Angels: why is belief in them important and why should one read about them?

I was asked the above question by a cousin recently and I decided to write him a small response. I decided to tweak it a little and share, despite knowing full well that more can be added. Alas, something is better than nothing and I think the amount given in the response is enough to pique interest. If this post is able to add something new to readers' knowledge or, even better, encourage them to engage the literature a little I will consider the post worthwhile and a success. وما توفيقي إلا بالله

Q: why is belief in Angels important and why should one read about them?

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Belief in angels is an important part of faith and integral to it. The Qur’an reads,

“The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, as do the faithful. They all believe in Allah, His angels, His scriptures and His messengers. ‘We make no distinction between any of His messengers’, they say, ‘we hear and obey. Grant us Your forgiveness, our Lord. To You we all return.’” (2:285)

It is clear from this verse that all believers must believe in angels as they believe in God. Belief in angels is a matter of certainty, there is no room for doubt or scepticism.  

Angels are the most common means through which God communicates with humans. Denial in angels results, amongst many other things, in the rejection of the Prophet having received the Qur’an from above and thus, by extension, the Prophet becomes a liar - Allah protect us from such heresy.

Furthermore, like God, societies have long held beliefs and superstitions regarding angels. The Qur’an intends to correct these misunderstandings, some of which are incredibly blasphemous. For example, the Arab pagans believed angels were the daughters of God. This is despite their own contempt and bias towards women, they were known to tilt their heads in shame and embarrassment upon the birth of a girl and it was customary to bury them alive. The Qur’an argues with them as follows,

“Now, ask the disbelievers: is it true that your Lord has daughters while they choose sons for themselves? Did We create the angels as females while they were watching? No indeed! It is one of their lies when they say, ‘God has begotten.’ How they lie! 

Did He truly choose daughters in preference to sons? What is the matter with you? How do you form your judgements? Do you not reflect? … ” (37: 149-155)

At another juncture, Allah assures to have their blasphemy recorded and interrogate them about it in the Hereafter, 

“They consider the angels — God’s servants — to be female. Did they witness their creation? Their claim will be put on record and they will be questioned about it.” (43:19)

The above may help explain why belief in angels is so important and why it is included in the faith pronouncement, “I believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His Messengers, the last day … ”

The sequence of the pronouncement seems to follow a logical order from the heavens to the earth and then back to Him again. 

Angels are an extraordinary creation of Allah. By reflecting upon their magnitude, quantity and the other descriptions provided in the sources, one can appreciate Allah’s creation and glory, and grow in awe of His power and magnificence. 

For example, Jibril once told the Prophet about how each day seventy thousand angels pray at the Ka’bah in the heavens and never return to it (this Ka'bah is referred to as al-bayt al-ma'mur in the Qur'an). The Prophet also said, “there is not the space of a hand or foot in the skies above but that there is an angel there, standing, bowing and prostrating in prayer… ”. Another example is of how Hell will be brought forward on the day of judgement via seventy thousand ropes, each rope will be pulled by seventy thousand angels. This means just the number of angels that will bring out Hell will be forty nine million. There is plenty of this in the sources if they are scoped carefully.

Taking a comparative look at how Allah favoured Man and the status given to him provides one with a liberating framework no philosophy has conceived and can do wonders for one’s faith and observance.  It is only religion that preaches us the sanctity of Man (to the degree that it does), of God having created Man in His image, and, in this case, how God favoured Man over the angels, demonstrated His flawless judgement over their words of demurral and, upon creation, asked them to prostrate to him. Subhanka Ya Rabb.

In addition, there is the sense of God impressing upon “believers in the unseen” the element of the divine and metaphysical in their daily interactions and affairs — the possibilities and, in cases, inevitabilities of divine assistance and metaphysical intervention.  This is so that their reliance is never solely upon the material, nor is their attention diverted from the centre of their focus, Allah; nor is their consciousness sidetracked from the final and ultimate destination, the Hereafter, both of which belong to the category of the unseen.

One can look at how these ‘honoured servants’ (the Qur’an describes the angels as such) interact with Man, in particular the believers, how they serve their interests, pray for them and assist them in their endeavours.  Each believer has the potential for this honour and ought to strive for it. 

These are some points that come to mind. Sincere reflection will yield more no doubt. For the guiding principle here is that Allah is the all-Wise and there is great wisdom in all that He does. 

Allah knows best.

U.N.

The Story Behind Hotel ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan in Madinah

Here I present an English rendition of a message I was sent by an acquaintance today.  Keeping aside the detestable marketisation of sacred spaces, I find the incident itself is quite inspiring. It stands testimony to the myriad and enduring blessings sincere donations have. Even today there are those lucky individuals who buy their entry into paradise through charity and what greater endorsement can there be for them than the Prophet's own pronouncement of envy?

He, may Allah's profuse blessing and infinite salutations be upon him, said, "there is no envy except with two persons: one whom Allah has blessed with the Qur'an and he recites it day and night; the other is a person to whom Allah has given wealth and property, from which he spends in charity day and night." 

May Allah accept our donations, grant us sincerity and keep us rich at heart. For there is no poverty like the poverty of the heart. Enjoy.

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The Story Behind Hotel 'Uthman ibn 'Affan

When the early Muslims migrated to Madinah with the Prophet (SAW), they found the water there difficult to drink as they were accustomed to drinking the relatively sweeter Zamzam water in Makkah (Northerners, think of London water!). So they went to the Prophet and told him about their difficulty, and informed him of a well in the city by the name of Rumah whose water tasted a lot like Zamzam.

The problem, however, was that the owner of the well was a Jew and he insisted on charging, even for a handful of water.  The Prophet had sent an offer for the well, a garden in paradise in exchange, however, the Jew refused and said he would only accept money. 

When ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan came to learn of the incident, of the Prophet’s declaration of something better than the well in Paradise for whoever can secure it for the community, he went to the owner and placed an offer to buy the well. The owner declined, at which point ‘Uthman asked him to sell him half of it or rent the well: a day for Muslims and a day for him to sell to whoever he wishes. He agreed.

Subsequently, this resulted in everyone going to drink from the well on ‘Uthman’s day, leaving the owner with no customers! The owner felt at a loss and quickly rushed to ‘Uthman, “you have spoilt my well, now buy it off me”. ‘Uthman agreed and it was sold for 20 thousand dirhams, which he then assigned as endowment in Allah’s name (waqf lillah) for all Muslims to drink from.

Later on, one of the Companions came to ‘Uthman and offered to buy the well for double its price.  ‘Uthman asked him to raise his offer. He proposed triple the price. ‘Uthman, again, asked him to raise the price until the buyer agreed to pay nine times the original price. With ‘Uthman still not consenting, the Companion, bemused, asked him, “who will offer you more than me?”. ‘Uthman responded, “Allah. He gave me ten times the one good deed.”

After ‘Uthman had left the well behind for Muslims as an endowment, date-palms started to grow around it.  More recently, the Ottoman Empire attended to those palms and looked after them. When Madinah came into the hands of the Saudi government, it further attended to the date-palms and cultivated more of them until they reached around 1550 in number.

The Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, would sell the dates in markets and divide the proceeds into two: one half was distributed amongst orphans and the poor, the other half went in a special bank account in ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan’s name which the Ministry of Endowments oversee.

This carried on until the account had accumulated enough money to buy land in the central area next to the Prophet’s mosque and, through the bank account, construction of a grand hotel has began!

The building is in its final stages and is to be leased out to one of the major 5 star hotel companies. It is speculated to generate revenue in the region of 50 million riyals per annum, half of which will be distributed to orphans and the poor and the other half will be gathered in the bank account under ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan’s name.  The land is also officially registered in the local municipality under the name of ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan. As they say, business with Allah is always profitable.  May Allah be pleased with him.

U.N.