Islamic view of Angels

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

"Reciting Salawath on our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is an activity that will be accepted by Allah, even if we don't have Ikhlas (piety)".

Angels

Angels in Islam are light-based creatures, created from light, by God to serve and worship Him. Belief in angels is one of the six Articles of Faith in Islam, without which there is no faith. The six articles are belief in: God, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day, and that predestination, both good and evil, come from God.

Qur'an, Sura 17. Al-Isra verse 95. [Isra, The Night Journey, Children of Israel]

"Say, 'If there were settled, on earth, angels walking about in peace and quiet, We should certainly have sent them down from the heavens an angel for a messenger.'"

Attributes of angels

Angels are intangible, sentient entities, who do not posses free will. They were created for the sole purpose of serving God. Being made of light, they can assume almost any form, completely real to the human eye, and traverse a distance just as fast as light or faster.

Iblis

When Iblis disobeyed God, he was expelled from Heaven and became the avowed enemy of man. Iblis was not an angel but a Jinn; the latter are not angelic in any way being made of smokeless fire rather than light, and possessing free will so they can disobey or openly defy God. Unlike in Christianity, there is no concept of a Fallen Angel in Islam.

Angel hierarchy

There is no standard hierarchical organization in Islam that parallels the division into different "choirs" or spheres, as hypothesized and drafted by early medieval Christian theologians. Most Islamic scholars agree that this is an unimportant topic in Islam, especially since such a topic has never been directly mentioned or addressed in the Qur'an. However, it is clear that there is a set order or hierarchy that exists between Angels, defined by the assigned jobs and various tasks to which angels are commanded by God.

The general consensus agrees that Archangels are the highest order of Angels, as those are the ones named the most in the Qur'an (Gabriel, Michael, etc.); these are considered to be closest to God in terms of servitude, as their meaning and purpose is more detailed than any other Angel.

Archangels

There are four Archangels whom Muslims are required to acknowledge as part of their conversion to Islam. (Due to varied methods of translation from Arabic and the fact that these Angels also exist in Christian contexts and the Bible, several of their Christian and phonetic transliteral names are listed.)

• Jibrail (Gabriel in English and the Bible). Jibra'il is the Archangel responsible for revealing the Qur'an to Muhammad, verse by verse. Jibra'il is known as the angel who communicates with (all of) the Prophets that Muslims accept. He is mentioned specifically by name and as the Holy Spirit in the Qur'an.

• Mikail (Michael). Michael is often depicted as the Archangel of mercy who is responsible of bringing rain and thunder to Earth. He is also responsible for the rewards doled out to good persons in this life.

• Israfil (Raphael). According to the Hadith, Israfil is the Angel responsible for signaling the coming of Judgment Day by blowing a horn and sending out a Blast of Truth. It translates to Hebrew as Raphael. The blowing of the trumpet is described in many places in Quran. It is said that the first blow will destroy everything [Qur'an 69:13], while the second blow will bring all human beings back to life again [Qur'an 36:51].

• Izra'il (Azrael). Izra'il is the Angel of Death who along with his helpers is responsible for parting the soul of the human from the body. The actual process of separating the soul from the body depends on the person's history or record of good or bad deeds. If the human was a bad person in life, the soul is ripped out very painfully. But if the human was a righteous person, then the soul is separated like a 'drop of water dripping from glass'. It is also noted that The Angel of Death will look like a terrifying beast or demon for the souls of bad people and will look like 'the most pleasant sight' when he comes for the souls of good people.

Other angels

• Malik is the angel who is responsible for Hell.
• Ridwan is the angel who is responsible for Heaven (Paradise).
• Kiraamun kaatibeen are the angels who record the good and bad deeds of a person.
• Munkar and Nakir are the angels who interrogate a person in the grave about his good and bad deeds.
• Harut and Marut are the angels who were sent as a test to an ancient Israeli tribe. (in Babylon)

The Qur'an also mentions angels who occupy the realms of the Seven Hells. A verse stipulates this:

"O you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a Fire (Jahannam) whose fuel is Men and Stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern and severe, who flinch not (from executing) the Commands they receive from God, but do (precisely) what they are commanded." At-Tahrim 66:6

The Qur'an also mentions that angels have qualities that may be typified by the word wings. Another ayat (verse) stipulates this:

"Praise be to God, Who created (out of nothing) the heavens and the earth, Who made the angel messengers with wings - two, or three, or four (pairs) and adds to Creation as He pleases: for God has power over all things." Fatir 35:1

The preceding sentence does not imply that all angels have two to four wings. Most notably, archangels (namely Gabriel and Michael) are described as having thousands of wings. Tradition also notes that certain angels, created solely for the purpose of praising God, have 70 thousand heads, each with 70 thousand mouths that speak 70 thousand languages solely to sing praises for the Almighty. This type of angel, whose type is nameless, accompanied Muhammad up to Jannah (Heaven) when he received commands from Allah. Instead of riding on an angel, Muhammad rode a creature called a Buraq whose stride spans from horizon to horizon.

Verses in the Qur'an that directly name Angels

Gabriel (Jibreel) and Michael (Mikaa'eel) are mentioned early on the Qur'an in the second surah:

"Say: Whoever is an enemy to Jibreel - for he brings down the (revelation) to your heart by God’s will, a confirmation of what went before, and guidance and glad tidings to those who believe - Whoever is an enemy to God, and His angels and prophets, to Jibreel and Mikaa’eel - Lo! God is an enemy to those who reject Faith." (Al-Baqarah 2:97-98)

Another Angel, Malik is defined in the Qur'an as a being who is the Keeper of the Seven Hells. Malik also translates into "King" from Arabic, so it is assumed that Malik is "King" of Hell. However Malik is not an evil angel, nor a fallen one, a notion Islam rejects, rather Malik is merely doing what he is commanded to do by God.

"They [the people in Hell] will cry: ‘O Malik! Would that your Lord put an end to us!’..." (Az-Zukhruf 43:77)

Two other Angels are also mentioned directly in the Qur'an: Haaroot and Maaroot (OR Harut and Marut).

". . . and such things as came down at Babylon to the angels Haaroot and Maaroot . . ." (al-Baqarah 2:102)

Several Angels, Angel of death (mistakenly called Azrael), Israfil and Nakir and Munkar are not mentioned directly in the Qur'an but are explained further in the Hadiths of Muhammad. They are also mentioned in traditional myths; however, they seldom retain complete originality from the Hadith.