Islamic Angels

In Arabic, the language of the Qur'an, angels are called "Malaaikah"(sing: Malak), similar to the Hebrew word "mal'ach". The belief in angels is central to the religion of Islam, beginning with the belief that the Qur'an was dictated to the prophet Muhammad by the chief of all angels, the archangel Gabriel. Angels are thus the ministers of God, as well as the agents of revelation in Islam.

In Islam, angels are benevolent beings created from light and do not possess free will. They are completely devoted to the worship of God and carry out certain functions on His command, such as recording every human being's actions, placing a soul in a newborn child, maintaining certain environmental conditions of the planet (such as nurturing vegetation and distributing the rain) and taking the soul at the time of death. Angels are described as being excessively beautiful and have different numbers of wings (for example, Gabriel is attributed as having 600 wings in his natural form) and have no gender. They can take on human form, but only in appearance. As such, angels do not eat, procreate or commit sin as humans do.

According to the majority of Islamic scholars, angels are incapable of committing sin, and therefore cannot fall from grace, excluding the Iblis who chose to do evil because he had free-will and is not considered as a fallen angel, but a separate entity made of fire called jinn. Scholars cite the following Quranic verse, "And when We said to the Angels; 'Prostrate yourselves unto Adam.' So they prostrated themselves except Iblis. He was one of the jinn..." (Surat Al-Kahf, 18:50). Angels, unlike the fiery nature of jinn, are beings of goodness and cannot choose to disobey God, nor do they possess the ability to do evil.

The archangel Gabriel is attributed with sending the message of God to all the Prophets (including the Psalms, Torah, Bible and Qur'an). Other angels include Michael who discharges control of vegetation and rain, Israfel who will blow the trumpet at the day of resurrection, and Azrael, the angel of death (as opposed to the Christian view that Gabriel is the angel of good news). The angels Nakir and Munkar are assigned to interrogate the dead before judgment day; and there are nineteen angels over-seeing the punishments of hell unflinchingly (Surat Al-Muddaththir, 74:30). There are eight massive angels that support the Throne of God (Surat Al-Haaqqa, 69:17). Every human being is assigned two angels to scribe a record of all actions done by the individual throughout their life, which will be used in evidence for or against the person by God on the day of judgment.

Humans do not turn into angels upon death, rather they are physically resurrected in body and soul and judged by God on judgment day (and that should they end up in heaven, they are given perfect bodies).

Imam `Ali explained the creation of Angels in the following words:

"Then He created the openings between high skies and filled them with all classes of His angels. Some of them are in prostration and do not kneel up. Others in kneeling position and do not stand up. Some of them are in array and do not leave their position. Others are extolling God and do not get tired. The sleep of the eye or the slip of wit, or languor of the body or the effect of forgetfulness does not effect them.

Among them are those who work as trusted bearers of His message, those who serve as speaking tongues for His prophets and those who carry to and fro His orders and injunctions. Among them are the protectors of His creatures and guards of the doors of the gardens of Paradise. Among them are those also whose steps are fixed on earth but their necks are protruding into the skies, their limbs are getting out on all sides, their shoulders are in accord with the columns of the Divine Throne, their eyes are downcast before it, they have spread down their wings under it and they have rendered between themselves and all else curtains of honor and screens of power. They do not think of their Creator through image, do not impute to Him attributes of the created, do not confine Him within abodes and do not point at Him through illustrations."
 

Angels in the Tanakh  Appearance of angels  Angels Purpose  Angels of the Old Testament   New Testament Angels 

Islamic Angels    Latter-Day Saint Angels  Gender of angels  Hierarchy of Angels  

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