Angel
Angels (Arabic: ملائكة, Malāʾikah; Turkish: Melek) are mentioned many times in the Qur'an and Hadith. Islam is clear on the nature of angels in that they are messengers of God. They have no free will, and can do only what God orders them to do. An example of a task they carry out is that of testing individuals by granting them abundant wealth and curing their illness. Believing in angels is one of the six Articles of Faith in Islam.
Some examples of angels in Islam:
- Jibrail: the archangel Gabriel and Jibrail is an archangel who serves as a messenger from God.
- Michael: the angel of nature.
- Darda'il: the angels who travel in the earth searching out assemblies where people remember God’s name. Harut and Marut are two angels mentioned in Qur'an, who were sent down to test the people at Babylon.
- Kiraman Katibin: the two angels who record a person's good and bad deeds.
- Mu'aqqibat: a class of guardian angels who keep people from death until its decreed time.
- Malak Al-maut: the angel of death.
- Munkar and Nakir: the angels who test the faith of the dead in their graves. They ask the soul of the dead person questions. If the person fails the questions, the angels make the man suffer until the Day of Judgement. If the soul passes the questions, he will have a pleasant time in the grave until the Day of Judgement.
- Israfil: the angel that will blow the trumpet on the Day of Judgement, or Al-Qiyama.
- Ridwan: the angel in charge of maintaining Jannah or Paradise.
- Maalik: the angel who keeps or guards hellfire.
Read more about Angel: Bahá'í Faith, Contemporary Belief in Angels
Famous quotes containing the word angel:
“An angel has no memory.”
—Terry Southern (b. 1924)
“Will mankind never learn that policy is not morality,—that it never secures any moral right, but considers merely what is expedient? chooses the available candidate,—who is invariably the devil,—and what right have his constituents to be surprised, because the devil does not behave like an angel of light? What is wanted is men, not of policy, but of probity,—who recognize a higher law than the Constitution, or the decision of the majority.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.”
—Nahum Tate (1652–1715)