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What is the wisdom behind Almighty Allah's description of Gabriel as "Al-Mala'ikah" (the angels) in Surahs Al Imran (3:39) and (3:42)?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Holy Quran was revealed in a clear Arabic tongue, and His (Allah's) saying: (فنادته الملائكة) "the angels called her" has two readings. The first, by Hamza and Al-Kisa'i, is: (فناداه الملائكة) "the angels called him," where it is probable that the intended meaning is Gabriel, and expressing a single entity with a plural form is permissible in Arabic. As for the second reading, which is the more probable, it is that the meaning is that all the angels called her, which is evident from attributing the verb to a plural noun. The literal meaning is prioritized over the figurative unless there is an indicator otherwise. There is nothing in the verse that necessitates interpreting it as specifically referring to Gabriel. Therefore, both possibilities are permissible, with the second reading being more probable.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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