see jibrael but the hadith says it was and then the prophet confirmed it now you see yes and no
so i did explain that it depends how you're reading that because when it says he said that you know this is his interpretation or are you reading it as this is what the prophet said so this hadith is really the interpretation that he says that that was jibril and the he here was the companion now they assumed that it's not that the prophet taught them
that so that's what i'm saying that these wordings because in arabic you see you don't use the pronoun again you just have a lot of he said he said like you know and this tala who is it going back to so on certain occasions that's one point that causes a lot of it doesn't you see it can cause confusion or there just becomes a widespread interpretation that oh this is actually referring to the prophet here or is referring to this person or you've got
the person narrating it assuming this person is saying the prophet said it you understand so if i'm giving a story and i'm telling you so in this case i believe it's um saying that oh this person came and this this this and and he said this we ask the prophet and then he says
Paragraphs overlapping 39:54 to 42:20. Full text on the recording page.
Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2021-02-16-S12, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/12/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2021, February 16). Did the companions actually see the angel Jibril? [Video, segment 2021-02-16-S12, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/12/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2021. "Did the companions actually see the angel Jibril?" Video, segment 2021-02-16-S12, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded February 16, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/12/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2021-02-16-S12, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Did the companions actually see the angel Jibril?}}, year = {2021}, month = {2}, date = {2021-02-16}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/12/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/12/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2021-02-16-S12, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
Something wrong here?
Tell us what is wrong and it will be checked against the recording. Nothing changes until a person has reviewed it.
Sending a note needs JavaScript, which is off or unavailable in this browser. Nothing has been sent.
No name, email address or account is asked for or stored, and the inbox does not store your IP address. For rate limiting it keeps an unreadable fingerprint of your connection for 48 hours, and our database provider's own logs record connections as every website's do. Only your note, its kind, the page and the moment in the recording are kept, for review.