2:97 Say: "Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel-he it is who sent it down upon thy heart."
Magnanimous and beautiful is the Qur'an that Gabriel brought down from the All-Merciful. It is the repose of the spirit of the friends, the healing of the hearts of the ill, a mercy to the faithful. This is why God says, "he it is who sent it down upon thy heart." Elsewhere He says, "Brought down by the Faithful Spirit upon thy heart" [26:193-94]. When Gabriel conveyed the pure revelation, sometimes he came in the form of a mortal man, sometimes in the form of an angel. Whenever he brought verses about permitted and forbidden and the explication of the shariahs and rulings, he would be in human form, and there was no talk of the heart. Thus He says, "He it is who sent down upon thee the Book" [3:7]; "Does it not suffice them that We sent down upon thee the Book?" [29:51].
Then again, whenever there was talk of love, the attributes of passion, and the intimations of friendship, he would come in the form of an angel, spiritual and subtle, and he would join with Muṣ?afā's heart. He would convey the revelation of the Qur'an secretly to his secret core, and no one else was aware of him. When he returned and left behind the realm of his heart, Muṣ?afā would say, "He broke away from me while I was aware of him."
It is said that when he was inundated by contemplation in this speech, the revelation would first descend to his heart, for He said to him, "who sent it down upon thy heart." Then it would turn away from his heart to his understanding and his hearing. Then he would descend from the summit of companionship to the lowland of service for the sake of the people's shares. This is the level of the elect. It may also happen that revelation descends on the hearing of certain people first, then on their understanding, then on their hearts, advancing from the lowness of struggle to the highness of contemplation. This is the level of the wayfarers and desirers. How far apart they are!