All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.

The angels are the honored servants of Allah who do not disobey Him in what He commands them and do what they are ordered to do. They are created from light, hidden from the eyes of people, but they can be seen as a blessing from Allah, with His permission, either in their angelic form or in a form they take on. The evidence from Islamic teachings for these matters is evident, including the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): 'The angels were created from light, the jinn were created from a smokeless fire, and Adam was created from what has been described to you' (Narrated by Muslim).

Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: 'O Aisha, this is Gabriel who sends you greetings of peace.' I replied, 'And peace be upon him, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings; you see what I do not see' (Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim). Moreover, Allah, the Exalted, says about Mary (peace be upon her) {what means}: 'So We sent to her Our Spirit, and he appeared before her as a well-proportioned man' [Maryam, 17]. In authentic hadiths, it is reported that Gabriel (peace be upon him) would come to the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the form of Dihyah al-Kalbi, and in the form of a man whom no one recognized.

All of this indicates that humans are unable to see angels in the form in which they were created, except for what has been narrated concerning our Prophet (peace be upon him), who saw Gabriel (peace be upon him) in his true form twice. This has not been confirmed for anyone else from his Ummah. If a person claims to have seen them in their true form, and they are a righteous and truthful person, we leave their matter to Allah, as this does not have any Sharia ruling attached to it.

As for seeing an angel not in their true form, where they appear in the form of a human, this is possible and has occurred with many of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). In the authentic hadith narrated by our master Umar ibn al-Khattab, where our master, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), was asked about Islam, Iman (faith), Ihsan (excellence in worship), and the Hour, it is mentioned at the end: 'Then he said to me, "O Umar, do you know who the questioner was?" I said, "Allah and His Messenger know best." He said, "It was Gabriel; he came to teach you your religion."' (Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim).

It is narrated in an authentic hadith from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: 'I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on the Day of Uhud, and with him were two men fighting in defense of him, wearing white garments. I had never seen them before, nor after' (Narrated by al-Bukhari). In addition, in "Sahih Muslim": 'I saw on the right of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and on his left, two men wearing white garments. I had never seen them before nor after, meaning Gabriel and Michael, peace be upon them.' And Allah The Almighty knows best.