The Companions’ Vision of Jibril in His True Form

Question:
And he said: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you, you mentioned that humans cannot see the angels in their true form. So what is the doubt in the statement of Ibn Abbas that he was the only Companion who saw Jibril in his true form?

Answer:
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw Jibril in his angelic form twice. Once, while he was in the plain of Makkah, he saw him between the sky and the earth in his angelic form, filling the horizon, with six hundred wings, each wing filling the horizon. And he saw him on another occasion at the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, which was during the Night of Ascension.
As for the times other than these two, Jibril would come to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the form of a man, speaking to him and conveying to him what Allah the Exalted commanded him. Sometimes his Companions would see him in the form of that man, as in the hadith of 'Umar: “A man came to us, such and such.” As for Ibn Abbas seeing Jibril in his true form, I do not know of this. I do not know of this. Yes.