Angels in Islam

Before I start into the more serious matter of discussing Islam, a note on my personal progress: in an earlier posting I swore blind that I would begin the following morning with an early yoga session, this never occurred however, I did drag out the yoga mat that evening and spent half an hour stretching and breathing deeply. So far, this has not been repeated but, as they say, tomorrow is another day... watch this space folks, I think I might just be growing!

And now to Islam. One element of the Islamic faith that has surprised me (and please understand this surprise in the context of me knowing little to nothing about the Islamic faith) is the importance of belief in angels. In fact, I have discovered that believing in angels is one of the six articles of faith in Islam, without which Muslims believe that there is no faith.

The six articles of faith are: belief in God, belief in his books, belief in his messengers, belief in the Last Day, belief in predestination (good and bad) and belief in God's angels.

I had thought of angels as being a Christian, if not Catholic, creation and yet here I am writing about angels in Islam. Islamic angels differ somewhat from the cherubic creatures that populate Christian frescoes in that they should not to be prayed to. Rather, they are servants of God. Unlike the Christian understanding of the angelic calling, Islamic angels are not divine or semi-divine and they do not run districts or offices within heaven. Within the Islamic faith, there are no fallen, or evil angels and Satan is not a fallen angel.

Islamic angels were made out of light prior to the creation of man and like us, when the world ends, they will die. Although Islamic angels do sometimes take on human form, they are often hidden from human senses.

The Islamic angels have duties assigned to them by God. Examples of these include: Michael, who is responsible for rain; Malik, who is the leader of the ninteen guards of hell; Munkar and Nakeer, who question the dead when they are in their graves; the two Kiraman Katibin, one of whom writes down all of our good deeds and one of whom jots down our less fine moments; Azrael who is the angel of death and Gabriel, who is generally assumed to be the leader of the angels.

As I wrote in my previous post, my impression is that in recent years, no religious group has garnered as many column inches as has the Muslim community, yet I never knew that Muslims beleived in angels and, yesterday, had you told me that a belief in angels was central to the Islamic faith I probably wouldn't have believed you.

As this search for meaning progresses I am constantly astounded by my own ignorance. Today's 'findings' have forced me to face once more that the deeper I go into this search, the more I come to realise that I know little about anything.