Different Forms in which Angels Appear
The angels can take a shape other than their true form and appear in whatever excellent form they wish. They appear to a selected elite of the slaves of Allah, frequently in the shape of extraordinary men with handsome forms and shining faces and excellent clothes. However, the bodies they take on when adopting human form do not remove them from the basic nature they were given by Allah when He created them. Thus when, for instance, they take on human form, human nature does not have any power over them. They do not, for example, eat or drink.
The angels appeared to the Close Friend of the Merciful, Ibrahim, peace be upon him, in this Adamic form which led him, due to the impulse of generosity rooted in his basic nature, to has- ten to offer them hospitality, thinking that they were ordinary guests. They came to him to visit him. Allah Almighty says:
"Has there come to you the story of the honoured guests of Ibrahim? When they entered upon him, saying, "Peace!" he said 'Peace! You are a people unknown to me. Then he turned to his household and brought a fattened calf and he laid it before them, saying, "Will you not eat?" Then he conceived a fear of them. They said, 'Do not be afraid! And they gave him the good tidings of a cunning hoy. Then his wife came forward, clamouring, and she smote her face and said, 'An old woman, barren! They said, 'So says thy Lord. He is the All-Wise, the All- Knowing. He said, 'And what is your business, envoys?" They said, "We have been sent to a people of sinners, to loose upon them stones of clay marked with your Lord for the prodigal." (51:24-34)
When they visited Lut, the angels took the shape of handsome, beardless youths. He felt terrible constriction on their account and unable to offer them hospitality. That was because he was afraid that his people would violate them. So the Almighty says:
"When Our messengers came to Lut, he was distressed on their account, feeling unequipped to help them, and said, "This is a dreadful day. His people came running excitedly to him. They were long used to committing acts of wrong. He said, 'O my people! Here are my daughters. They are purer for you. So be fearful of Allah. Do not dis grace me in respect of my guests. Is there not one rightly- guided man among you?" They said, "You know we have no claim to your daughters. You know very well what we want. He said, 'If only I had the strength to combat you or could take refuge in some powerful support! They said, 'Lut, we are messengers of your Lord. They will not get to you. Set out with your family in a watch of the night and let not any of you look back excepting your wife. What smites them will smite her. Their promised appointment is the morning. Is the morning not near-at-hand? When Our command came, We curned the place upside down and rained down upon it stones of baked clay, piled on top of one another, each one marked by your Lord, and they are never far from the wrongdoers." (11:77-83)