Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
The purpose of the hadith is to demonstrate the enormous number of angels and the greatness of their worship of Allah Almighty, and that the heavens are so filled with them that hardly any small space is devoid of an angel worshipping Allah. The hadith does not mean that each angel occupies only a space of four fingers while prostrating. It is not discussing the size of the angel or the area he occupies, but rather the extent to which the heavens are filled with angels.
The Hadith Indicates the Great Number of Angels and Their Constant Worship
Al-Tirmidhi narrated from Abu Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Indeed, I see what you do not see, and I hear what you do not hear. The heaven has creaked, and it has every right to creak. There is no space in it of four fingers except that an angel has placed his forehead there, prostrating to Allah.”
[Reported by al-Tirmidhi]
The apparent meaning of the hadith is that the number of angels is extraordinarily great and that the heavens are filled with angels who worship Allah and prostrate to Him.
Thus, the Prophet’s words ﷺ, “There is no space of four fingers”, are intended to show their immense number, to the extent that even a very small space is not empty of them.
The Angels Are Not All of the Same Form and Size
There is nothing in the revealed texts indicating that all angels are equal in their physical creation or size.
Allah Almighty says:
“All praise is for Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, Who made the angels messengers with wings—two, three, or four. He increases in creation whatever He wills. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent.”
[Fatir 35:1]
The angels therefore differ in their creation, and Allah has informed us that “He increases in creation whatever He wills.”
Accordingly, it is incorrect to take what has been reported about the immense size of some angels and then assume that all angels must have the same form or size.
Gabriel, Peace Be Upon Him, Is Immense in Creation
It is authentically established that the Prophet ﷺ saw Gabriel, peace be upon him, in his true form.
Ibn Mas‘ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
“He saw Gabriel, and he had six hundred wings.”
[Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said regarding one occasion when the Prophet ﷺ saw Gabriel:
“He came to him on this occasion in his actual form, and he filled the horizon of the sky.”
[Reported by Muslim]
Gabriel, peace be upon him, is therefore an angel of immense creation, to the extent that he filled the horizon when he appeared in the form in which Allah created him.
But this does not mean that every angel is of the same size.
Angels Can Take Different Forms
Another indication that the circumstances of angels cannot be measured by human standards is that Allah Almighty has given them the ability to assume other forms.
Gabriel, peace be upon him, despite the greatness of his true form, would sometimes come to the Prophet ﷺ in the form of a man.
In the hadith of Umm Salamah, may Allah be pleased with her, she saw Gabriel with the Prophet ﷺ and thought that he was Dihyah al-Kalbi, until the Prophet ﷺ later informed her that it had been Gabriel.
[Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim]
It is therefore incorrect to treat the world of angels as though it must necessarily conform to what we know about human sizes and forms.
Does the Hadith Mean That an Angel Himself Occupies Only Four Fingers of Space?
No.
The hadith does not say that every angel is four fingers in size, nor does it say that an angel occupies only that amount of space when prostrating.
Rather, the Prophet ﷺ said:
“There is no space in it of four fingers except that an angel has placed his forehead there, prostrating to Allah.”
The meaning is that the heavens are so densely filled with angels that there is no small space equivalent to four fingers that is empty of an angel worshipping Allah.
If one were to suppose there were a gap between one angel and another, that gap would not even reach this very small measure.
As for the actual amount of space occupied by an angel while prostrating, the hadith does not address that at all.
We Do Not Measure the World of Angels by the Human World
The angels belong to the unseen world, and we know nothing of their qualities and forms except what Allah Almighty and His Messenger ﷺ have informed us.
Therefore, when an authentic text speaks about them, the proper approach is to believe it according to its correct meaning and not build upon it assumptions that the text itself did not mention.
There is therefore no contradiction between some angels being immense in creation and the heavens being filled with vast numbers of angels, because we do not know the actual sizes of all angels or how they are distributed throughout the heavens.
Conclusion
The hadith, “There is no space of four fingers except that an angel has placed his forehead there, prostrating to Allah,” does not mean that the size of every angel, or the area occupied by him in prostration, is equal to four fingers.
Rather, its purpose is to demonstrate the enormous number of angels, how completely the heavens are filled with them, and their constant worship of Allah Almighty.
Furthermore, the angels are not all of one form or size. Some of them are immense in creation, such as Gabriel, peace be upon him, and Allah has granted them qualities and abilities that differ from those of human beings.
Therefore, there is no contradiction between the immense size of some angels and the meaning of this hadith.
And Allah knows best.