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The story of The Creation of the Angels and Their Attributes in the Quran and the Islamic tradition: verses, hadiths and the views of the exegetes, faithfully translated from Arabic.
Updated on 06 September 2026 at 3:41 AM
Allah has testified that there is no deity but He, as have the angels and those endowed with knowledge, standing in justice: there is no deity but He, the Mighty, the Wise. But Allah bears witness to what He sent down to you: He sent it down by His knowledge: and the angels bear witness as well. And they said: the Most Merciful has taken a son: glory be to Him: rather they are honored servants, who do not precede Him in speech: and they act by His command. He knows what is before them and what is behind them: and they intercede only for one He approves: and they tremble in awe of Him.
And whoever says of them: I am a deity besides Him: that one We shall repay with Hell: thus do We repay the wrongdoers. The heavens are well-nigh breaking apart from above them: while the angels extol the praise of their Lord, and seek forgiveness for those on earth: is not Allah indeed the Forgiving, the Merciful? Those who bear the Throne, and those around it, extol the praise of their Lord, believe in Him, and seek forgiveness for those who have believed: Our Lord, You embrace all things in mercy and knowledge: so forgive those who repented and followed Your way: and protect them from the punishment of the Blaze: Our Lord, admit them into the gardens of Eden You promised them, and whoever was righteous of their fathers, spouses and descendants: You are the Mighty, the Wise. (Ghafir, 7-9)
Should they grow arrogant: those by your Lord extol Him by night and day without wearying. And those by Him disdain not His worship, and do not weary: they glorify by night and day without intermission. And there is none of us but has a known station: and we are indeed the ranged ones: and we are indeed the glorifiers. And we descend not but by the command of your Lord: to Him belongs what is before us and what is behind us, and what is between that: and your Lord is not forgetful.
And indeed there are over you guardians: noble, writers: who know what you do. And none knows the hosts of your Lord but He. And the angels enter upon them from every gate: peace be upon you for what you patiently endured: what an excellent final home! Praise to Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth: who made the angels messengers with wings: two, three, four: He increases in creation what He wills: Allah is over all things competent.
And the day the heaven is cleft with clouds, and the angels are sent down in great descent: the dominion that day is the truth: to the Most Merciful: and it will be a day hard upon the disbelievers. (al-Fourqan, 21-22)
And those who hope not for Our meeting say: why are the angels not sent down upon us, or do we see our Lord? They have grown arrogant within themselves: and have overstepped with great insolence. The day they see the angels: no glad tidings that day for the criminals: and they will say: a barrier, barred against return. (al-Fourqan, 21-22) And: (al-Baqara, 97-98) Whoever is enemy to Allah, His angels, His messengers, Jibril and Mikhaïl: Allah is indeed enemy of the disbelievers.
O you who believe: protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones: over it are angels harsh, severe: who disobey not Allah in what He commands them: and do as they are commanded. (at-Tahrim, 6) And the verses in the mention of the angels are very many: the Most High describes them with strength in worship and creation, the beautiful appearance, the greatness of forms: « And when Our messengers came to Lout, he was troubled by them, and constrained for them: he said: this is a distressful day. And his people came hastening to him: and aforetime they used to commit evil deeds. » (al-'Ankabout, 33) The verses.
We mentioned in the Tafsir what more than one scholar mentioned: that the angels appeared to them in the form of handsome youths: as trial and test: until the proof stood against the people of Lout, and Allah seized them with the seizure of a Mighty, Omnipotent One. And likewise Jibril came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) under multiple forms: at times in the form of Dihya ibn Khalifa al-Kalbi: at times in the form of a bedouin: at times in his own form upon which Allah created him: with six hundred wings: between each two wings the distance as between east and west: the Prophet saw him twice in this description: once descending from the heaven to the earth: and once at the lote-tree of the boundary, near which is the refuge of Paradise: « One of great powers taught him: endowed with vigor: he stabilized himself: while he was at the highest horizon: then he approached: and descended low. » (an-Najm, 5-9) That is Jibril, as we related from more than one Companion, among them: Ibn Mas'oud, Abu Hurayra, Abu Dharr, and Aïsha.
« He was at two bow-lengths, or nearer: then he revealed to His servant what He revealed. » That is: to the servant of Allah, Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and he saw him indeed in another descent, at the lote-tree of the boundary: and all of that is Jibril.
We already mentioned, in the hadiths of the night journey, in sura Subhan, that the lote-tree of the boundary is in the seventh heaven: in the sixth: that is, its root: and its branches in the seventh: « When that which covers covered the lote-tree. » There covered it the light of the Lord: there covered it a butterfly of gold: there covered it many unbounded colors: there covered it angels like ravens: there covered it from Allah a command: none can describe it: meaning its beauty and splendor: and none of these sayings excludes the others: for all of that is possible to occur in one state. He said: « Then the lote-tree of the boundary was raised up to me: and its fruits were like the jars of Hajar. » Like the jars of Hajar: « and its leaves like the ears of elephants: and from its root come out two hidden rivers: and two manifest rivers: as for the hidden ones: they are in Paradise: as for the manifest ones: the Nile and the Euphrate.
» And the discourse preceded on this in the mention of the creation of the earth: and what it contains of seas and rivers. « Then the frequented House was raised up to me: and there enter it every day seventy thousand angels: then they return not to it, the last of their term. » And he mentioned that he found Ibrahim al-Khalil (peace be upon him) leaning his back against the frequented House. We mentioned the reason of the correspondence: the frequented House in the seventh heaven is to the Kaaba upon the earth as counterpart: and Soufyan ath-Thawri, Shu'ba and Abu al-Ahwas related, from Simak ibn Harb, from Khalid ibn 'Ar'ara: that Ibn al-Kawwa' asked Ali ibn Abi Talib: it is a mosque in the heaven called ad-Dourah: and it is facing the Kaaba, above it: its sanctity in the heaven like the sanctity of the House on the earth: there pray in it every day seventy thousand angels: who never return to it.
And thus Ali ibn Rabi'a and Abu at-Tufayl related from Ali, the same. Al-Hasan ibn 'Alawayh al-Qattan informed us: Isma'il ibn Issa al-'Attar narrated to us: Ishaq ibn Bichr Abu Hudhayfa narrated to us: Ibn Jurayj narrated to us, from Safwan ibn Sulaym, from Kourayb: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « The frequented House in the heaven is called ad-Dourah: and it is like the sacred House facing it: were it to fall, it would fall upon it: there enter it every day seventy thousand angels: then they never see it: and it has in the heaven a sanctity to the measure of the sanctity of Mecca »: meaning upon the earth. And thus said the 'Awfi, from Ibn Abbas, and Mujahid, and 'Ikrima, and ar-Rabi' ibn Anas, and as-Souddi, and more than one. It was mentioned to us that the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said one day to his companions: « Do you know what the frequented House is?
» « Allah and His messenger know. » He said: « It is a mosque in the heaven facing the Kaaba: were it to fall, it would fall upon her: there pray in it every day seventy thousand angels: when they go out of it they return not, the last of their term. » And ad-Dahhak claimed that a tribe of angels peoples it: called the hinn: of the tribe of Iblis, whom Allah cursed: he used to say that they are its servants and its attendants: and Allah knows best.
In every heaven a house which its angels people with worship therein: and they come to it by turns and replacements: as the people of the earth people the ancient House by pilgrimage every year: and the visitation at all times: and the circumambulation and prayer at every moment.
Abu Ubayd related, in the hadith of Mujahid: « The sacred is a sacred »: its like: meaning its measure: of the seven heavens and the seven earths: and that it is the fourteenth of fourteen houses: in every heaven a house: and in every earth a house: were they to fall, some of them would fall upon others: its like: that is, facing it: and it is a contracted letter. Abu Mou'awiya narrated to us: al-A'mach narrated to us: « The sacred is a sacred in the seven heavens: its measure of the earth: and Bayt al-Maqdis is a sanctuary in the seven heavens: its measure of the earth. »
« He who raised the heaven built for us a house: whose pillars are firmer and taller. » And the name of the house in the lowest heaven is: the house of might: and the name of the angel who is foremost of the angels therein is Isma'il: upon this, the seventy thousand angels who enter every day to the frequented House: that is: no turn therein befalls them until the end of time: they would be of the inhabitants of the seventh heaven alone: « and none knows the hosts of your Lord but He. »
« I see what you see not: and I hear what you hear not: the heaven creaked: and it has the right to creak: there is in it not a place of four fingers but that upon it is an angel prostrating: were you to know what I know: you would laugh little: and weep much: and you would not savor women upon the beds: and you would go out to the heights, complaining to Allah. And by Allah, I wish I were a tree to be cut. »
Related by at-Tirmidhi, from Mouwarriq: good, strange
Houssayn ibn 'Arafa al-Missri narrated to us: 'Ourwa ibn Marwan ar-Raqqi narrated to us: 'Ubaydallah ibn 'Amrou narrated to us, from Abd al-Karim ibn Malik, from 'Ata ibn Abi Rabah: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « There is not in the seven heavens a place of a foot, nor a span, nor a palm but that in it is an angel standing: or an angel prostrating: or an angel kneeling: and when the Day of Resurrection comes they will all say: We did not worship You as Your worship deserved: only that we do not associate with You anything.
» These two hadiths indicate that there is not a place in the seven heavens but it is occupied by the angels: and they are in ranks of worship: among them those standing forever: among them those kneeling forever: among them those prostrating forever: among them those in other ranks: Allah knows them best: and they are constant in their worship: their glorification: their evocations: and their deeds which Allah commanded them: « And there is none of us but has a known station: and we are indeed the ranged ones: and we are indeed the glorifiers. » (as-Saffat, 164-166) « Do you not line up as the angels line up before their Lord? » They said: « And how do they line up before their Lord? » « They complete the first rows: and press together in the row.
»
And he said: « We were favored over the people by three things: the earth was made for us a mosque: and its soil for us purification: and our rows were made like the rows of the angels. » And thus they come on the Day of Resurrection in ranks before the Lord (exalted is He): « And your Lord came: and the angels rank upon rank. » (al-Fajr, 22) « And they will stand in ranks before their Lord (exalted is He) on the Day of Resurrection: the day the spirit and the angels stand in ranks: they speak not, except him whom the Most Merciful permits: and who says the truth. » (an-Naba, 38) And what is meant by « the spirit » here: the sons of Adam: thus said Ibn Abbas, al-Hasan and Qatada.
A kind of angels resembling the sons of Adam in form: thus said Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Abu Salih and al-A'mach. Jibril: thus said ach-Cha'bi, Sa'id ibn Jubayr and ad-Dahhak. An angel called: the spirit: of the measure of all creatures: from Ibn Abbas: his saying: « the day the spirit stands »: he is an angel of the greatest of the angels in creation. Muhammad ibn Khalaf al-Asqalani narrated to me: Rawwad ibn al-Jarrah narrated to us, from Abu Hamza, from ach-Cha'bi, from Alqama: « The spirit is in the fourth heaven: it is greater than the heavens and the mountains: and of the angels: it glorifies twelve thousand glorifications every day: Allah creates of every glorification an angel among the angels: who will come on the Day of Resurrection as a rank by itself.
» And this is very strange.
Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Abd al-Hakim al-Missri narrated to us: Wahballah ibn Rizq Abu Hurayra narrated to us: Bichr ibn Bakr narrated to us: al-Awza'i narrated to us: 'Ata' narrated to me: I heard the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: « Allah has an angel: were it said to him: take the heavens and the earths in one gulp: he would do it: glory to You, wherever You are. » And this too is a very strange hadith: and it may be a mawquf report. And we mentioned, in the description of the bearers of the Throne: « It was permitted me to tell you of an angel of the angels of Allah, of the bearers of the Throne: what is between the lobe of his ear and his neck is a journey of seven hundred years. » Related by Abu Dawud and Ibn Abi Hatim: and its wording is: a matter immense.
A matter immense: Allah the Most High said: « One of great powers taught him. » It was of the strength of his power that he lifted the cities of the people of Lout: which were seven: with those in them of nations: and they were near four hundred thousand: and what they had of beasts and animals: and what those cities had of lands, of estates, of settlements and other: he lifted all of that upon the tip of his wing: until he brought them to the level of the heaven: until the angels heard the barking of their dogs and the crowing of their roosters: then he turned them over: made their upper part their lower. That one is « of great powers ».
« Endowed with vigor »: that is: of beautiful body, splendor and beauty: « it is the word conveyed by a noble messenger » (at-Takwir, 19): Jibril: a messenger from Allah: « of beautiful appearance » (an-Najm, 13): « a power, an intense violence: with the Lord of the Throne: established » (an-Najm, 5-6): he has with Allah, at the Glorious Throne, a station and a rank high and elevated: « obeyed there: and trustworthy » (at-Takwir, 21): of great trust: and for that reason he was the ambassador between Allah and His prophets (peace be upon them): the one who descends upon them with the revelation: in which are the true reports: and the just laws: and he came to the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and descended upon him under multiple forms, as we presented: and he saw him in the form Allah created him upon: twice: with six hundred wings: as al-Bukhari related, from Talq ibn Ghannam, from Zaïda: « I questioned Zirr »: « he was at two bow-lengths, or nearer: then he revealed to His servant what He revealed.
» Abdallah, that is Ibn Mas'oud, narrated to us: that Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saw Jibril: having six hundred wings.
Yahya ibn Adam narrated to us: Charik narrated to us, from Jami' ibn Abi Rachid, from Abu Wa'il: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saw Jibril in his form: and he had six hundred wings: each wing of them covered the horizon: there fell from his wing pendants of pearls and rubies that Allah knows best: Hassan ibn Moussa narrated to us: Hammad ibn Salama narrated to us, from 'Asim ibn Bahdala, from Zirr ibn Houbeïch: « And he saw him indeed in another descent, at the lote-tree of the boundary » (an-Najm, 13). The messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « I saw Jibril: having six hundred wings: there scattered from his plumage pendants: the pearls and the rubies. » Zayd ibn al-Houbab narrated to us: al-Hussein narrated to us: I heard Ibn Mas'oud say: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « I saw Jibril at the lote-tree of the boundary: having six hundred wings.
» I questioned 'Asim about the wings: he refused to inform me: and some of his companions informed me that the wing: is what is between east and west: and these are good, strong chains: Ahmad alone related them.
Zayd ibn al-Houbab narrated to us: al-Hussein narrated to me: Houssayn narrated to me: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « Jibril came to me in a green garment: upon which hung pearls. » Its isnad is authentic. Ibn Bazi' al-Baghdadi narrated to us: Ishaq ibn Mansour narrated to us: Isra'il narrated to us, from Abu Ishaq, from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Yazid, from Abdallah: « The heart lied not in what it saw » (an-Najm, 11): the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saw Jibril: having two robes of plumage: he filled what is between the heaven and the earth: a chain good and strong.
There is in the two Sahihs, from the hadith of 'Amir ach-Cha'bi: I was with Aïsha: I said: does not Allah say: « And he saw him indeed at the clear horizon » (at-Takwir, 23): « And he saw him indeed in another descent » (an-Najm, 13): I am the first of this community to ask the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about it: he said: « That was Jibril: he saw him not in the form Allah created him upon but twice: he saw him descending from the heaven to the earth: filling by the immensity of his creation what is between the heaven and the earth. »
Abu Nou'aym narrated to us: 'Oumar ibn Dharr narrated to us: and Yahya ibn Ja'far narrated to me: Waqi' narrated to us, from 'Oumar ibn Dharr, from his father, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to Jibril: « Do you not visit us more than you visit us? » Then descended: « And we descend not but by the command of your Lord: to Him belongs what is before us and what is behind us. » (Maryam, 64) The verse. And al-Bukhari related, from the hadith of az-Zouhri, from Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was the most generous of people in good: and he was most generous in Ramadan when Jibril met him: and he met him every night of Ramadan: and would review the Quran with him: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was thus more generous in good than the sent wind.
Qutayba narrated to us: al-Layth narrated to us, from Ibn Chihab: that 'Ourwa ibn az-Zoubayr had delayed the prayer a little: it was said to him: Jibril descended: and prayed before the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and the Prophet said: « You know what you say, O 'Ourwa: Jibril descended: and made me imam: I prayed with him: then I prayed with him: then I prayed with him: then I prayed with him: then I prayed with him. » He counted on his fingers five prayers. And I heard Bachir ibn Abi Mas'oud say: I heard Abu Mas'oud say: I heard the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: « Jibril descended: made me imam: and I prayed with him: then I prayed with him: then I prayed with him: then I prayed with him: then I prayed with him. » He counted on his fingers five prayers.
As for the description of Israfil: and he is one of the bearers of the Throne: the blast of terror: the blast of swooning: the blast of resurrection: as its clarification will come in its place in this book of ours, by Allah's power and strength and His good succor. He has a trumpet into which he blows: every turn of it as what is between the heaven and the earth: and in it the place of the souls of the servants when Allah commands him to blow for the resurrection: when he blows: the souls come out, ablaze: « by My power and My majesty: every soul shall surely return to the body it inhabited in this world. » They enter the bodies in their graves: they creep into them as poison creeps into the stung one: and the bodies live: and the graves split from them: they come out of them racing to the place of gathering: as its detail will come in its place. « How do I grant the favor »: and the bearer of the trumpet has raised the trumpet to his mouth: and bowed his forehead: and awaits permission to be given him: « What shall we say, O messenger of Allah?
» « Say: Allah suffices us: and what an excellent guardian is He: upon Allah we rely. » Related by Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi, from the hadith of 'Atiyya al-'Awfi, from Abu Sa'id al-Khoudri.
Abu Mou'awiya narrated to us: al-A'mach narrated to us, from Sa'd at-Ta'i, from 'Atiyya al-'Awfi: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mentioned the bearer of the trumpet: he said: « At his right Jibril: and at his left Mikhaïl (peace be upon them). » Muhammad ibn Abdallah al-Hadrami narrated to us: Muhammad ibn 'Oumar ibn Abi Layla narrated to us: my father narrated to me, from Ibn Abi Layla, from al-Hakam, from Miqsam: while the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stood, with him Jibril, in a region: the horizon of the heaven split: Israfil came drawing near the earth: swaying: and there was an angel who stood before the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): « O Muhammad, Allah commands you to choose between a prophet servant or a king prophet. » Jibril signed to me with his hand to humble myself: I knew therefore that I had a sincere counselor: « a servant prophet. » « O Jibril, I had intended to ask you about this: and I saw of your state what distracted me from the asking: and who is this, O Jibril?
» « This is Israfil (peace be upon him): Allah created him the day He created him before Him: his feet ranged: not raising his glance: between him and the Lord seventy lights: of them not one light that draws near him but it burns before him: a tablet: when Allah permits a thing in the heaven or in the earth: that tablet rises: and he strikes his forehead: and he looks: and if it is of my work: he commands me with it: and if it is of the work of Mikhaïl: he commands him with it: and if it is of the work of the angel of death: he commands him with it. » « O Jibril, and upon what are you? » « Upon the wind and the hosts. » « And upon what is Mikhaïl?
» « Upon the plants and the rain. » « And upon what is the angel of death? » « Upon the seizure of souls. » « I never thought he descended but for the coming of the Hour: and what you saw of me: is only fear of the coming of the Hour.
» This is a strange hadith by this route.
And in the Sahih of Muslim: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), when he rose at night to pray, would say: « O Allah, Lord of Jibril and Mikhaïl and Israfil: Originator of the heavens and the earth: Knower of the unseen and the seen: You judge between Your servants in that wherein they differed: guide me in that wherein they differed of truth, by Your permission: You guide whom You will to a straight path. »
It is said: Israfil is the first whom Allah will resurrect after the swooning: to blow into the trumpet. Israfil is the first of the angels to have prostrated: he was recompensed with the charge of the preserved tablet: thus Abu al-Qasim as-Souhayli related it in his book. « Whoever is enemy to Allah, His angels, His messengers, Jibril and Mikhaïl » (al-Baqara, 98): He attached them both to the angels for the nobility of both: Jibril is a great angel whose mention preceded: as for Mikhaïl: he is charged with the rain and the plants: and he has with his Lord a station: and he is of the nobles of the angels brought near.
Abu al-Yaman narrated to us: Ibn 'Ayyach narrated to us that he heard Humayd ibn 'Ubayd, client of Bani al-Mou'alla, saying: I heard Thabit al-Bounani narrating from Anas ibn Malik: that he said to Jibril: « Why is it that I have never seen Mikhaïl laughing? » « Mikhaïl has not laughed since the Fire was created.
» And these angels are those named explicitly in the Quran: « O Allah, Lord of Jibril and Mikhaïl and Israfil »: Jibril descends with guidance upon the messengers: for conveyance to the communities: and Mikhaïl is charged with the rain and the plants: from which the provisions in this abode are created: and he has aids who do what he commands them: by the command of his Lord (exalted is He): they direct the winds and the clouds as the Lord (exalted is He) wills: and it has been related to us that there is not a drop descending from the heaven but with it is an angel measuring it to its place upon the earth: and Israfil is charged with the blowing in the trumpet for the rising from the graves: and the presence on the day of resurrection and exodus: that the grateful may succeed: and the ungrateful be recompensed: to that one: his sin is pardoned: and his striving is thanked: and to this one: his deed has become like scattered dust: and he invokes: woe: and what destruction!
Jibril (peace be upon him): brings about by what he descends with: the guidance: Mikhaïl brings about by what he is charged: the provision: Israfil brings about by what he is charged: the help and the retribution: as for the angel of death: he is not named explicitly in the Quran: nor in the authentic hadiths: and his naming has come in some athars as Azraïl: and Allah knows best.
« Say: the angel of death, who has been entrusted with you, will make you die: then to your Lord you will be returned. »
Surat as-Sajda, 11
And he has aids: who extract the soul of the servant from his mass: until it reaches the throat: the angel of death then seizes it with his hand: when he has taken it: they leave it not in his hand the blink of an eye but that they take it from his hand: and wrap it in shrouds befitting it: « Allah keeps firm those who believed by the firm word, in the life of this world and in the Hereafter » (Ibrahim, 27): then they ascend with it: if it is righteous: the gates of the heaven are opened for it: else: they are closed before it: and it is cast toward the earth: « And He is the Subjugator above His servants: and He sends over you keepers: until, when death comes to one of you: Our messengers take him: and they do not fail: then they are returned to Allah, their true master: is not the judgment His: and He is the swiftest of accountants. » (al-An'am, 61-62)
And from Ibn Abbas and Mujahid: the earth before the angel of death is like a tray: he takes from it wherever he wills. And we mentioned that the angels of death come to the man according to his deed: were he a believer: there come to him angels of white faces, white garments, of pleasant souls: and were he a disbeliever: then the opposite of that: we seek refuge in Allah the Great from that.
My father narrated to us: Yahya ibn Abu Yahya al-Mouqri narrated to us: I heard Ja'far ibn Muhammad say: I heard my father say: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) looked at the angel of death at the head of a man of the Ansar: « O angel of death: be gentle with my companion: for he is a believer. » « O Muhammad: cheer a soul: and gladden a sight: for I am with every believer a companion: and know that there is on the earth not a house of ruin: nor a hair on dry land or at sea but I have passed through them five times every day: to the point that I know their young and their old better than themselves: and by Allah, O Muhammad: were I to will to seize the soul of a mosquito: I would have no power over that: until Allah be the One commanding its seizure. » « It reached me that you pass through them at the times of prayer: when death comes: if he is of those who keep the prayer: the angel draws near him: and repels from him the devil: There is no deity but Allah: Muhammad is the messenger of Allah: in that great state.
» This is a hadith without a complete chain: and in it is scrutiny: and we mentioned, in the hadith of the trumpet, by the route of Isma'il ibn Rafi' the Medinan: the barber: from Muhammad ibn Ziyad, from Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qouradhi, from Abu Hurayra, from the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): the hadith in its length: and Allah commands Israfil the blast of swooning: he blows the blast of swooning: the people of the heavens: and the people of the earth swoon: except whom Allah wills: when they are extinct: the angel of death comes to the Mighty One (exalted is He): « O Lord: the people of the heavens and the earth have died: except whom You will. » « Who remains? » « O Lord: You have remained: You the Living who dies not: and have remained the bearers of Your Throne: and have remained Jibril and Mikhaïl. » « Let Jibril and Mikhaïl die.
» « O Lord, Jibril and Mikhaïl die. » « Be silent: I have written death upon everyone who is beneath My throne. » So the two die: then the angel of death comes to the Mighty One (exalted is He): « O Lord: Jibril and Mikhaïl have died. » Allah says: and He knows best: « ask by whom remains: who remains?
» « You have remained: You the Living who dies not: and have remained the bearers of Your Throne: and I have remained. » « Let the bearers of My Throne die. » So they die: and Allah commands the Throne: the trumpets are taken from Israfil: « O Lord: the bearers of Your Throne have died. » Allah says: and He knows best: « by whom remains: who remains?
» « You have remained: You the Living who dies not. » « You are a creature of My creatures: I created you for what I saw: so die. » So he dies: when none remains but Allah, the One, the Subduer, the Unique, the Eternal Refuge: who begot not: nor was begotten: and none is equivalent to Him: He was last as He was first.
And he mentioned the hadith in full in its length: related by at-Tabarani, Ibn Jarir and al-Bayhaqi: and the hafiz Abu Moussa al-Madini related it in his book: and with him is a strange addition: Allah says to him: « Die. »
Harout and Marout: according to the saying of a great group of the predecessors: and there have come in their story and what was of their affair many athars, most of which are isra'iliyyat. And the imam Ahmad related a hadith raised to the Prophet, from Ibn 'Oumar: and Ibn Hibban authenticated it in his Sahih: and its soundness is, in my view, subject to scrutiny: and the more likely is that it be a mawquf report upon Abdallah ibn 'Oumar: and that it be of what he received from Ka'b al-Ahbar: as its clarification will come: and Allah knows best: that Venus appeared to them both in the form of a woman of the most beautiful of people.
And from Ali and Ibn Abbas: that Venus was a woman: and that when they asked of her what is mentioned: she refused: except that they teach her the Greatest Name: she rose therefore to the heaven: and became a star: and al-Hâkim related in the Mustadrak, from Ibn Abbas: and in that time there was a woman whose beauty among the women was like the beauty of Venus among the other stars: and this wording is the best of what came concerning Venus: their affair and their story were in the time of Idris: in the time of Sulayman ibn Dawud: as we established in the Tafsir.
In sum: it is an Israelite report going back to Ka'b al-Ahbar: as Abd ar-Razzaq related it in his Tafsir, from ath-Thawri, from Moussa ibn 'Oqba, from Salim, from Ibn 'Oumar, from Ka'b al-Ahbar, the story: and this is the soundest of chains: and the firmest in men: and Allah knows best.
It has been said: what is meant by His saying: « And what was sent down upon the two angels at Babylon: Harout and Marout » (al-Baqara, 102): two tribes of the jinn: thus said Ibn Hazm: and this is strange and far from the wording: and ad-Dahhak makes them, with the lowered vowel, two Ilj of the people of Persia: thus said ad-Dahhak: they are two angels of the heaven: but there preceded in Allah's destiny for them both what he mentioned of their affair: should the report be established by it: he is of the angels: but the correct is that he is of the jinn: as its establishment will come.
Mounkar and Nakir (peace be upon them): and the mention of both has spread widely in the hadiths in the questioning of the grave: « Allah keeps firm those who believed by the firm word, in the life of this world and in the Hereafter: and Allah leads astray the wrongdoers: and Allah does what He wills. » (Ibrahim, 27) And they both are the two tempters of the grave: charged with the questioning of the dead in his grave: concerning his Lord: his religion: his prophet: and they test the righteous and the wicked: and they both are blue: fearsome: having fangs: and disturbing forms: and terrifying voices: may Allah protect us from the punishment of the grave: and keep us firm by the firm word: amen.
Abdallah ibn Youssouf narrated to us: Ibn Wahb narrated to us: Yunus narrated to me that Aïsha, wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), narrated to him: that she said to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): has there come upon you a day harder than the day of Ohod? He said: « I have met from your people things: and the hardest of what I met from them was the day of 'Aqaba: when I had offered myself to Ibn Abd Yalil ibn Abd Koulal: and he answered me not to what I wanted: I departed therefore, anxious, upon my face: I came to myself only to find I was at Qarn ath-Tha'alib: I raised my head: and there was a cloud shading me: I looked: and there was in it Jibril (peace be upon him): he called me and said: Allah has heard the saying of your people to you: and what they returned to you: and He has sent you the angel of the mountains: that you command him in them what you will.
The angel of the mountains called me: and greeted me: « O Muhammad: Jibril sent me to you, that you command him what you wish of them: if you will, I will close the two mountains upon them. » The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « Rather I hope that Allah brings forth from their loins one who will worship Allah alone, associating nothing with Him. » And Muslim related it likewise, from the hadith of Ibn Wahb.
Chapter: as for what Allah prepared for them: they have classes: among them the bearers of the Throne: as their mention preceded: and among them the Keroubim who are around the Throne: and they are the most noble of the angels along with the bearers of the Throne: « The Christ would not disdain to be a servant of Allah: nor the angels brought near » (an-Nisa, 172): and among them Jibril and Mikhaïl (peace be upon them): and Allah mentioned of them that they seek forgiveness for the believers beyond the mystery: « Those who bear the Throne: and those around it: extol the praise of their Lord: believe in Him: and seek forgiveness for those who believed: Our Lord: You embrace all things in mercy and knowledge: forgive those who repented and followed Your way: and protect them from the punishment of the Blaze: Our Lord: and admit them into the gardens of Eden You promised them: and whoever was righteous of their fathers, their spouses and their descendants: You are the Mighty, the Wise: and protect them from evil deeds: and he whom You protect from evil deeds that day: You have had mercy on him: and that is the great success.
» (Ghafir, 7-9)
And as their qualities are this pure disposition: when the servant invokes for his brother beyond the mystery: the angel says: « Amen: and for you the like. »
And among them the inhabitants of the seven heavens: who people them with unceasing worship night and day: morning and evening: they glorify night and day without intermission (al-Anbiya, 20): among them the one kneeling forever: and the one standing forever: and the one prostrating forever: and among them those who succeed one another, group after group, to the frequented House: every day seventy thousand: who return not to it, the last of their term: and among them those charged with the gardens: and preparing generosity for its people: and readying hospitality for its dwellers: of garments: and jewelry: and dwellings: and foods: and drinks: and other than that of what no eye has seen: and no ear has heard: and never struck the heart of a human.
The guardian of Paradise: Ridwane: he has been named explicitly in some hadiths. And among them those charged with the Fire: and they are the stern guards: and their chiefs nineteen: and its treasurer Malik: and he is foremost over the whole treasury: « And those who will be in the Fire will say to the keepers of Hell: call upon your Lord: that He lighten for us a day of the punishment. » The verse. « And they will call: O Malik: let your Lord finish with us.
He will say: you shall remain: We came to you with the truth: but most of you toward the truth are averse. » (az-Zoukhrouf, 77) « Over it are angels harsh: severe: who disobey not Allah in what He commands them: and do what they are commanded. » (at-Tahrim, 6) « Over it nineteen. And We made none but angels masters of the Fire: and We made their number only a trial for those who disbelieved: that those given the Book be certain: and those who believed increase in faith: and those given the Book and the believers doubt not: and that those in whose hearts is sickness and the disbelievers say: what did Allah intend by this as a parable?
Thus Allah leads astray whom He wills: and guides whom He wills: and none knows the hosts of your Lord but He. » (al-Muddaththir, 30-31)
« Alike among you: whoever conceals the word: and whoever proclaims it: and whoever hides by night: and goes forth by day: he has successors: from before him: and from behind him: who guard him: by the command of Allah. » (ar-Ra'd, 10-11) The verses.
From Ibn Abbas: he has successors from before him and from behind him: who guard him by the command of Allah: and they are the angels: and 'Ikrima said, from Ibn Abbas: « who guard him by the command of Allah »: angels guard him from before him and from behind him: when the destiny of Allah comes: they leave him: there is no servant but there is an angel charged with guarding him in his sleep: and his wakefulness: from the jinn: the humans: and the vermin: behind you: except a thing Allah permits: and it afflicts him. « There is no human being but with him is an angel warding him: until he delivers him to the one decreed for him. » A man came to Ali: and said: a group of Mourad intend to kill you: he said: « With every man are two angels guarding him from what has not been decreed: when the decree comes: they leave him alone with it: the term is a well-fortified fortress. »
And among them those charged with guarding the deeds of the servants: on the right and on the left: « Seated on the right and on the left: not a word he utters but that with him is an observer ready. » (Qaf, 17-18) « And indeed there are over you guardians: noble: writers: who know what you do. » (al-Infitar, 10-12)
My father narrated to us: Ali ibn Muhammad at-Tanafisi narrated to us: Waqi' narrated to us: Soufyan and Mis'ar narrated to us, from Alqama ibn Mourtad: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « Honor the noble writers: who leave you not except at one of two states: the major impurity: and the place of easing: when one of you washes: let him screen himself with the trunk of a wall: or his camel: or let his brother screen him. » This is a report without complete chain by this route: and al-Bazzar made it continuous in his Musnad, by the route of Hafs ibn Sulayman the reciter: and in it: a word from Alqama: from Mujahid: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « Allah forbids you nudity: so be ashamed of the angels of Allah who are with you: the noble writers: who leave you not except at one of three states: the place of easing: the major impurity: and the bath: when one of you washes in nakedness: let him screen himself with his garment: or the trunk of a wall: or his camel.
» And the meaning of honoring them: to be ashamed of them: to not display to them the ugly deeds they write: for Allah created them noble in their constitution and their morals: and of their generosity: there has been established in the hadith related in the Sahihs: the Sunan: and the Musnads, from a group of the Companions, that he said: « The angels enter not a house wherein is an image: nor a dog: nor one in major impurity. » And in a transmission, from 'Asim ibn Damra, from Ali: nor urine: and in the transmission of Rafi', from Abu Sa'id, raised: « The angels enter not a house wherein is an image: nor a statue. » And in the transmission of Mujahid, from Abu Hurayra, raised: « The angels enter not a house wherein is a dog: or a statue. » And in the transmission of Dakouane Abu Salih as-Samman: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « The angels accompany no company with which is a dog: or a bell.
» « The angels accompany no company with which is a bell. »
And al-Bazzar said: Ishaq ibn Sulayman al-Baghdadi known as al-Falousi narrated to us: Bayan ibn Houmran narrated to us: Sallam narrated to us, from Mansour ibn Za'dane, from Muhammad ibn Sirine: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « The angels of Allah know the children of Adam: and know their deeds: when they look upon a servant acting in obedience to Allah: they mention him among themselves and name him: this night so-and-so succeeded: this night so-and-so is delivered: and when they look upon a servant acting in disobedience to Allah: they mention him among themselves and name him: this night so-and-so perished. » Sallam: I think he is Sallam al-Madaini: and he is soft in hadith.
Abu al-Yaman narrated to us: Chou'ayb narrated to us: Abu az-Zinad narrated to us, from al-A'raj: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « The angels succeed one another: angels by night: and angels by day: and they gather in the prayer of dawn and the prayer of asr: then those who spent the night among you ascend to Him: and He asks them: how did you leave My servants? They said: we left them while they prayed: and we found them while they prayed. » This wording is in the Book of the beginning of creation with this context: and this wording: he alone related it, without Muslim, by this route: and the two extracted it in the Sahihs, at the beginning, from the hadith of Malik, from Abu az-Zinad.
Ziyad ibn Ayyoub narrated to us: Mouchabbir ibn Isma'il al-Halabi narrated to us: Tammam ibn Najih narrated to us, from al-Hasan: that is al-Basri: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « There are not two guardians who raise to Allah (exalted is He) what they inscribed in a day: and He sees at the beginning of the sheet and at its end a seeking of forgiveness but that Allah the Most High says: I have forgiven My servant what is between the two ends of the sheet. » Tammam ibn Najih alone related it: and Ibn Ma'in authenticated him: and weakened him al-Bukhari, Abu Hatim, Abu Zur'a, an-Nasaï and Ibn 'Adi: and Ibn Hibban accused him of fabrication: and the imam Ahmad said: I know not the reality of his state.
The point is that every human being has two guardians: two angels: one from before him: and another from behind him: who guard him by the command of Allah, by the command of Allah (exalted is He): and two angels writers: at his right and at his left: and the writer of the right commands the writer of the left: he writes his good deeds: and the writer of the left writes his bad deeds: when the owner of the left intends to write them: « Give him respite: perhaps he will repent: or seek forgiveness. » And when he does a good deed: the one of the right writes it without hesitation: nor waiting for the owner of the left. « Seated on the right and on the left: not a word he utters but that with him is an observer ready. » (Qaf, 17-18)
Aswad ibn 'Amir narrated to us: Soufyan narrated to us: Mansour narrated to us, from Salim ibn Abi al-Ja'd, from his father: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « There is none of you but that his companion of the jinn has been assigned to him: and his companion of the angels. » « And you, O messenger of Allah? » He said: « And me: but Allah aided me against him: he commands me only good. » Muslim alone extracted it, from the hadith of Mansour. It is possible that this companion among the angels is other than the companion of guarding the human: he is only charged with him: to guide him: and direct him, by the permission of his Lord, to the way of good: and the path of right guidance: as there was assigned to him the companion of the devils: who spares no effort in mischief and leading astray: and the preserved: he whom Allah preserved (exalted is He): and from Allah is help sought.
Ahmad ibn Yunus narrated to us: Ibrahim ibn Sa'd narrated to us: Ibn Chihab narrated to us, from Abu Salama ibn Abd ar-Rahman, and from al-Agharr: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « When the day of Friday comes: there are at every door of the mosque's doors angels: who write the first: then the first: when the imam sits: they roll up their sheets: and come listening to the reminder. » And thus he alone related it by this route: and it is in the two Sahihs by another route: « and the recitation of dawn: indeed the recitation of dawn was witnessed » (al-Isra, 78). Asbat narrated to us: al-A'mach narrated to us, from Ibrahim, from Ibn Mas'oud, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and al-A'mach narrated to us, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayra, of His saying: « And the recitation of dawn: indeed the recitation of dawn was witnessed »: it is witnessed by: the angels of the night: and the angels of the day: and at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasaï and Ibn Majah related it from the hadith of Asbat: good, authentic: I said: and it is interrupted.
Abdallah ibn Muhammad narrated to us: Abd ar-Razzaq narrated to us: Ma'mar informed us, from az-Zouhri, from Abu Salama: and from Sa'id ibn al-Moussayyab, from Abu Hurayra: he said: « The excellence of the prayer of the group over the prayer of the one is twenty-five degrees: and the angels of the night: and the angels of the day gather in the prayer of dawn. » « Recite, if you will: and the recitation of dawn: indeed the recitation of dawn was witnessed. » Moussaddad narrated to us: Abu 'Awana narrated to us, from al-A'mach, from Abu Hazim: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « When the man calls his wife to his bed: and she refuses: and he spends the night angry with her: the angels curse her until morning. » Shu'ba, Abu Hamza, Ibn Dawud and Abu Mou'awiya followed him, from al-A'mach.
He said: « When the imam says amen: say amen: for whoever's amen coincides with the amen of the angels: his previous sins are forgiven him. » Ismaël narrated to us with the wording: « When the imam says: amen: the angels say in the heaven: amen: whoever's amen coincides with the amen of the angels: his previous sins are forgiven him. » Ismaël narrated to us: Malik narrated to me, from Soumayy, from Abu Salih: he said: « When the imam says: Allah hears him who praises Him: then say: O Allah, our Lord, and to You the praise: for whoever's saying coincides with the saying of the angels: his previous sins are forgiven him. » And the whole community related it except Ibn Majah, from the hadith of Malik, from Soumayy, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayra.
Abu Mou'awiya narrated to us: al-A'mach narrated to us, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayra: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « Allah has angels traveling the earth: in favor: over the scribes of the people: they say: come to your need. » « What kind of things do My servants do? » « They left them praising You: magnifying You: remembering You. » « And have they seen Me?
» They say: « No. » « And how were they to see Me? » « Were they to see You: they would be more intense in praise: in magnification: and in remembrance. » He says: « And what kind of things do they seek?
» « They seek Paradise. » « And have they seen it? » « No. » « And how were they to see it?
» « Were they to see it: they would be more intense in eagerness for it: and more intense in seeking it. » He says: « And from what do they seek refuge? » « From the Fire. » « And have they seen it.
» « No. » « And how were they to see it? » « Were they to see it: they would be more intense in fleeing it: and more intense in fearing it. » He says: « I bear you witness that I have forgiven them.
» They say: « Among them is so-and-so the offender: he came not for the prayer: he came only for a need. » « Such are the people: their companion is not made wretched with them. »
And thus al-Bukhari related it, from Qutayba, from Jarir ibn Abd al-Hamid, from al-A'mach. Shu'ba related it, from al-A'mach: without raising it: and Souhayl raised it, from his father: and Ahmad related it, from 'Affan, from Wouhayb, from Souhayl, from his father, from Abu Hurayra, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), in like manner: as al-Bukhari mentioned it, suspended, from Souhayl: and Muslim related it, from Muhammad ibn Hatim, from Bahz ibn Assad, from Wouhayb. And the imam Ahmad also related it, from Ghoundar, from Shu'ba, from Sulayman, who is al-A'mach, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayra: without raising it, its like: as al-Bukhari indicated.
Abu Mou'awiya narrated to us: al-A'mach narrated to us: and Ibn Noumayr informed us: al-A'mach informed us, from Abu Salih: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « Who relieves a believer a distress of the distresses of this world: Allah relieves him a distress of the distresses of the Day of Resurrection: and who covers a Muslim: Allah covers him in this world and the Hereafter: and who makes easy one in difficulty: Allah makes easy for him in this world and the Hereafter: and Allah is in the help of the servant: so long as the servant is in the help of his brother: and whoever treads a path seeking therein knowledge: Allah makes easy for him thereby a path to Paradise: and no people gather in a house of the houses of Allah: reciting the Book of Allah: and studying it among themselves: but that tranquility descends upon them: and mercy covers them: and the angels surround them: and Allah mentions them among those with Him: and whoever is slowed by his deed: his lineage will not hasten him.
» And thus Muslim related it from the hadith of Abu Mou'awiya.
Abd ar-Razzaq narrated to us: Ma'mar narrated to us, from Abu Ishaq, from al-Agharr Abu Muslim, from Abu Hurayra: and Abu Sa'id: he said: « No people gather remembering Allah (exalted is He): but that the angels surround them: and mercy covers them: and tranquility descends upon them: and Allah mentions them among those with Him. » And thus it was also related, from Isra'il: and Soufyan ath-Thawri: and Shu'ba, from Abu Ishaq, its like: and Muslim related it from the hadith of Shu'ba: and at-Tirmidhi from the hadith of ath-Thawri: good, authentic: and Ibn Majah related it, from Abu Bakr ibn Abi Chayba, from Yahya ibn Adam, from 'Ammar ibn Rouzayq, from Abu Ishaq, with his isnad, its like: and in this meaning are many hadiths.
And in the Musnad of the imam Ahmad, and the Sunan: « The angels set their wings for the seeker of knowledge: content with what he does. » They humble themselves to him: as the Most High said: « And lower to them the wing of humility of mercy » (al-Isra, 24): « And lower your wing to those who follow you of the believers » (ach-Chou'ara, 215): Waqi' narrated to us, from Soufyan, from Abdallah ibn as-Sa'ib, from Za'dane: Allah has angels traveling the earth: who convey to me the greeting of my community: and thus an-Nasaï related it from the hadith of Soufyan ath-Thawri: and of Sulayman al-A'mach: both, from Abdallah ibn as-Sa'ib. Abd ar-Razzaq narrated to us: Ma'mar narrated to us, from az-Zouhri, from 'Ourwa: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « The angels were created from light: the jinn were created from smokeless fire: and Adam was created of what has been described to you. » And Muslim related it, from Muhammad ibn Rafi': and Abd ibn Humayd: both, from Abd ar-Razzaq.
And likewise the hadith related that the angel has a thrust at the heart of the servant: and the devil has a thrust at his heart: the thrust of the angel is promising good: and affirming the truth: the thrust of the devil: promising evil: and denying the truth: when the servant rises in the morning: the devil and the angel advance upon him: « Begin with good. » « Begin with evil. » When he remembers Allah and praises Him: the angel takes charge of him: and drives the devil from him until night: « Conclude with good: conclude with evil. » If he concludes his day with good: the angel takes charge of him until he rises: and drives from him the devil: « In the name of Allah: I rely upon Allah: and there is no power nor strength but by Allah. » « You have been guided: and spared: and protected. » Then the devil withdraws from him: to its end: and the hadiths in the mention of the angels are very many: and we mentioned what Allah the Most High made easy: to Him the praise.
Chapter: as for the matter: most often it is found in the books of the theologians: and the disagreement therein with the mou'tazila: and those who agreed with them: that someone attended a session of 'Oumar ibn Abd al-'Aziz: and with him a group: « None is nobler with Allah than the noble of the children of Adam: Those who believed and did righteous deeds: those are the best of creatures. » (al-Bayyina, 7) And Oumayya ibn 'Amrou ibn Sa'id agreed with him in that: « None is nobler with Allah than His angels: they are the servants of His two houses: and His messengers to His prophets. » « Your Lord forbade you this tree only that you become two angels: or become of the immortal. » (al-A'raf, 20) « What do you say, you, O Abu Hamza?
» « Allah honored Adam: created him with His hand: breathed into him of His spirit: made the angels prostrate to him: made of his descendants prophets and messengers: and the angels visit him. » He therefore followed 'Oumar ibn Abd al-'Aziz in the judgment: and argued by other than his proof: and weakened the indication of what he stated explicitly of the verse: Those who believed and did righteous deeds.
« And they believe in him »: and likewise the jinn: « And we, when we heard the guidance, believed in it » (al-Jinn, 2): « And among us are those who submit » (al-Jinn, 14): and the best of what is argued in this matter is what 'Uthman ibn Sa'id ad-Darimi related, from Abdallah ibn 'Amrou, raised to the Prophet: when Allah created Paradise: the angels said: « O our Lord: make for us a place therein: we eat of it and drink: for You created the world for the children of Adam. » « I shall not make righteous the offspring of him whom I created with My hand like him to whom I said: be: and it was. »