It was narrated on the authority of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said:

While we were one day sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), there
appeared before us a man dressed in extremely white clothes and with very black hair.
No traces of journeying were visible on him, and none of us knew him. He sat down
close by the Prophet (peace be upon him), rested his knee against his thighs, and said,
"O Muhammad! Inform me about Islam."
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "Islam is that you should testify that
there is no deity except Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger, that you should
perform salah, pay the Zakah, fast during Ramadan, and perform Hajj to the House, if
you are able to do so."
The man said, "You have spoken truly." We were astonished at his questioning him
(the Messenger) and telling him that he was right, but he went on to say, "Inform me
about iman."
He (the Messenger of Allah) answered, "It is that you believe in Allah and His angels and
His Books and His Messengers and in the Last Day, and in qadar (fate), both in its good
and in its evil aspects." He said, "You have spoken truly."
Then he (the man) said, "Inform me about Ihsan." He (the Messenger of Allah) answered,
"It is that you should serve Allah as though you could see Him, for though you cannot
see Him yet (know that) He sees you."
He said, "Inform me about the Hour." He (the Messenger of Allah) said, "About that, the
one questioned knows no more than the questioner." So he said, "Well, inform me
about the signs thereof." He said, "They are that the slave-girl will give birth to her
mistress, that you will see the barefooted, naked, destitute, the herdsmen of the sheep
(competing with each other) in raising lofty buildings." Thereupon the man went of. I
waited a while, and then he (the Messenger of Allah) said, "O Umar, do you know who
that questioner was?" I replied, "Allah and His Messenger know better." He said, "That
was Jibril (the Angel Gabriel). He came to teach you your religion."
[Muslim]

Appearance of Angel Gibreel

The appearance and the mannerisms of Angel Gibreel have some extremely important
aspects to it, which will be discussed below.
1. Appearance: “a man dressed in extremely white clothes….no traces of
journeying”, Umar Ibn al Khattab  points out to how the man was dressed in his
finest manner, so much so that they was no trace of dirt or effects of journeying on
his clothes or his face. Commenting on this, the scholars have said that it is highly
 recommended for us Muslims, to take care of our outer appearance, appear well-
groomed and clean, especially while attaining to seek knowledge.
2. Manner: Seeking knowledge needs to be done with humility, showing utmost
respect to the ones that are teaching us. We must purify our intentions and seek

knowledge in order to get closer to Allah and invite people towards getting

closer to Allah , rather than becoming knowledgeable in order to attain worldly

status or fame.
In this case we can see that Allah sent the angel Jibreel to assist in teaching the
people about the religion of Islam. According to some scholars his teaching
comes not only from the questions he asked, but also from his appearance and
behaviour.

3. What we learn here of his appearance is that he was clean, with no traces of dirt
upon him. It is recommended for Muslims to have a good appearance and to
remain clean as much as possible, especially when attending the mosque or
seeking knowledge.
4. There is another aspect to note here which is that Islam places an emphasis on
both the inner and outer aspects of the human being. There is a strong
relationship between these two things. In this respect, if one wants to attain
knowledge, one must approach it in the proper manner, with the correct
intention, and respect for the knowledge being gained. One must also be willing
to sacrifice one’s time and wealth, and to show the outward signs of respect, such
as sitting in the proper manner.

5. “He [came and] sat next to the Prophet (s). He supported his knees
up against the knees of the Prophet (s) and put his hands on his
thighs.”
This should be the attitude of those who are truly seeking knowledge, they
should try to get close to the teacher so that they can understand and hear
everything he or she says correctly. Unfortunately, this is no the attitude one finds
amongst many Muslims today. People lean against the wall, slouch and put their
feet out, text on their mobile phones etc etc, having no respect for the magnitude
of what is being conveyed.

Iman
Literally iman means to know, to believe, refers to knowledge and belief.
 I
man or faith is the first thing that we have to learn in our religion because it acts as our
roots. Iman is basically to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers and all
the scriptures which He sent down before. As Allah Almighty said in Holy Quran: “O you
who have believed, believe in Allah and His Messenger, (in) the Book that He sent
down upon His Messenger, and the Scripture which He sent down before. And
whoever disbelieves in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last
Day has certainly gone far astray” (Quran, 4: 136)
So, a person reaching Iman believes that not only Allah exists but He is capable of doing
anything He wants to do. A Mumen believes in everything Allah Almighty told in the
Holy Quran. The belief in the Last Day which is the Judgment Day is an acknowledgment
of accountability and estimation. It is an incentive for people to do good in this life in
order to be rewarded in Paradise and a warning against doing badly in order to avoid
punishment in the Hellfire.
The Prophet (SAW) said that Iman is, “To believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, to
believe in meeting Him, to believe in His Messengers, the Resurrection and the
predestination”(Al-Bukhari). We can say that Iman is about inwardly actions.
Islam

There are three levels of faith that a person can attain being a Muslim. The first level is
Islam. A Muslim must be declared that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad (SAW)
is the messenger of Allah (SWT). By declaring this a person accepts the message of Allah
Almighty that is revealed to humanity through the last prophet Muhammad (SAW). After
accepting Islam it is obligatory on Muslim to observe all other Islamic obligations like
five daily prayers, Zakat, Fasting in Ramadan, make a pilgrimage (Hajj) of the house of
Allah if he/she is capable of doing this physically and also financially.

the scholars have traditionally divided Tauheed into three distinct categories:

Tauheed al-Ruboobiyah – The belief in the Oneness of Allah concerning His Lordship. He
alone is the Lord (al-Rabb),  He is One, without partner, and He is the sole Creator and
the only One who nourishes and Sustains the creation.
Tauheed al-Uloohiyah – This is the Oneness of Allah with respect to Him being the only
One worthy of worship. All acts of worship must be directed toward Allah alone.
Tauheed al-Asmaa wa al-Sifaat –
This is believing in all the names and attributes of Allah as mentioned in the Qur’an and
authentic hadith. We must believe that they are  unique to Him, without negating them,
stripping them of any meaning, or distorting their meaning by interpreting them.

“His Angels”

Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an:

“All the praises be to Allah, the Only Creator of the heavens and the earth, Who made
the angels messengers with wings – two, three and four. He increases in creation
what He wills. Verily, Allah is Able to do all things.” (Surah Faatir:1)
SubhanAllah the Angels, such an extraordinary creation that is rarely seen by man. Allah
(swt) created them from light, but they do have forms and bodies. They can also
metamorphisise, as we have seen at the beginning of this hadith, when the angel Jibreel
came to the Prophet (s) in the form of a man.
The second part of Imaan mentioned by the Prophet Muhammad (s) in the Hadith of
Jibreel (which you can find in full posted below), is belief in Allah’s books.
Allah’s books are the revelations that were sent down to His (swt) messengers as a
mercy and guidance to mankind. These include the Qur’an revealed to the Prophet
Muhammad (s), the Taurah revealed to the Prophet Moses (s), the Injeel revealed to the
Prophet Jesus (s) and the Zaboor revealed to the Prophet David (s).  There is also
reference in the Qur’an to the “pages” of Abraham and Moses.

“His messengers”

“And verily, We have sent among every nation a Messenger proclaiming, ‘Worship Allah
[alone] and avoid all false deities’” (Surah Al-Nahl:36)
This is one aspect that distinguishes Muslims from earlier people – we must believe in all
the prophets and messengers and the truth of what they sent.
“the Last Day”
Belief in ‘the Last Day’ was the next article of faith mentioned by the Prophet (s) in the
Hadith of Jibreel, posted in full below. It is named ‘the Last Day’ because there will be no
new day after it. It is also known as ‘The Day of Resurrection’, ‘The Reality’, ‘The
Overwhelming’, ‘The Event’ and ‘The Day of Judgement’. This is the both the greatest
and the gravest day that mankind shall ever pass through. It will mark a new beginning
for each and every soul. One that may be eternal bliss or eternal suffering.

…and to believe in the divine decree (al-Qadar), [both] the good and the
evil thereof”
This part of the Hadith also mentions the ‘good and the evil thereof’ of al-Qadar. It is
important to note that what is ‘evil’ is with respect to the human beings and not with
respect to Allah (swt). ‘Evil’ results from the human’s act of ignorance, wrong, oppression
or sin. However, it is allowed and brought into being by Allah (swt). In reality, there is
wisdom and good in everything that occurs in Allah’s (swt) creation.

Ihsan

Ihsan is the highest status of religion Islam. Its definition that our beloved Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) described is: “To worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not
see Him, He sees you.”  The concept of Ihsan in Islam is also that a Muslim is a
responsible person where he does things in a good manner. We can say that Ihsan
means a Muhsen is sure that Allah is seeing him/her in everything he/she says or does in
his life. So, a Muhsen does his best to say and do only what pleases Allah Almighty and
conforms to His commands.

In Holy Quran, Allah Almighty says: “Indeed, Allah commands justice, good conduct

(Ihsan), and giving to relatives (and He) forbids immorality, bad conduct, and oppression.
He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded” (Quran, 16: 90).
In short, by living according to the concept of Ihsan and by applying it to all that a
Muslim does, he/she will be rewarded and drench with mercy and forgiveness from
Allah Almighty.

The Big Three: Islam, Iman, & Ihsan

Scholars consider Islam, Iman and Ihsan the three stages in the path towards
Allah (swt). The first path is you force yourself and bring yourself to do those
actions which you know that Allah wants you to do. The second level is iman
where you are not only doing those actions, but you are strengthening your
relationship with Allah (swt) and you’re beginning to taste the sweetness of
your relationship with Allah. The third level is the level of Ihsan, which is to
worship Allah as if you see Him, and even if you cannot see Him, to know that
He sees you. So, you are moving in this path, this journey, towards the Divine.
And in doing so, it’s getting more and more intense.
The Hour
When Jibreel asked the Prophet (sas) about the hour, He said, “The one who is
being asked about it is not more knowledgeable about it than the one who is
asking.” Here, the Prophet (sas) is saying, this is something that Allah (swt)
keeps to Himself and it is part of the “ghayb” (unseen). This is an important
lesson because it doesn’t matter when the Day of Judgment is, what really
matters is what and how we are preparing for it. We should be continuously
striving to please Allah and seek his forgiveness.

The Signs
The next question was, “So, tell me about it’s signs, tell me about the things
that will occur”. These signs are considered as warnings. The Prophet (sas)
gave two signs to this particular hadith of the end of time. One of them is, “the
slave woman will give birth to her master,” and the tense is feminine so it is
referring to her female master.
One of the interpretations that relates to modern time would be: The one who
gives birth is supposed to be in power, or have some sort of level or authority
over the one who she gives birth to. But this here is a flipping of the scale. The
one who gives birth becomes the servant of the one who is born. Whereas
before, the child would respect, honor and listen to their parents. Now it’s the
complete opposite, and if you look around, you will see it. You see and feel as
if the parents are slaves to the children. Parents desperately trying to please
their children, and moms are trying to imitate their daughters.
The second sign; is the person will see barefooted, lightly dressed, and poor
people who are shepherds. They will see these people competing with one
another in their buildings. The point here is you have these people who don’t
have anything, they are very poor. Then suddenly the situation changes for
them, and they are competing with one another over who can build the tallest
building. They are competing to see who has the nicest car, the latest gadgets,
etc.
Shortly afterwards, the Prophet (s) told those people who were still sitting with
him (s) that it had been revealed to him (s) that it was the Angel Jibreel who
had come to them, in order to teach them about their deen or religion.
What we can see from this example is that the religion of Islam is actually the
religion of Allah (swt). Allah (swt) in His mercy provided us with two sources of
guidance: the Qur’an the revelation of Allah’s word, and the Sunnah the life
example of his Prophet Muhammad (s). If anybody wants to learn about the
religion of Allah (swt), they can learn about it directly from these two sources.
It is in Allah’s infinite wisdom that He (swt) sent the Angel Jibreel to ask these
questions about such important topics, so that the answers could be clarified
to those people sitting with the Prophet (s).