In Islam, angels (ar|{{Script|Arab|ملاك٬ ملك; plural: ar|{{Script|Arab|ملائِكة or fa|فرشته|''ferešte'') are believed to be heavenly beings, created from a luminous origin by God.[1] [2] [3] [4] The Quran is the principal source for the Islamic concept of angels, but more extensive features of angels appear in hadith literature, literature, Islamic exegesis, theology, philosophy, and mysticism.[3] [4] [5] Generally, belief in angels is one of the core tenets within Islam, as it is one of the six articles of faith.[6] Angels are more prominent in Islam compared to Judeo-Christian tradition.[7] The angels differ from other invisible creatures in their attitude as creatures of virtue, in contrast to evil devils (ar|شَيَاطِين|''šayāṭīn'' or fa|دیو|''dīv'') and ambiguous jinn (ar|جِنّ or fa|پَری|''parī'').[8] [3] [9] [10] Despite being considered to be virtuous beings, angels are not necessarily bringers of good news, as per Islamic tradition, angels can perform grim and violent tasks.[11]
Angels are conceptualized as heavenly beings. As such, they are said to lack passion and bodily desires. If angels can nevertheless fail, is debated in Islam. Contemporary Salafis usually hold the opinion that angels are always obedient and never fail to perform their tasks. In contrast, schools of theology (Kalām) often accept the fallibility of angels. Māturīdites say that the heavenly creatures are tested, and angels may fail such a test, whereupon they are dismissed from their duties. Some Ashʿarite likewise argue that angels can fail, but have no free-will. In contrast, most Mu'tazilites, including some Asharis such as al-Razi, consider angels to lack free-will and being infallible.
In Islamic philosophy and Sufism, angels are related to the nature of reason (aql). According to Sufi cosmology, they connect the higher realms of the intellect with the lower world of matter. Thus, the human mind is conceptualized to form a connection with the heavenly spheres (malakūt) through such heavenly entities associated with (nūr). In contrast, the devils attempt to disturb the connection by diverging the mind to the lower spheres, thus associated with fire (nār).
The Quranic word for angel (ar|ملك|malak|links=no) derives either from, meaning "he controlled", due to their power to govern different affairs assigned to them,[12] or from the triliteral root, or with the broad meaning of a "messenger", just as its counterpart in Hebrew . 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 instead.[13]
In Islam, angels are heavenly creatures created by God. They are considered older than humans and jinn.[14] Although Muslim authors disagree on the exact nature of angels, they agree that they are autonomous entities with subtle bodies.[15] Yet, both concepts of angels as anthropomorphic creatures with wings and as abstract forces are acknowledged.[16] Angels play an important role in Muslim everyday life by protecting the believers from evil influences and recording the deeds of humans. They have different duties, including their praise of God, interacting with humans in ordinary life, defending against devils (shayāṭīn) and carrying on natural phenomena.[4]
In Islamic philosophy angelic qualities, just as devilish ones, are assumed to be part of human's nature, the angelic one related to the spirit (ruh) and reason (aql), while the devilish one to egoism.[17] Angels might accompany aspiring saints or advise pious humans.
One of the Islamic major characteristic is their lack of bodily desires; they never get tired, do not eat or drink, and have no anger.[18] Various Islamic scholars such as Ibn Kathir, Ibn Taymiyya, Al-Tabari, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, and Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar also quoted that angels do not need to consume food or drinks.[19] They are also described as immortal, unlike jinn. In Islamic traditions, they are described as being created from incorporeal light or fire .[20] [21] Ahmad Sirhindi, a 17th-century Indian scholar, has added, that angels can take various shapes.[22]
Angels believed to be engaged in human affairs are closely related to Islamic purity and modesty rituals. Many hadiths, including Muwatta Imam Malik from one of the Kutub al-Sittah, talk about angels being repelled by humans' state of impurity.[23] It is argued that if driven away by ritual impurity, the Kiraman Katibin, who record people's actions,[23] and the guardian angel,[23] will not perform their tasks assigned to the individual. Another hadith specifies, during the state of impurity, bad actions are still written down, but good actions are not.
When a person tells a lie, angels nearby are separated from the person from the stench the lie emanates.[23] Angels also depart from humans when they are naked or are having a bath out of decency, but also curse people who are nude in public.[23] Ahmad Sirhindi has mentioned that the angels nobility are because their substances are created from luminous light.
Angels are believed to be attracted to clean and sacred places. Impure conditions, such as dogs or unclean places, may impede an angels' duty.[24] [25] [26] [27]
The possibility and degree of angels errability is debated in Islam.[28] Hasan of Basra (d. 728) is often considered one of the first who asserted the doctrine of angelic infallibility. When discussing the nature of Iblis, Tabari does not mention angelic infallibility, the idea might not have been universal in early Islam.[29] Thus, from the traditions of ibn Abbas (angels can sin) and Hasan of Basra (angels cannot sin) two different opinions derived. In a comment by Gibril Haddad on Qadi Baydawi's defense on angelic fallibility in his Tafsir al-Baydawi it is said that the angels' "obedience is their nature while their disobedience is a burden, while human beings' obedience is a burden and their hankering after lust is their nature."[15]
Opposition to the concept of the fallen angel is mostly found among the Qadariyah and most Mu'tazilites.[30] Many Salafis also agree with this view.[31] Those who oppose angelic fallibility refer to Surah at-Tahrim (66:6)[32] in favor of their position:
O believers! Protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, overseen by formidable and severe angels, who never disobey whatever Allah orders—always doing as commanded.
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi is an exception to most mutakallimūn, and agrees that angels are free from any form of sin and includes angelic infallibility to the six articles of faith.[33] Al-Razi argues that "except Iblis" (2:34, 18:50) is read as an "uninterupted exception" (istithna munqathi), excluding Iblis from the group of angels and states that he hailed from jinn species instead.[34] Ibn Taimiyya rejects any ambiguity on the nature of Iblis and portrays him as a satanic jinni in contrast to the angels.[35] Following the opinions of ibn Taimiyya and his disciple ibn Kathir, many scholars of Salafism and Wahhabism agree on this.[36] Furthermore, many of them regard this as a major difference between Christianity and Islam.[37]
Surah 2:30 portrays the angels arguing with God about the creation of Adam, since Adam's progeny will cause suffering. From among the angels, Iblis refuses to pay homage to Adam and is banned. The phrase "except Iblis" in 2:34 and 18:50 is understood as an uninterupted exception (istithna' muttasil).[38] A possible reconciliation of Iblis' fall and the doctrine of angelic impeccability is to say that God wanted Iblis to disobey[39] [40] or that Iblis' disobedience derives from noble yet misguided motivation.[41]
Al-Maturidi (853–944 CE) rejects that angels are free from sin altogether, stating that angels too are tested and also have free-will based on the Quran:[42] [43]
By calling the stars adornment of the heavens, we can deduce another meaning: that is, the inhabitants of the heavens themselves are put to the test to see which of them is the best in deeds, (...)
Those who are in support of the concept of fallen angels (including Tabari, Suyuti, al-Nasafi, and al-Māturīdī) refer to al-Anbiya (21:29) stating that angels would be punished for sins and arguing that, if angels could not sin, they would not be warned to refrain from commiting them:[44] [45]
Whoever of them were to say, "I am a god besides Him", they would be rewarded with Hell by Us [...]
Besides the case of Iblis, the presence of Harut and Marut in the Quran, further hindered their complete absolution from potentially sinning.[15] [46] Although not explicit in the Quran, some exegetes linked them to Iblis, and the angels with him, protesting the creation of Adam.[47]
Just as in non-Sufi-related traditions, angels are thought of as created of light. Al-Jili specifies that the angels are created from the Light of Muhammad and in his attribute of guidance, light and beauty.[48] Influenced by Ibn Arabi's Sufi metaphysics, Haydar Amuli identifies angels as created to represent different names/attributes of God's beauty, while the devils are created in accordance with God's attributes of Majesty, such as "The Haughty" or "The Domineering".[49]
Andalusian scholar ibn Arabi argues that a human generally ranks below angels, but developed to al-Insān al-Kāmil, ranks above them. While most earlier Sufis (like Hasan al-Basri) advised their disciples to imitate the angels, Ibn-Arabi advised them to surpass the angels. The angels being merely a reflection of the Divine Names in accordance within the spiritual realm, humans experience the Names of God manifested both in the spiritual and in the material world.[50] [51] This reflects the major opinion that prophets and messengers among humans rank above angels, but the ordinary human below an angel, while the messengers among angels rank higher than prophets and messengers among humans.[52] Ibn Arabi elaborates his ranking in based on a report by Tirmidhi. Accordingly, Muhammad intercedes for the angels first, then for (other) prophets, saints, believers, animals, plants and inanimate objects last, this explaining the hierarchy of beings in general Muslim thought.[53]
In Sufism, angels do not appear as merely models for the mystic but also their companions. Humans, in a state between earth and heaven, seek angels as guidance to reach the upper realms.[50] Some authors have suggested that some individual angels in the microcosmos represent specific human faculties on a macrocosmic level.[54] According to a common belief, if a Sufi can not find a sheikh to teach him, he will be taught by the angel Khidr.[55] [56] The presence of an angel depends on human's obedience to divine law. Dirt, depraved morality and desecration may ward off an angel.[50] A saint might be given the ability to see angels as gift (karāmāt) from God.[57]
Ahmad al-Tijani, founder of the Tijaniyyah order, narrates that angels are created through the words of humans. Through good words an angel of mercy is created, but through evil words an angel of punishment is created. By God's degree, if someone repents from evil words, the angel of punishment may turn into an angel of mercy.[58]
Muslim philosophers, such as al-Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā, drew from Aristotelianism and Neo-Platonism a hierarchy of causal effects. God created the divine Intellect known from Aristotelian cosmology[59] [60] and the writings of Plotinus, identified with an angel (usually Gabriel). The archangel then influences other cosmic intellects who in turn influence the sublunary world.[61] [62] [63] [64]
Muslim theologians (mutakallimun), for example al-Suyuti[65] and al-Taftazani,[66] generally rejected the philosophical depiction of angels as immaterial beings, since angels are, according to ḥadīṯ, created from light .[67] In response to the invisibility of angels, Taftazani argues that only God is immaterial and that angels evade perception due to their transparent bodies.[68]
The influential Sunni Muslim author al-Ghazali (–19 December 1111) reconciled the Islamic Neo-Platonist with traditional Sufi interpretations.[69] [70] He divides human nature into four domains, each representing another type of creature: animals, beasts, devils and angels.[71] [72] [73] The spiritual components are related to, the plane in which symbols take on form, angels and devils advise the human hearth .[74]