Praise be to Allah,
The Obligation of Belief in the Angels
The angels are one of the creations of Allah. There are numerous verses in the Qur’an and authentic Hadiths to support this. Belief in them is one of the articles of faith in Islam:
“The Messenger has believed in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. Everyone (of them) has believed in God, His Angels, His Books, and His Messengers.” (Qur’an, 2:285)
“Whoever disbelieves in God, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, or the Last Day, he has readily gone far astray.” (Qur’an, 4:136)
When Gabriel (AS) asked him about ‘imān, i.e. faith, He (the Prophet) replied: That you affirm your faith in Allah, in His angels, in His Books, in His Apostles, in the Day of Judgment, and you affirm your faith in the Divine Decree about good and evil. He (the inquirer) said: You have told the truth.[i]
Angles are huge in numbers, and no one can know their exact numbers except Allah. They are created for various purposes like glorifying and praising Allah, carrying the messages of Allah to His messengers and Prophets, to guard the humans, recording of deeds of the humans, taking the soul of the humans at the time of the death, and many more. One of the special blessings of Allah in the creation of Angels upon the human being is that they assist a person in achieving righteousness.
The role of the angels in assisting mankind can be traced back to the first man- Adam (A.S). When Allah created Adam (PBUH), He commanded him to greet the angels. The response of the greetings by the angels would become the greetings of the Ummah. Moreover, they taught his children how to wash dead bodies and bury them.[ii]
An Angel is assigned to everybody
A man both believer and disbeliever, has two companions with him. One from angels and one from the Jinn. The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam,) said,
“There is no one among you but there has been appointed for him one qareen (companion) from among the jinn and another from among the angels.” They said, “For you too, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “For me too, but Allah has helped me against him (the jinn companion) and he has become Muslim, so he does not tell me to do anything but good.”[iii]
The companion of the man from the jinn call towards bad deeds while the companions from the noble angels call towards good.
The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam), said, “The devil has a hold over the son of Adam, and the angel has a hold over him. The hold of the devil tempts man to do evil and deny the truth.
The hold of the angel encourages man to do good and believe in the truth. Whoever experiences anything of this sort, let him know that it is from Allah, and let him praise Allah.
Whoever experiences anything of the other, let him seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytan.” [iv]
An angel spend the night with the companion who mentions Allah before sleeping
Jabir reported: The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam), said,
“When a man retires to his bed, an angel and a devil rush to him. The angel says: End your day with good! The devil says: End your day with evil! If he remembers Allah and then falls asleep, the angel will spend the night to take care of him.”[v]
Angel assists the one who spends his wealth in the path of Allah
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam,) said, “Every day two angels come down from Heaven and one of them says, ‘O Allah! Compensate every person who spends in Your Cause,’ and the other (angel) says, ‘O Allah! Destroy every miser.’ “[vi]
In the narration of Sahih Muslim,
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam,) as saying:
There is never a day wherein servants (of God) get up at morn but are not visited by two angels. One of them says: 0 Allah, give him more who spends (for the sake of Allah), and the other says: 0 Allah, bring destruction to one who withholds.[vii]
These ahadith encourage us to spend our halal wealth in the path of Allah as much as possible.
The angel may come in the form of a human to those who love one another for the sake of Allah alone.
Loving a Muslim brother for the sake of Allah is one of the most important foundations on which Muslim society is built. This is achieved when there are no worldly expectations from the person and he goes out to meet him only to gain the pleasure of Allah. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Apostle (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam,) as saying:
‘A person visited his brother in another town and Allah deputed an Angel to wait for him on his way and when he came to him he said: Where do you intend to go? He said: I intend to go to my brother’s in this town. He said: Have you done any favor to him (the repayment of which you intend to get)? He said: No, excepting this that I love him for the sake of Allah, the Exalted and Glorious. Thereupon he said: I am a messenger to you from, Allah: (to inform you) that Allah loves you as you love him (for His sake)’.[viii]
The prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam,) has informed us that:
When a Muslim prays for his brother in his absence, the angel says, `Amin, and may you have something similar to it’.[ix]
Angels convey our salah upon the prophet Muhammad(Sallallahu alaihi wasallam,)
It was narrated from Abdullah bin Abi Talha, from his father, that:
The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam,) came one day with a cheerful expression on his face, and we said: “We see you looking cheerful”. He said: “The Angel came to me and said: ‘O Muhammad, your Lord says: ‘Will it not please you (to know) that no one will send salah upon you that I will send salah upon him tenfold, and no one will send salaams upon you but I will send salaams upon him tenfold?'”[x]
The angels pray for the believers on the night of decree
Jibril (AS) the Trustworthy, descends with a group of angels during the night of decree. He is referred to by the word “Spirit” as in the following verse:
“On it, the angels and the Spirit descend, by the leave of their Lord, upon every command. Peace is, until the rising of the dawn.’ [Quran translation 97: 4-5]
Al-Qurtubi says in his tafsir of this noble ayat, “On it, the angels, and the Spirit descend, by the leave of their Lord, upon every command,” i.e. they descend from every heaven and the Lote Tree of the Furthest Limit and the dwelling-place of Jibril in the center of it. They descend to the earth and give security to the people there making supplications until the moment of the rising of the dawn.’[xi]
The angels seek forgiveness for the seeker of knowledge
Ahmad transmitted in his Musnad as did the people of the Sunan that Abu’d-Darda’ said:
“I heard the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam), say, ‘Allah will make the path to the Garden easy for anyone who travels a path in search of knowledge. Angels spread their wings for the seeker of knowledge out of pleasure for what he is doing. Everyone in the heavens and everyone in the earth asks forgiveness for a man of knowledge, even the fish in the water. The superiority of the man of knowledge to the man of worship is like the superiority of the moon to all the planets. The men of knowledge are the heirs of the Prophets. The Prophets bequeathed neither dinar nor dirham; they bequeathed knowledge. Whoever takes it has taken an ample portion.’ “[xii]
Allah Knows Best
[i] Sahih Muslim 8a
[ii] The World of Noble Angels, In the Light of the Quran and sunnah. Umar S. Al-Ashqar page 56
[iii] Saheeh Muslim (4/2168, hadeeth no. 2814)]
[iv] See, Tafseer Ibn Katheer, Soorah al-Baqarah (2): 268
[v] al-Sunan al-Kubrā lil-Nasā’ī 10624] Grade: Hasan (fair) according to Ibn Hajar
[vi] Sahih Bukhari 1442
[vii] Sahih Muslim 1010
[viii] Sahih Muslim 2567a
[ix] Grade: Sahih (Al-Albani) : Sunan Abi Dawud 1534
[x] Grade:Hasan (Darussalam) Reference: Sunan an-Nasa’i 1283
[xi] The world of the Angels by Shaykh ‘Abdu’l-Hamid Kishk, Dar Al Taqwa page 71
[xii] The world of the Angels by Shaykh ‘Abdu’l-Hamid Kishk, Dar Al Taqwa page 76]