وَلَقَد رَآهُ نَزلَةً أُخرىٰ
Certainly he saw him yet another time.
EXEGESIS
Nazlah (time) comes from nuzūl, meaning to come down. It can also have the meaning of occasion (marrah), but that meaning also entails within it the idea of coming down. Hence, it could be translated as follows: Certainly he saw him on another descent. The idea of descent was also entailed in the earlier descriptions of the Prophet seeing Gabriel, with Gabriel coming nearer and nearer to the Prophet from the highest horizon. Ālūsī argues that the word nazlah is used here instead of marrah to indicate that even this time seeing Gabriel was a matter of him descending and coming closer. Tabatabai suggests this was Gabriel descending to take the Prophet up for the Night of Ascension. For this to make sense he says the next verse is referring to the sighting, not the descension, meaning the sighting still took place at the Lote Tree.
EXPOSITION
This verse talks about the second time that the Prophet saw Gabriel in his true form, and this was during the Night of Ascension. The expression another time indicates that the earlier verses spoke of a separate occasion when the Prophet saw Gabriel and this verse is speaking now of a second occasion.
As mentioned in the commentary on previous verses, there are several traditions reported from the Ahl al-Bayt and other sources that the Prophet saw the light of God manifesting itself during the Night of Ascension and that these verses are related to that. This can be true in addition to sighting of Gabriel in his angelic form.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Zamakhsharī argues that this verse should again be about Gabriel because of context clues like describing the seeing happening By the Lote Tree (verse 14) which indicates place, and that this happened while Gabriel was descending (nazlatan). Place and movement should not be ascribed to God. This argument, however, is not valid since the place refers to where the said unveiling happened for the Prophet without implying any movement or location for God.
Zamakhsharī’s second argument is that even if we accept that this was about God, it has not been reported that the Prophet saw God (or rather His light) before the Night of Ascension. Perhaps Zamakhsharī had not come across the narrations that indicate this.
In any case, this does not mean that Zamakhsharī is wrong, since the stronger view is that the verse is talking about Gabriel, however the arguments he presents are inconclusive.
Those who have understood all these pronouns to refer to God have said that here we are told of a second time that the Prophet saw the ultimate closeness to the glory of God. Qurṭubī, borrowing from Rāzī, considers why the word nazlah is used and says that the Prophet ascended and descended many times, during all of his prayers, during which he experienced this closeness to God. One such experience was also By the Lote Tree of the ultimate boundary (verse 14).
As mentioned, Rāzī was of the opinion that this and the previous verses were talking about God. He interprets this verse to mean that the Prophet saw God (by coming closer to His mercy) when he ‘came down’ by overcoming his human tendencies of worldly desires.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- The angel said to him, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.’
[1] Muhit, 10/12; Alusi, 14/50; Shawkani, 5/128; Mizan, 19/31.
[2] Alusi, 14/50.
[3] Mizan, 19/31.
[4] This is the opinion adopted in Tibyan, 9/426; Tabrisi, 9/265; Tabari, 27/30; Zamakhshari, 9/142; Muhit, 10/12; Ibn Kathir, 7/418-419; Shawkani, 5/128. Mizan, 19/31; Fadlallah, 21/255; Tantawi, 14/63.
[5] Mizan, 19/31.
[6] See Nur, 5/154-156. See also Tabrisi, 9/265; Thalabi, 9/141; Qurtubi, 17/93; Muslim, 1/111.
[7] Zamakhshari, 9/142.
[8] See for example Mudarrisi, 14/153. He argues that both these times were during the Night of Ascension.
[9] Qurtubi, 17/94. See also Razi, 28/243-244.
[10] Razi, 28/234.
[11] Luke 1:19.