Angels-ISLAM

Angels, as messengers between God and humanity, are particularly
prominent in the monotheistic religions of the West. The latest of
these religions is Islam which was founded in Arabia by the Prophet
Muhammad in the year A.D. 622. After his death in 632, Islam spread
to the surrounding areas and westward throughout North Africa and
southern Spain. For centuries Muslim empires enjoyed what is referred
to as the Golden Age of Islam where sciences, art and literature, theology,
and jurisprudence flourished. Today, Islam still unites the Arab
world and has become one of the fastest growing religions in the
world, second in numbers only to Christianity.
Belief in angels plays an important role in Islam. In Sura 2, verse
177 of the Koran, the Muslim Holy Scriptures, it states: “It is not
righteousness that you turn your faces toward east or west; but it is
righteousness to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the angels and
the Book and the messengers.” Mala’ika is the Islamic term for angel
(malaak, singular). One of the chief functions of angels in Islam is the
carrying of messages between humans and Allah, the God of Muslim
worship. In the Koran, angels are spiritual beings created to solely
serve, worship, and obey Allah. They are formed of light or fire and do
not sin or fall into temptation. They do not have any vested administrative
authority from God but rather are beings who are commanded
to precisely execute the orders of Allah.
Angels have heavenly, unseen forms as well as earthly forms. On
earth they appear to mankind in the form of humans. In the Hadith or
Traditions of the Prophet as recorded and attested to by credible witnesses,
there is an account by the Caliph Omar (one of the successors
to the Prophet) stating that the Prophet Muhammad once encountered
an unknown man with very dark hair and a very white face. This
man sat down next to him and asked him a series of four questions
regarding the pillars of belief for Islam, faith, piety, and the Day of
Judgment. The man told the Prophet that his response to the first four
matters was correct. However, concerning a fifth matter, the time of
the Last Days, he stated specifically that no man shall know the exact
time aside from the Creator Himself. When the man left, the Prophet
realized that he had been visited by an angel of Allah.
Many different kinds of angels are regularly mentioned in the
Koran. Some, including Djibril (Gabriel) and Mikhail (Michael), are
also found in Judaism and Christianity. Djibril and Mikhail are two of
four important Muslim archangels, the other two being Israfil and
Izra’il. Djibril is of especial importance in Islam. It was Djibril who
originally contacted the Prophet and dictated the holy words of the
Koran to him on the “Night of Power and Glory” (Leilat al-Qadar).
Djibril also conducted Muhammad on his journey to heaven, known
as the “Night Journey” (Leilat al-Isra’). He is also recognized by some
Muslims as the Holy Spirit.
Djibril’s primary task is that of messenger. The task of the other
archangels differs. Mikhail is the Angel of Providence and also the
guardian of the Jews. Izrai’il is the Angel of Death. Israfil is the Summoner
to Resurrection.
In addition to these four archangels, there are lesser angels whose
tasks vary considerably. The hafaza, or protector angels, guard
humans against the jinn (demons) and other spirits. Also, when a
human dies, Muslims believe that two special angels named Munkir
and Nakir come to the dead in the tomb to ask questions concerning
faith and doctrine. The evil are shown pictures of the hellfire they
will endure in the hereafter, and the pious are given a glimpse of the
eternal paradise that will be their deserving reward. There are also
angels who are sent from heaven to fight alongside believers in earthly
battles waged for the propagation of the faith. Some angels roam
the world testifying to Allah about the presence of the faithful at
prayer, Koran readings, and religious lectures. Angels are sent to protect
the Ka’aba, the Black Stone that Muslims circumambulate during
the Hajj or the ’Umra (the off season pilgrimage). Lastly, angels
hold up the throne of Allah, praising him eternally and asking continual
forgiveness for the faithful.
Early Islamic thinkers postulated three orders of beings beyond
God: angels, jinn, and humans. The jinn are a type of spirit created
from fire who inhabit a subtly material intermediate realm between
angels and humans. Like human beings, the jinn possess intelligence
and free will and are thus capable of salvation. Angels, on the other
hand, were created to always obey the will of Allah. This concept of
angels immediately raises at least one question: If Iblis, the Muslim
Satan or Shaitaan was originally an angel, how could he have disobeyed
Allah’s direct command to bow and worship Adam? Iblis
refused to worship Adam on the grounds that he saw Adam as a lesser
creature than himself. How could Adam, made from mere clay, be
more worthy of worship than Iblis, a spiritually pure creation? Allah
explained that the human had the potential to be even more deserving
of worship as Adam and the sons and daughters of Adam would
live their lives facing great temptations that were unknown to the
angels in their spiritual form.
Some of the Sufi followers, who practice what is considered
non-orthodox Islam, believe that Iblis loved Allah to such a great
extent that he was willing to suffer eternal damnation as punishment
for his disobedience to Allah’s command. Within orthodox
Islam, believers assert that Allah transformed Iblis into a jinn as
punishment; another belief is that Iblis was always a jinn and just
happened to be a resident of heaven at the time of his disobedience.
The ultimate result of Iblis’s direct disobedience to Allah’s command
was that he was banished from heaven forever. Iblis, renamed
Shaitaan after his fall from grace, asked Allah to grant him permission
to live until the Day of Judgment and to gather followers for
the purpose of evil. The request was granted by Allah who is All-
Knowing and All-Merciful.
In some areas of the world, angels, many with unusual names, play
an important role in popular Islam. These practices may be rooted in
the pre-Islamic religions of those areas. Angels also play an important
role in some systems of Islamic mystical or speculative philosophy,
most notably in the complex angelology of the Sufi thinker Suhrawardi.
Some contemporary Islamic modernists dismiss the real existence
of angels, viewing them symbolically as representing aspects of the
human soul. However, for most devout Muslims, belief in angels
remains an important part of one’s faith.