ANGELS: HEAVENLY SPIRITUAL CREATURES

By Babatunde Jose

In an article published in The Muslim World, Samuel M. Zwemer commented: ‘The angelology of Islam is very extensive and has been treated only partially by western scholars, although it holds such an important place in the belief of popular Islam.

This is quite surprising as angels are a fundamental part of Islamic belief, as Sachiko Murata notes: ‘The Islamic concepts of creation, revelation, prophecy, the events that occur in the world, worship, the spiritual life, death, resurrection, and the central position of man in the cosmos cannot be understood without reference to angels.’

The concept of angels is pivotal and holds a very strong place in Islam. This is because faith in the unseen world that Allah created is an essential element and one of the six articles of faith. In fact, belief in angels is necessary in Islam and their rejection constitutes kufr: ‘Whoever is an enemy to God and His angels and His messengers, Gabriel, and Michael – surely God is an enemy to the unbelievers. (Q 2:97). Angels, then, are an integral part of the Islamic worldview and deserve attention.

The roles of the angels in specific mythic events (such as the prostration of the angels to Adam) and their role in the eschatological works (including the Miraj) have been discussed, albeit not always in much depth. Angels encompass a range of different areas of study: Qur’anic and Hadith studies, accounts of the Miraj and Islamic eschatology, notions of popular religion and discussions in systematic theology (kalam) and philosophy.

A brief survey of Judeo-Christian literature shows that angels are often conceived in different ways, with both human and divine forms. The study of angels has been largely compartmentalized into specific areas: eschatology, Quranic studies, exegesis, the Miraj literature, theology, philosophy and so on.

Angels are heavenly spiritual creatures created by God and are deemed to be older than humans and Jinn. The Arabic word for angel Malak derives either from Malaka, meaning “he controlled”, due to their power to govern different affairs assigned to them, or from the triliteral root’-l-k, l-’-k or m-l-k with the broad meaning of a “messenger”, just as its counterpart in Hebrew Malakhi. Unlike the Hebrew word, however, the term is used exclusively for heavenly spirits of the divine world, as opposed to human messengers. The Quran refers to both angelic and human messengers as Rasul instead.

Angels in Islam do not have the ability to choose as humans do and were not created with a will and therefore do not disobey Allah. They do whatever Allah tells them to do.

Nobody knows the number of angels and when they were created, but they were around a long time before mankind and jinn. We know this from the Quran when Allah (swt) states: Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: “I will create a vicegerent on earth.” They said: “Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood, whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?” He said: “I know what ye know not.” (Q 2:30)

How many angels there are? Only Allah (swt) knows. But it is said that a sacred heavenly sanctuary above the Kaaba, in the city of Mecca, Al-Bait-al-Ma’mur (i.e. Allah’s House), every day seventy thousand (70,000) angels visit and perform tawaf daily and then leave, never returning to it again, followed by another group… (Sahih Al-Bukhari Volume 4, Hadith Number 429, translated by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan)

Angels in Islam have a unique appearance. Even though there are very few humans who have seen angels in their original form, we know of several facts about angels from the Quran and Sunnah:

The angels are made of light, whereas the Jinn are made from smokeless fire, and mankind is from earthen clay. The angels are very large. They have wings, sometimes in pairs of two, three or more. They are neither male nor female. They do not sin. They can take on the form of humans. The angels do not eat. We know this from their visit to Prophet Ibrahim(as) as mentioned in the Quran

The Angels also have names. There are four special angels or Archangels ‘karubiyin’ considered to rank above the other angels in Islam: They are Gabriel, Mika’il, Azraeel and Israfil.

Gabriel is the divine messenger who reveals divine mysteries and delivers God’s orders and aid to the prophets. There are many different legends about Gabriel in Muslim tradition, many of which overlap with biblical traditions about the patriarchs and the prophets. Gabriel is said to have consoled Adam after the expulsion from paradise and taught him the letters of the alphabet, how to cultivate wheat, and how to make tools from iron.

It is also said that Gabriel took Adam to Mecca and taught him the rites of pilgrimage. He showed Noah how to build the ark and had numerous encounters with Abraham. He helped Moses fight the magicians of Egypt, and goaded Pharaoh’s army into the Red Sea.

He taught the prophet Samuel, and comforted King David. And he announced the coming birth of John the Baptist to Zacharias and that of Jesus to Mary.

Mika’il (Michael): Responsible for directing the rain and winds according to the will of Allah. The Angel of Death – Azraeel (Malak al-Mawt): Takes away life with the order of Allah. He oversees death. Numerous Angels work under him. Israfil is responsible for blowing the trumpet that will signal the end of creation.

Ridwan is the primary guardian of Paradise. And Malik is the primary guardian of Hell. Kiraaman and Kaatibeen: The angels who write down the deeds of the person. Each person has two of these angels with them, one who writes the good deeds, and the other who writes the bad deeds.

Munkar and Nakeer: Questions the person upon their death in grave as to their belief and punish those in the grave who did not believe, or were hypocrites, while alive.

The duties of Angels are to praise, glorify, and pray to Allah. Unlike other faiths, Islam gives us clear information about the angels. Hence, we do not have to create myths and legends about them. We simply have to learn the information given to us about angels in Islam in the Quran and the sayings of Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him). There are dozens of verses in the Quran relating to the role of the angels in Islam. See Qur’an 2:285; 82:10-12; 21:20; 13:23-24; 69:17; 43:19; 35:1; 53:5; 48:4; 3:124; 74:30-31; 32:11; 39:68; 42:5.

Among all the angels, Angel Jibril (as) is the one with the most merit and highest status. He is the Messenger of Allah to the messengers of Allah.

When Prophet Muhammad saw Jibril (as) the first time in his original shape, he felt that he was seeing a very strange and a very great thing and was so affected by the aura of what he saw that he fainted.

During the night of al-Miraj, the Prophet once again saw Angel Jibril in his original shape. However, this time the Prophet did not faint at the sight of Jibril (as) , because before that the angel had washed his heart to make it stronger and ready to see the wondrous things in the upper world during the ascension.

Some of the Angels are very big. It was narrated that the Prophet told us about one of the angels who carries the Arsh. He said that the distance between that angel’s ear lobe and his shoulder is equivalent to a seven hundred (700) year journey. [Abu Dawud]

There are guardian angels responsible for protecting the believer throughout his life, at home or traveling, asleep or awake. There are also angels responsible for breathing the soul into the fetus and writing down its provisions, lifespan, actions, and whether it will be wretched or happy.

Some angels are roamers, traveling around the world in search of gatherings where Allah (swt) is remembered. There are also angels constituting Allah’s heavenly army, standing in rows, they never get tired or sit down, and others who bow or prostrate, and never raise their heads, always worshipping Allah (swt).

In retrospect angels are a grandiose creation of God, varying in numbers, roles, and abilities. Having knowledge and belief in them adds to the awe that one feels towards God, in that He can create as He wishes, for indeed the magnificence of His creation is a proof of the magnificence of the Creator.

However, those who chose to ignore or poo poo the existence of Angels of God are bound to suffer from what a friend described as ‘spiritual rigor mortis’, a terrible ailment of the spirit that leads men to misbehave and forget that all they do are being recorded by the Angels of record and there awaits them a great torment in the grave when they die.

But most important of all is that they would have nothing to bargain with on the Day of Reckoning’. This will be the fate of the looters of the commonwealth; the AG who creams off 80 billion of our patrimony without fear of consequence; the soldiers and defenders of our security who sell our arms to thieves, kidnappers and terrorists and the leaders who watch our children rot away in joblessness and hopelessness.

A word is enough.

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend.

Babatunde Jose