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THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF ANGELS
Angels
are created from “light”
Angels
are created from light. The Arabic word for
angel is malak. According to its root form,
malak means “messenger,” “deputy,”
“envoy,” “superintendent,” and “powerful
one.” The root meaning also implies
descent from a high place. Angels are beings
who build relations between the macrocosmic
world and the material one, convey the
commands of God, direct the acts and lives
of beings (with God’s permission), and
represent their worship in their own realms.
Angels
move very rapidly and permeate all realms of
existence
Having
refined or subtle bodies of light, angels
move very rapidly and permeate or penetrate
all realms of existence. They place
themselves in our eyelids or in the bodies
of other beings to observe the works of God
through our or their eyes. They also descend
into the hearts of Prophets and saintly
people to bring them inspiration. Such
inspirations are usually from God, but
sometimes they may be from angels.
Some
angels represent species of earthly
creatures and control and protect them
Some
animals, like honeybees, act according to
Divine inspiration, although science asserts
that all animals are directed by impulses.
But science cannot explain what an impulse
is and how it occurs. Scientists are trying
to discover how migrating birds find their
way, how young eels hatched in the waters of
Europe find their way to their nature waters
in the Pacific. Even if we attribute this to
information coded in their DNA, this
information is assuredly from God, Who knows
everything, controls the universe, and
assigns angels to direct the lives of such
creatures. If science says we must accept
without question the existence of such
invisible forces as the law of growth in
living creatures, then it is even more
scientific to attribute such forces to
angels, God’s special servants.
Everything
that exists, either as an individual or as a
species, has a collective identity and
performs a unique, universal function. Each
flower displays a superlative design and
symmetry and recites, in the tongue of its
being, the Names of the Creator manifested
on it; the entire Earth performs a universal
duty of glorification as though it were a
single flower; the vast “ocean” of the
heavens praises and glorifies the Majestic
Maker of the universe through its suns,
moons, and stars. Even inert material
bodies, although outwardly inanimate and
unconscious, perform a vital function in
praising God. Angels represent these
immaterial bodies in the world of the inner
dimensions of things, and express their
praise. In return, these immaterial bodies
are the angels’ representatives,
dwellings, and mosques in this world.
There
are various classes of angels. One class is
engaged in constant worship; another
worships by working. These working angels
have functions that resemble human
occupations, like shepherds or farmers. In
other words, the face of the Earth is like a
general farm, and an appointed angel
oversees all of its animal species by the
command of the All-Majestic Creator, by His
permission and power and strength, and for
His sake. Each species of animal is overseen
by a lesser angel appointed to act as its
shepherd.
The
face of the Earth is also an arable field
where all plants are sown. Another angel is
appointed to oversee all of them in the Name
of Almighty God and by His power. Lower
ranking angels worship and glorify Almighty
God by supervising particular plant species.
Archangel Michael, upon him be peace, one of
the bearers of God’s Throne of Sustenance,
oversees the angels of the highest rank.
Angels
who function as shepherds or farmers bear no
resemblance to human shepherds or farmers,
for their supervision is purely for God’s
sake, in His Name, and by His power and
command. They observe the manifestations of
God’s Lordship in the species they are
assigned to supervise, study the
manifestations of Divine Power and Mercy in
it, communicate Divine commands to it
through some sort of inspiration, and
somehow arrange its voluntary actions.
Their
supervision of plants, in particular,
consists of representing in the angelic
tongue the plants’ glorification in the
tongue of their being. In other words, they
proclaim in the angelic tongue the praises
and exaltations that all plants offer to the
Majestic Creator through their lives. These
angels also regulate and employ the plants’
faculties correctly and direct them toward
certain ends. Angels perform such services
through their partial willpower and a kind
of worship and adoration. They do not
originate or create their acts, for
everything bears a stamp particular to the
Creator of all things, meaning that only God
creates. In short, whatever angels do is
worship, and it is therefore not like the
ordinary acts of human beings.
Since
there is one angel to represent every kind
of creature and present its service and
worship to the Divine Court, the Prophet’s,
upon him be peace and blessings, description
of the angels is entirely reasonable and
true. According to him, there are angels
with 40,000 heads, each with 40,000 mouths,
and 40,000 praises sung by 40,000 tongues in
each mouth. This Prophetic tradition means
that angels serve universal purposes, and
that some natural creatures worship God with
40,000 heads in 40,000 ways. The firmament,
for example, praises the Majestic Creator
through its suns and stars; the Earth,
although a single body, worships with many
thousands of “heads,” each with many
thousands of “mouths,” and each with
many thousands of “tongues.” Thus this
tradition is considered to refer to the
angel who represents the Earth in the world
of the inner dimensions of things, or in the
world of immaterial bodies.
Angels
carry out whatever God commands them
The
Majestic Maker of this huge palace of
creation employs four kinds or classes of
laborers: angels and other spirit beings;
inanimate things and vegetable creations,
which are quite important servants of God
working without wages; animals, which serve
unconsciously in return for a small wage of
food and pleasure; and humanity, which works
in awareness of the Majestic Creator’s
purposes. Men and women learn from
everything, and supervise lower-ranking
servants below in return for wages in the
form of rewards here and in the Hereafter.
The
first class consists of angels. These beings
are never promoted for what they do, for
each has a fixed, determined rank and
receives a particular pleasure from the work
itself, as well as a radiance from worship.
That is, their reward is found in their
service. Just as we are nourished by and
derive pleasure from air and water, light
and food, angels are nourished by and
receive pleasure from the lights of
remembrance and glorification, worship and
knowledge, and love of God. Since they are
created of light, light sustains them. Even
fragrant scents, which are close to light,
are a sort of enjoyable nourishment for
them. Indeed, pure spirits take pleasure in
sweet scents.
From
their jobs performed at the command of the
One Whom they worship, their actions for His
sake, their service rendered in His Name,
their supervision through His view, their
honor gained through connection with Him,
their “refreshment” found in studying
His Kingdom’s material and immaterial
dimensions, and their satisfaction in
observing His Grace and Majesty’s
manifestations, angels receive such elevated
bliss that we cannot even begin to
comprehend it. In addition, only they can
perceive this bliss.
Angels
have no sexes and they have no
evil-commanding souls
Angels
do not sin or disobey, for they do not have
an evil-commanding soul that must be
resisted. They have fixed stations, and so
are neither promoted nor abased. They are
also free of such negative qualities as
envy, rancor, and enmity, and from all lusts
and animal appetites found in human beings
and jinn. They have no gender, do not eat or
drink, and do not feel hunger, thirst, or
tiredness. Although they receive no wages
for their worship, they derive special
pleasure from carrying out God’s commands,
delight in being near to Him, and receive
some sort of spiritual pleasure from their
worship. Praise, worship, recitation of God’s
Names, and glorification of Him are their
nourishment, as are light and sweet
fragrances.
On
the other hand, we struggle with our
evil-commanding soul and Satan. While angels
invite us to true guidance, inspire us with
belief and good conduct and virtue, and call
us to resist the temptations of Satan and
our evil-commanding self, Satan and our
evil-commanding self try to seduce us. A
person’s life is the history of his or her
continuous struggle between angelic
inspiration and satanic temptation. This is
why we can be elevated to the highest rank
or abased to the lowest rank. Also, this is
why the elect of humanity, the Prophets and
great saints, are higher in rank than the
greatest angels, and why ordinary believers
are higher than common angels. Also,
although angels have more knowledge of God
and His Names and Attributes than we do, we
are more comprehensive mirrors of God’s
Names and Attributes by virtue of our
developed human senses, or ability to
reflect, and our complex nature.
Angels
have different kinds
There
are different kinds of angels. Besides those
deputed to represent and supervise various
species on the Earth and present their
worship to God, there are four Archangels
and the angels who carry God’s Throne. (We
do not know what God’s Throne is like and
how It is carried.) There are other groups
of angels known as Mala’-i A‘la (the
Highest Council), Nadiyy-i A‘la (the
Highest Assembly), and Rafiq-i A‘la (the
Highest Company), as well as angels
appointed to Paradise and Hell. Angels who
record a person’s deeds are called Kiramun
Katibun (the Noble Recorders), and, as
stated in a hadith, 360 angels are
responsible for each believer’s life. They
guard their charges, especially during
infancy and old age, pray for them, and ask
God to forgive them. Other angels help
believers during times of war, attend
assemblies that praise and glorify God, as
well as study meetings held for God’s sake
and to benefit people.
Angels,
particularly angels of mercy, do not enter
houses containing statues or places where
dogs are fed, and refrain from close contact
with ritually impure people and menstruating
women. They also avoid those with bad
breath, derived from eating onions or garlic
or from smoking, and do not visit those who
sever relations with their parents and
relatives.
God
Almighty is powerful over everything. Even
though He can guard everyone by Himself, He
may appoint angels to guard His servants. To
earn such a guardianship and the company of
angels, one has to willingly do what is good
and establish a close relation with God
Almighty. One must have strong belief in God
and all other pillars of faith, never
abandon regular worship and prayer, lead a
disciplined life, and refrain from forbidden
things or sinful acts.
Angels
helped the believers during the battles of
Badr and Uhud, and also during the conquest
of Makka. They always help believers who
sincerely struggle in the way of God,
regardless of time and place.
Belief
in angels has many benefits. For example, it
provides us with some sort of peace and
removes our loneliness. The inspiration
breathed by angels exhilarates us,
enlightens us intellectually, and opens new
horizons of knowledge and thought. Awareness
of the continuous company of angels also
helps us abstain from sin and improper
behavior.
The
Quran’s description of angels
We
may use some Quranic verses, such as the
following, to observe angels:
By
the loosed ones successively, storming
tempestuously; by the scatterers
scattering, and the severally severing
and those hurling a reminder, excusing
or warning. (77:1-6)
By
those that pluck out violently; and
those that draw out gently; by those
that float serenely, and those that
outstrip suddenly; by those that direct
an affair. (79:1-5)
...
in (the Night of Power) the angels and
the spirit descend, by the leave of
their Lord, upon every command. (97:4)
...
a Fire whose fuel is men and stones, and
over which are harsh, terrible angels
who disobey not God in what He commands
them and do what they are commanded.
(66:6)
Glory
be to Him! Nay, but they are honored
servants that outstrip Him not in
speech, and perform as He commands.
(21:26-7)
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