Angels

The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination."

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.285]

          It is good to be back again after more than a week not writing any entry. Firstly, praise to Allah as He give me chance to live and to continue my dakwah by writing an entry in this blog. According to my original plan, I want to start from the beginning that is about God. This is because in Islam the first thing to learn is to know Allah. That is the reason I wrote the entries before more on knowing God and only one about Quran.

          But today’s entry is about angels. Although I still not finish writing about God, I have to write this entry. This is because I still at home before return back to university next week. It is going to be difficult for me to write on this topic in the future because the reference is at home. So while I still at home better I take this opportunity to tell something about angels. I also take decision to write this entry because in a few entries before, I already raised the issue on why Allah needs angels as He already the Almighty.

          Before I answer the issue, I think I should tell a bit on the angels, such as the creation of the angels, their characteristics and their duties.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Angels were created from light, jinns were created from a smokeless flame of fire, and 'Adam was created from that which you have been told (i.e., sounding clay like the clay of pottery)."

[MUSLIM]

Sunnah.com reference: Book 19, Hadith 39

Arabic/English book reference: Book 19, Hadith 1846

          In Islam, there are pillars of faith (rukun Iman) and pillars of Islam (rukun Islam). Believing in angels is one of six things in the pillars of faith. We are not Muslim if we do not believe in the existence of the angels. In the Quran, Allah does not mention the creation of the angels. The above text I quoted from hadith, which is the word of our beloved Prophet Muhammad PBUH. He said that the angels are made from the light (nur). In the Quran indirectly told us that the angels were there before human being. As mention in the Ch.2 verses 30-39, the conversation between Allah and angels.

Has there reached you the story of the honored guests of Abraham? When they entered upon him and said, "[We greet you with] peace." He answered, "[And upon you] peace, [you are] a people unknown. Then he went to his family and came with a fat [roasted] calf. And placed it near them; he said, "Will you not eat?" And he felt from them apprehension. They said, "Fear not," and gave him good tidings of a learned boy.

[ADZ-DHARIYAT Ch.51:V.24-28]

So inquire of them, [O Muhammad], "Does your Lord have daughters while they have sons? Or did We create the angels as females while they were witnesses?" Unquestionably, it is out of their [invented] falsehood that they say, "Allah has begotten," and indeed, they are liars. Has He chosen daughters over sons? What is [wrong] with you? How do you make judgment? Then will you not be reminded?  Or do you have a clear authority? Then produce your scripture, if you should be truthful.

[AS-SAFFAT Ch.37:V.149-157]

O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are [appointed] angels, harsh and severe; they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded.

[AT-TAHRIM Ch.66:V.6]

The first verses tell some characteristic of the angels. The angels refused to eat the food that was served by Prophet Abraham not because they do not want to eat. But actually they do not eat. These verses corrected the misunderstood thought of some people who says that the angels are also like human need to eat. The second verses tell us that the angels have no gender. They are neither man nor woman. In the old days, the idolatrous (musyrik) said the angels are God’s daughter. So these verses give the evidence that they are wrong. And the last verse is about the obedience of the angels. They will never disobey the order from Allah. There many other characteristics, but I only can list a few of them.

          I think nowadays, most Muslim kids know the angels name and their duties. Maybe you can ask one of them to tell you about that. Because it will takes longer essay if I name the angels one by one and telling you their jobs. Basically Muslims should know 10 angels, their names and their jobs. But in the Quran only a few angels are mention. And the Quran also tell us the angels have many jobs. There are angels created just to worship to Allah, there some created for human being, some as guards in heavens and hells and many more.

          Come to the most important thing. Why Allah creates the angels to do all things, if He is the Almighty? As the question not too long, I think I also do not have long answer for this. There are a few reasons in my point of view. Firstly, I think that Allah wants to show His great power by creating a creature that will never disobey Him. We can see the differences between the angels, human and devils. The devils want to make us astray. Ourselves as human, sometimes we obey and sometimes we disobey to Allah. But the angels will never act without order from Allah and will never disobey after getting the order.

          In the entry before, I already touched on the nature of Allah and one of them is should have (sifat harus). In this category it is not compulsory for Allah to create us. He created us because He wanted to and He has His own plan for the creation He made. Allah is the Most Rich (Maha Kaya) not because He has this universe, angels, human and other things. Some people say that the most accurate is Allah is the Most of the Richest (Maha Terkaya). With or without the creation He made, He already the Most of the Richest.

          When someone becomes a king, he wants to show his greatness by a few ways. Maybe he can build a very good military, he can manage his country’s economy, and he can build buildings for his people, give ease to his people and other things so that his people will say he is great. But some people will say, if Allah does all the jobs by himself that would be greater. For me, human beings want something that his brain can accept. Something that is logical. If there are many things that illogical, there will be many people that will not believe in religion.

          Allah says in the Quran that we, human have only a little knowledge on the unseen world. Only Allah knows everything. Our human brains have limitations; we have to accept this fact. Because of our brains have limitations; we have to take the revelations as our guidance. Sorry if I did not do my best. Hope we can learn something in this entry today.

…So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.85]

~Wallahua’lam~