Should I believe in Angels?
Angels are creatures that human beings cannot see. Allah has created angels from light, and they spend their entire life obeying Allah Almighty. Angles are given special powers to do their tasks. These powers are different for different angels. Allah Almighty mentions in Verse 21:19-20 about angels in Holy Quran that angels are near to Allah Almighty and glorify & worship Almighty night & day long.
The number of angels is not known. The idea of their abundance can be made from the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Prophet (PBUH) mentioned that during the night of Miraj, Prophet witnessed seventy thousand angles enter Bait at Mamoor. This hadith has been mentioned in Al-Bukhari & Muslim books.
Do Angels have Physical Forms?
Some people deny the physical existence of angels. However, the Quran & Hadith proves that angels exist physically and have bodies. Allah Almighty mentions angels in Verse 35:1 of the Holy Quran that Allah made angel messenger with two, three, or four wings.
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) mentions angels in a hadith that When Allah likes any slave, he calls Gabriel & says that Almighty loves a specific person and therefore loves him. Gabriel loves him, and then he says to inhabitants of heaven that Allah loves that person, so they also love him. Therefore inhabitants over heaven start loving him, and then a similar love is granted to that person by the people on earth. This hadith has been mentioned in Al-Bukhari.
It is very clear from above that angels do have physical forms.
Can Angels Change Shapes?
The angles can take many shapes by order of Allah Almighty. Angles have been reported to take the man shape to deliver Allah’s message to his beloved servants.
Gabriel was sent in man form to the mother of Jesus Christ, Maryam, as mentioned in Holy Quran. Gabriel also delivered Holy Quran to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
In a Hadith, Prophet mentioned that Gabriel was sent to him in the shape of a man with dark hair wearing white clothes while the Prophet was with companions. Gabriel sat in front of the Prophet and questioned Prophet about Islam, Iman & Ihsaan, and the signs of last times.
Prophet later mentioned to his companions that this was angel Gabriel who had come to teach the religion of Islam.
Specialized Duties of Angels
Special tasks of these angels have been found out in light of the Holy Quran & Hadith:
Angel Jibreel: Gabriel was made responsible for conveying Allah’s message, orders & revelations to Holy Prophet.
Angel Mikaa‘eel: Mikaeel is the angel of nutrition. The responsibility of the angel is to distribute blessings of rainfall & vegetation.
Angel Israel: the angel is responsible for calling upon the day of judgment through blowing the trumpet that would seize every life on earth.
Angel Malak-ul-Mawt: the angel of death is responsible for collecting souls from bodies at the definite time of death.
Angel Maalik: the angel responsible for guarding the fire of hell.
There are other angels’ responsibilities that write the destiny of living beings while in their mothers’ wombs. They write the life terms, deeds and write on being of pious or sinful nature.
Angels are also appointed on the shoulders of every human being to document their good & bad deeds. The angel of the right should document good deeds while the left documents bad ones.
Other after-death angels come to the grave to ask questions from the dead people of their religion and their faith in the Prophet (PBUH).
What are Muslims Beliefs on Angels?
Muslims have firm faith in Angels. They have the following beliefs on angels:
1. Muslims believe angels exist.
2. Muslims believe angels with names and those whose names are not disclosed to them
3. Muslims believe in the powers & forms of angels discussed in the Holy Quran & Hadith. Prophet (PBUH) mentioned that he witnessed Gabriel in original form with six hundred wings.
4. Muslims believe in their actions told in Holy Quran. Like they worship day & night in complete obedience to Allah Almighty and perform tasks upon his will.
How Believing Angels Affects Me?
Believing in angels believes in Allah’s command about angels’ presence. We understand that Allah has infinite power & control over the entire universe. Almighty can create a lot of powerful creatures that are a thousand times more obedient to Almighty. The lord has an infinite number of servants to serve him, and his servants are not only living beings on earth. We also know Allah’s love for humanity and how he has appointed angels to protect human beings and document their deeds.
Belief in angels is the foremost requirement of our religion. A Muslim cannot step into Islam without having a firm belief in the presence of angels.