C. The Six Pillars of Faith (Eemaan): Belief in the Angels

Belief in the Angels

The Meaning of Belief in Allah’s Angels

This means firm belief that they exist, that they belong to the unseen world, not our world, and that they are honoured and pious servants who worship Allah as He deserves to be worshipped, execute His commands and never disobey Him.

The Qur’an says about them, “They are honoured servants. They do not precede Him in speech and they act on His command.” (Soorat Al-Anbiyyaa’, 21:26-7)

 

What Does Belief in the Angels Include?

  1. Belief in their existence: We believe that Allah made them from light and created them with a natural predisposition to worship and obey Him.
  2. Belief in those angels whose names have been mentioned to us, such as Jibreel (Gabriel). We also generally believe in all those whose names have not been mentioned to us.
  3. Belief in their attributes that have been mentioned to us. These include the following:

• They belong to the unseen world whom Almighty Allah created solely for His worship. They have no divine attributes whatsoever and are naturally disposed to show complete obedience to Allah, as the Qur’an states, “They do not disobey Allah in respect of any order He gives them and carry out what they are ordered to do.” (Soorat At-Tahreem, 66:6)

• Allah created them from light, as evidenced by the hadeeth, “The angels were created from light.” (Saheeh Muslim: 2996)

• They have wings, as the Qur’an states, “All praise is due to Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, who made the angels messengers with two, three or four pairs of wings. He increases in creation what He pleases; surely, Allah has power over all things.” (Soorat Faatir, 35:1)

  1. Belief in the duties which have been mentioned to us and which they carry out with Allah’s command.

Benefits of Belief in the Angels

Belief in the angels has numerous benefits in the believer’s life. These include the following:

  1. Being aware of Allah’s absolute strength and power: The magnificent and great creation of the angels clearly testify to the greatness of their Creator. The fact that Allah ﷻ created the mighty angels from light and with wings makes us appreciate His attributes with the importance and appreciation that He deserves and revere Him even more.
  2. Observing righteousness: The firm belief that some angels record all our deeds prompts us to fear Allah ﷻ and to try not to disobey Him, whether we are alone or with others.
  3. Observing patience while carrying out our duties towards Allah: When we become aware of the infinite number of angels in this vast universe who obey Allah and constantly worship Him, along with us, as He should be worshipped, we become prompted to endure all the adversities in carrying out our duties towards Allah. We also experience a great feeling of joy and reassurance.
  4. Showing gratitude to Allah: The fact that Almighty Allah has created some angels whose task is to guard people against harm prompts us to thank Him for His divine care.

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