Belief in angels
Islamic Studies · Key Stage 1 · The School
Made of light
Muslims believe in angels. Angels are not people. Muslims believe angels are made of light. People are made from clay instead. We cannot usually see angels. They always obey Allah. They never grow tired of this.
Jibril, the messenger
Jibril is an important angel. He brought the Quran to the Prophet ﷺ. He brought it word by word. This took many years. Jibril carries messages from Allah. He carried messages to other prophets too, long before Muhammad ﷺ.
Angels who write things down
Muslims believe two angels stay with each person. One sits on each side (50:17). One writes down the good things. One writes down the bad things. Ibn Kathir, a scholar, says no word or movement is left out (50:18). Hadiths in Abu Dawud (4403) and Ibn Majah (2041) say the pen is lifted from a child until he grows up. So the bad things a child does are not written. For grown-ups, even small things count. Even things done alone count.
Not the same as people
People can choose to disobey. The Quran says angels do as they are commanded (16:50). They do this every time. This is the biggest difference. A person can pick the wrong path. An angel does as Allah commands.
One day, two angels
Imagine a man called Mr Khan. At lunch, he gives half his sandwich to a friend. The Quran speaks of noble recorders who know what people do (82:10-12). Ibn Kathir, a scholar, says these are angels. He says they write down all that people do. So the angels write down Mr Khan's kind act. That evening, he reads the Quran. The Quran says Jibril brought it down to the Prophet ﷺ, by Allah's leave (2:97). So Mr Khan reads the message Jibril carried. One day, two angel jobs: writing and the message.