BELIEF IN THE ANGELS (MALAIKAH) OF H ALLA! Outline: 1. Introduction 2. Responsibilities of Angels 3. Impact of Belief in Angels The angels are created of light, and endowed with life, speech and reason, free from carnal desires and the disturbance of anger: =e sci aS Ue Say gh gal a abl Ghats 9 “They disobey not God in what He has commanded them, but do all that they are commanded”. . (Al-Threem 66: 6) Their food is, to celebrate God's glory; their drink to prociaim His holiness; their conversation to commemorate God; their pleasure to worship Him. The angels are created in different forms and with different powers, The angels intercede for men, while they celebrate the praise of God; they implore forgiveness for the dwellers of earth. They also act as guardians for men. Each man has 2 succession of angels before and behind him, who watch over him by God's behest. The number of angels is very great; it can be known to no one except to God. Four of the angels are archangels, namely, Jibril (Gabriel), the angel of revelations; Mikhail (Michael), the angel of rain; Israfil, the angel who will announce the advent of Resurrection; Izrail, the angel of death; Every man is attended by two recording angels, called the “Kiram al- Katibeen,” or the illustrious writers, one of whom records his good actions, and the other his evil actions. There are also two other kinds of angels, called 'Munkar’ and ‘Nakeer,’ who examine the dead in the grave. There are also two celebrated angels, ‘Ridwan’ who is in charge of Paradise, and ‘Malik who is in charge of Hell. Accord to the teachings of Islam, the Muslims should believe in the existence of the Angels; that they are created by Allah from light and are different from human beings who are created from the earth or dust, while the spirits (Al-vinn) are created from fire. In practice, with spiritual nd powers. He is aware that they can change to any form or shape, icing homan beings and animals yet it is sinful and incorrect to say that they are mais, females, wives or children of Allah as fallaciously alleged by the ignorant and misguided People He believes that they do not eat, drink, marry, sleep or have freedom or per98 _ Islamic Studies i possess all spiritual virtues and do not have any of the human, aoe Bete he believes that faith in the Angels does not perk anyone to Wey any of them or think that they can perform anny of She iben of ; n le is conscious yg Allah Alone knows what is before the Angels and what is behin them, and they canny intercede except for whom He is pleased. He is apprehensive that it is also a great org ‘oneself an Angel of God or think that anyone can behave like an Angel. Re sibilities of Angels: 5 ; eae Muslim knows that Allah created the Angels to always obey, praise, worship ang before the creation of Adam and Hawwa. He accepts the fact that they guj sre ani tos betovers and the righteous ones and that Satan and bad spirits mislead a, prompt people to commit sins and immoralities. He acknowledges that the Angels do ng belong to the kingdom of Satan or spirits and that they comfort the believers and helps them against their enemies with the permission of Allah. He is acquainted with the basic of Islam that the Angels have some connection with the physical world of human beings from womb till death, resurrection, spiritual progress in Paradise or punishment in Hell Fire. He is hopeful that they will be allowed by Allah to intercede on behalf of the Muslims, including himself, on the Day of Judgment. Impacts of belief in Angels: In the socio-religious perspective, the Muslims believe that Arch-Angel Jibril (Gabriel) known as Ruhul-Qudus (the Holy Spirit), is the over-all leader of all Angels and that he in charge of revelation to all Prophets of Allah, as well as destruction or punishment of the sinners. He does not dispute that Angel Mikail (Michael) is in charge of rains for the ‘sustenance of all living things in order to educate on their relationship with human being. He is informed that Angel /srafil is assigned to the duty of blowing the Trumpet to commence transition to eternal life and to resurrect all human beings and spirits for the inevitable last Day of Judgement is an indication of his role in the life of man. Hence, he constantly prepares for the inevitable death with true belief and righteousness in all affairs. He has it in his mind that ‘Izarail is the Angel of death; he tries to act righteously in all affairs. The belief that Munkir is the recorder of all the good deeds while Nakir is the recorder of all wrong deeds of human beings and Jinn and that Ridwan is in charge of Paradise and that Malik is in charge of Hell Fire, inspires the believer to do all those things that would pave the way for him to attain salvation and be saved from the punishment of Hell-Fire. The belief that Saiq and Shahid are the guardians and companions of the deed in the grave, either to Punish or to bring blessings to the inmates engineers the believer to always strive to fan tuee, eo deeds and avoid wrong deeds in order to attain paradise and be saved