Have You Ever Seen an Angel in Human Form? | Angels in Your Presence with Omar Suleiman
Have you ever met a human being and thought they must be an angel? You may be right, but you may also be missing the point.
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00:00Have you ever met a person in life that you thought might be an angel, and I'm not just
00:04talking about your child or a friend of yours or someone that you think is an angelic because
00:10of the way that they carry themselves, but someone who just popped into your life.
00:15You were stuck somewhere and they helped you or someone that that showed up somewhere in
00:20public and said something to you that you needed to hear in those moments or someone
00:24that was sick or ill or a recipient of charity and you thought, this person can't be a human
00:31being and then they're mysterious, you don't see them before, you don't see them after
00:35and you're left to think, wait a minute, was that an angel?
00:38Right?
00:39I mean, it is possible that you might meet a shaitan, you know, in the form of a human
00:43being, but like, have I ever actually met an angel in the form of a human being?
00:54There's a Hadith of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam where he talks about these
00:57three men from Bani Israel, and they were contemporaries as is made clear in the Hadith.
01:03And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, there was a bald man, a man who was
01:06a leper and a man who was blind.
01:09And an angel went to all three of them and asked them, what is it that you want?
01:16What is it that you'd want to change about yourself?
01:19And the leper said that I would want to have good skin because the people feel an aversion
01:25towards me because of my leprosy.
01:28And the angel touches that person and suddenly their skin is cured altogether.
01:34So they have full skin again.
01:36And the angel said to that person, and what type of property is most beloved to you?
01:41And the man says camels.
01:43And so the angel then brings a pregnant she-camel and says, may Allah bless you with that she-camel.
01:52And this shows that it's Allah that's going to provide, not the angel, Allah is the one
01:55who blesses.
01:56And it's also a wisdom in that this person is now going to see this valley of camels
02:01come from this one pregnant she-camel to really see the generosity of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
02:05unfold before their eyes.
02:07And so suddenly that person has the skin that they want, the appearance that they want,
02:12and they also have the wealth that they want and become a very wealthy person.
02:16The angel then goes to someone who is bald and says, what would you like to change about
02:21yourself?
02:22And the bald man says that I'd love to have good hair, right?
02:26I feel like it would beautify me.
02:28I feel like it's what's missing in my life.
02:30And so the angel touches that man's head, gives him an angelic hair transplant.
02:35You can't find that anywhere in the world today.
02:38And suddenly that person has a full head of hair and the angel then says to the man,
02:44and what, what type of property is most beloved to you?
02:46And the man says cows.
02:48So the same thing happens, a pregnant cow is given and the angel says, may Allah bless
02:55you with it.
02:56And suddenly he has an entire, uh, you know, plot of, of cows.
03:01And then he goes to a person who is blind and we know that that is a very specific type
03:06of test.
03:07And there are multiple rewards that you find in the Hadith for the person that is blind
03:11and patience with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
03:13Many scholars who suffered from this and says to the blind man, what would you like?
03:17He said, I'd love to have my eyesight back, my vision back.
03:21And so the angel wipes his eyes and suddenly he can see again.
03:23And then he says to him, and what's the most beloved of property to you?
03:27He says sheep, which is very simple, right?
03:29If you think about it.
03:31So he's given a pregnant sheep and that gives birth to, uh, an, an entire, uh, plot of sheep.
03:39And so he's got his entire, uh, property in front of him that he can work with and that
03:44he can deal with.
03:46And so each one has their herd now and they have their property and they have the appearance
03:51that they want and they have the blessings that they want.
03:53The prophet says that then the angel comes back to each one of those people in the same
03:59human form as they were before.
04:02So to the leper, the angel shows up with leprosy, a human being with leprosy.
04:07That's also poor to the one who was bald.
04:10The angel shows up looking like the person used to look also poor.
04:14And for the one who was blind, the angel also shows up in the form of a blind man.
04:19That's also needy.
04:21And as that angel shows up to each one of them, the angel asks them for support.
04:27The leper and the bald man deny that they used to be poor.
04:33And they say that, you know, that I earned this and they basically shoo the man away.
04:38And the angel responds in the form of that man and says, aren't you the person that used
04:41to be such and such, weren't you once in need?
04:44And that person denies that they were ever poor in the first place.
04:47And so the arrogance has overtaken them and they've forgotten the blessing of Allah.
04:53So the angel says back to them, if you are lying, then may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
04:58return you to what you were before.
05:00If you're lying about who you are, and if you are not just denying the blessing that
05:05Allah has given you, but not even acknowledging that you once didn't have these things, may
05:08Allah return you to what you were.
05:11But the blind man passed the test.
05:12The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said the blind man, as soon as he saw that person
05:16in his own form that he used to be, he says to the man who was of course an angel, go
05:22ahead and take from this property, whatever you want.
05:26For I was once like you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala provided for me.
05:29So it's all yours, whatever you want, go ahead and take it.
05:32And subhanAllah the scholars say this is the one out of the three that actually had the
05:35most severe predicament, right?
05:38But look at his humility and he says, just go ahead and take it all.
05:40I used to be like you without even being asked.
05:43I used to be like you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala provided for me.
05:46So therefore I'm providing for you whatever you want from this, because this is all the
05:50blessing of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
05:52And the angel responds and says, keep your property with you.
05:56Faqad radiAllahu ank wasakhita ala sahibayk.
06:00Keep your property with you because verily Allah is pleased with you and angry with your
06:04two companions.
06:05And so the two companions lost everything that they had and were restored back to their
06:09position with the dua of the angel.
06:12And that person was able not just to keep the blessing of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
06:16in this life, but also increased in their station in the hereafter.
06:20Now back to us, the question is then when I see someone that's in need, am I actually
06:27encountering an angel?
06:28And I have to be honest, subhanAllah, I remember a few times that I was in a refugee camp and
06:32I thought to myself, this, this can't be a human being that's in front of me and Allah
06:36knows best, right?
06:38The reality is you're never actually going to know, right?
06:40If you've encountered an angel, that person is not going to reveal themselves and say,
06:44I'm actually an angel, but it would defeat the purpose if you were only honoring them
06:49because you thought they were an angel.
06:51That's actually the moral of the story, that you are to honor the person, the yateem, the
06:56orphan, the one that's in need and remember your own vulnerability and you never know
07:00who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala actually has in front of you at that moment.