12أَفَتُمارونَهُ عَلىٰ ما يَرىٰMuhammad Asadwill you, then, contend with him as to what he saw?1Thus the Qur'an makes it clear that the Prophet's vision of the angel was not a delusion but a true spiritual experience: but precisely because it was purely spiritual in nature, it could be conveyed to others only by means of symbols and allegories, which sceptics all too readily dismiss as fancies, "contending with him as to what he saw".