ANGELS

Q         Write short accounts of Muslim belief about angels.

[4-N-08][4-J-05][4-J-04][4-J-02][5-specimen paper 09]

Q         What are the Muslim beliefs about angels?                             [10-J-10]

Q         Give an account of Muslim belief in the following:

(i) angels; and

(ii) prophets.                                                                        [10-N-12-paper 21]

Like the human beins, Jinns and every other creation, angels are also the creation of Allah. Arabs believed that they were the daughters of God. In other religions too, angels were believed to be partners of Allah in His powers but Allah decrares it clearly that they are the creation like other creations. They are made of light (Noor). They praise Allah all the time. It comes in Ahadith that like our Kaaba, there is another Kaaba in the heaves and every day thousands of angels perform its Tawaaf. They also perform duties Allah has assigned them. The angels are the workers of Allah. The entire universe is administered by angels under the commands of Allah.

Like the human beings and Jinns, they do not have the power to commit sin and they do not have their free will. They are not male or female and they do not have reproduction system or marriages with each other. Only Allah knows about their number but since they manage the universe, their number must be very high. They have powers given by Allah but their powers are not unlimited. Angels perform only the tasks which are assigned to them and they are not aware of the other tasks. Usually we cannot see them. However they may come to human beings in the form of human beings and we cannot recognize them. Allah says:

“----- and the angels celebrate the praises of their Lord and pray for

 forgiveness for beings on earth” (42:5).

The prominent angels are four:

One is Jibreel (as) who brought the messages of Allah and the Books of Allah to the prophets. He still comes on the earth and he is the chief angel. His title is “Rooh” and “Rooh ul Ameen”

“In this Night come down Rooh (Jibril) and angels under the command

  of their Lord for  all the matters”            (Sura Al Qadr). 

The second is Israfeel (as) who will announce the end of life on earth on the Day of Judgment and who will announce resurrection. The third is Izraeel (as) who takes away life. The fourth is Mikaeel (as) who is responsible for the needs of life on this earth.

Besides these, other angels are keeping our record of life and performing other duties.  Angels ask questions in graves. In fact we cannot imagine how many angels are performing unlimited duties for Allah.