the correct view is that this is Gabriel, peace and blessings be upon him, for he is the one described by what is mentioned from the beginning of the surah until His statement: {And he certainly saw him in another descent (13) At the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary (14)}. This is how the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, explained it in the Sahih (Authentic) hadith. ʿĀʾisha, may God be pleased with her, said: I asked the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, about this verse, and he said:

"It is Gabriel; I did not see him in his form in which he was created except twice."

And the wording of the Qur'an does not indicate otherwise from several angles... Then he elaborated on mentioning them until he brought them to sixteen angles. [Al-Madārij (3/319) with slight adaptation].

Thus, this drawing near and coming down in this verse does not contradict what is established in the hadith of Anas, may God be pleased with him, attributing the drawing near and coming down to the Lord Almighty and Majestic, for this is different from that, as Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Zād al-Maʿād (3/38): As for the Almighty's statement in Sūrat al-Najm: {Then he drew near and came down} [al-Najm: 8], it is different from the drawing near and coming down in the story of the Ascension. For what is in (Sūrat al-Najm) is the drawing near and coming down of Gabriel, as ʿĀʾisha and Ibn Masʿūd, may God be pleased with them both, said, and the context indicates it. For He said: {He was taught by one Mighty in Power (5) One of soundness. And he rose to his true form (6) While he was in the higher horizon (7) Then he drew near and came down (8)}. And this is Gabriel, so the pronouns all refer back to this teacher who is Mighty in Power, and he is the one of soundness, meaning: strength, and he is the one who rose to his true form in the higher horizon, and he is the one who drew near and came down, and was at a distance of two bow-lengths or nearer from Muḥammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him. As for the drawing near and coming down that is in the hadith of the Ascension, that is explicit in being the drawing near and coming down of the Lord, Blessed is He, and there is no mention of that in Sūrat al-Najm. Rather, it contains that he saw him in another descent at the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, and this is Gabriel; Muḥammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, saw him in his true form twice: once on the earth, and once at the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary. And God knows best. End quote.

Ibn Kathīr, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his Tafsīr (7/445): For this sighting of Gabriel was not on the night of the Ascension, but before it, while the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, was on the earth. Gabriel, peace be upon him, descended to him and came down to him, approaching him while he was in the form upon which God created him, having six hundred wings. Then he saw him after that in another descent at the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, meaning: on the night of the Ascension. This first sighting was in the early days of the prophetic mission after Gabriel, peace be upon him, came to him the first time, so God revealed to him the beginning of Sūrat