Part 21

me and so I said, 'A slave-prophet.' Th en that an gel ascended

to the heaven and I said, '0, Gabriel! I wanted to ask you about

thi s, but I saw in your expression something which deterred

me from asking the quest ion. So who was lh at, 0 , Gabriel ?'

He said. "That was (srafecl 'i>!l. On the day that Allah crea ted

him, He created him in front of Him, with his fee t together

and he did not rai se his gaze. Between him and the Lord we re

sevent y lights and eve ry ti me one of them ca me ncar to hi m, it

wo uld burn out. In front of him is a tablet a nd wheneve r Alla h

co mmands somethin g in the heaven or the Earth, it is raised up

to the tabl et and it strikes his forchead and he looks. If it is one

of my responsibi lities, th en it commands me to do it; if it is one

of Mec ka 'ecl's respo nsibili tics, then it comm ands hi m 10 do it

and if it is one of the Ange l o f Dea th 's res ponsibiliti es, the n it

command s him to do iL ' 1 said, ' 0, Gab ri el! A nd what arc your

responsibilities?' He said , ' For the wind and the armies.' I sa id,

' And what arc Mceka'ec l's respons ibilities?' l-Ie sa id, 'Fo r the

plants and the rain ." I said, 'And what are the responsib iliti es

of the Ange l of Death?' I-Ie said, ' For taking the sou ls; I thought

that he had descended for no other reason than to beg in the

HOll r (of Resurrcct ion) and what you saw in mc was on ly fear

of th e start of the Hour." (l j This h(ldeeth is glUlreeb from thi s

( I) Narmted by At-Tabarani in AI-Mil 'jalll AI-Kobec,. (1 1/379, No, 1206 1).

AIHaithami said in Majma' A.:-Zmm 'id (9119), ··It was namltcd by At-

Tabarani and in ils chain is one Muhammad Ibn Abi Lai la; he was de-

cl3red trustworthy by some, but he had a poor memory. All or Ihe other

narrators in the chain arc trustworthy:' The author s3id tl![llthe lext or lhe

Mellfiol1 o/the Creatioll o/Ih e AI/gels (lnd Their 103

In Saheeh Muslim , it is reportcd on the au th ority of ' A ' ishah

that whcllth e Messenger of A llah ~ stood up at ni ght to pray. he

wou ld say, "0, A llah , the Lord of librae l, Michael and isra fccl ,

the Creator of the heavens and the Earth, Knower o f th e unsee n

and th e see n! Vou j udge be tween Your slaves in those matters

in whic h they di sagree. Guide me with Vour permiss ion in th e

di verge nt views (w hich the people ho ld) about Trut h, fo r it is

You Who guid es w hom You w ill to the Strai ght Path. " ( I)

Im am Ahmad sa id : Abu lVaman to ld LIS: Ibn ' Ayyas h told us

on the authority of' Umara h Ibn Ghaz iyyah A I-A nsa ri that he

heard i-iumaid Ibn ' Ubaid , th e freed slave ofBanu Mu ' aJJa say:

i heard Thabi t A l-Bunan i reportin g on th e authori ty of Anas

Ib n Ma lik ..t<., who reported from the Messe nge r of All ah ti

that he sa id to Gabri e l ~ , "W hy do I neve r see Mi chael ~\

laughing?" librae l ~ replied, "M ichael has not laughed since

the Fire was created." III So these angel s, who have becn clearly

men ti oncd in the Qur'a n and au th entic a/wdeelh , are those

who arc menti oned in the Prophe tic sup pli ca ti on: "0, All ah,

the Lord of l ibrae l, Michael and Israfeel. .. " (3) So l ibrael ~

descends w ith gu idan ce to the Messengers, in order that th ey

might co nvey it to the nat ions. Mic hael ~ is charged w ith

responsib ility for the rain and the plan ts, from both of which

sustenance is created in this (ea rthl y) abode. He has ass istant s

who do as he ord ers them to do, by A ll ah's Comm and. They

di stri bu te th e winds and the c louds, in according to the Will of

the Lord. the A llPowcrfu i.

( I) Narrated by Muslim (770).

(2) Narrated by Imam Ahmad ( t 2930); it W;JS declared 10 be 1/(/.\"(111 due \0

(3) The rakhreej h,ls already been given.

104 Mel/lioll oflhe erealiull uf Ihe AI/gels al1d Th eil'

As for the Angel o f Deat h, hi s name is not mad e clear in the

Qur ' an or in th e au thenti c afTadeelli, though it has been givcn

as ' Izra'cel in some traditions - and Allah knows better,

Allah, Most Hi gh, says, ( Say: ' The angel of death, who is

se lover yo u, will take yo ur soul s, then you shall be brought to

your Lord ' ," ) (Sool'ali As-Sajdali 32: 11), He has helpers w ho

ex trac t the soul of the slave from the body until it reaches the

throat, whereupon, th e Ange l of Death takes it in hi s hand ; and

when he takes it, he docs not leave it in his hand for more than

the bl ink of an eye before it is take n by hi s he lpe rs and cast

into shrouds befi ttin g it, as made clear in the exp lanat ion of the

Words of Alla h, Most High: ( Allah will keep firm those who

beli eve, with the \\ord that stands finn in this world (i. c, they

will keep on wo rshippi ng Allah alolle and none else) and in the

Hereafter. ) (SoOl'afT fbrah eelll 14:27)

Th en they ascend with it. Ifit was a righteous sou l, the ga les

of the I-leaven are opened for it, but if it was not ri ghteous,

they rema in closed to it and it is thrown down to th e Earth,

A ll ah, Most Hi gh, says, ( He is the Irresistible, Supreme over

His slaves, and I-I e se nds guardian s (angels guarding an d

writing all of one's good and bad deeds) over you, until whe n

dea th upproaehes one of you, Our Messengers (the Ange l of

Death and his assi!-tants) take hi s soul , and they never neg lect

their duty. Then thl.!Y arc returned 10 A ll ah, their Mawla (True

Master [God] , the Just Lord [to reward th em]) , Surely, llis

is th e Judgment and lI e is the Swiftes t in taking acco unt. )

(SoO/"ail AI-A ll 'all/ 6:6 1,62)

We mentio ned in the hadeelh of the trumpet, on the authority

of Ab u H urai ra h ~ , who reported from the Messenger of All ah

:fij, in a long Iwdeerh, that he said, "Allah wi ll command Israfeel

to blow all th e trumpet and make the trump of swooning and

Mel/riOIl o/rhe Crearion o/rhe Angels al/d Their 105

he wi ll do so, upon which the inhabitants of the heavens and

the inhabi tants of the earth will swoon, except those whom

Allah wills. Then while they are lying still , the Angel of Death

will come to Allah, the Omnipotent, the Almi ghty, the AIl-

Powerful and he will say, ' 0 , my Lord! Th e inhabitants of

the heavens and the earth have died, except th ose whom You

willed. ' Then Allah - Who knows better who remains - will

say, ' Who remains?' The Angel of Death wi ll reply, 'You, the

Ever-Living, Who does not die, remain and the bearers ofVour

Throne remain, as do Gabriel and Michael and I (also) remain.'

Then Allah will say, ' Let Gabriel and Michael die.' Then Allah

will make His Throne speak and it wi ll say, ' 0, my Lord! Shall

Gabriel and Michael die?' All ah will answer, "Silence! For I

have orda in ed death for everyo ne who is beneath My Throne. '

So they will both die and then the Ange l of Death will come

to the Omnipotent, the Al mi ghty, the All -Powerful and he

wi ll say, '0, my Lord! Gabriel and Michael have died. " Then

Allah - Who knows better who remains - will say, ' Now who

remains?' He will say, ' You, the Ever-Living, Who does not

die, remain , the bearers of Your Throne remain and I remain. '

Then Alla h will say, ' Let the bearers of My Throne die.' So they

will die and A llah will command the Throne and it will se ize

the trumpet from Isra fee l. Then the Angel of Death will come

to Allah and say, '0, my Lord! The bearers of the Throne have

died.' Then All ah - Who knows better who remains - will say,

'Who remains? ' The Angel of Death wi ll reply, 'Vou, the Ever-

living, Who does not die, remain and I remain. ' Then All ah will

say, 'You are one of My creation; I have created you for what I

will ed, so die. ' Then he wi ll die and when none remains , except

Allah , the One, the Irresistible, the (Indivisible) One, the Self

-Sufficient, Who does not beget, nor was He begotten and Who

has no equa l, He wil l be the Last, just as He was the First ... "

106 /LIel/tion q(tlie Creation o/tlte Angels alld Tlteir

Th is was narrat ed by At-Tabarani , Ibn Jareer and A I-Baihaqi . (I)

Among the ange ls whose na mes have been mentioned in the

Qur 'a n are Harool and Maroa!. Th ere are numerous sayings

pertainin g to th em reported from th e Sala/ and many traditi ons

have been reported con cern ing th eir siory and their affairs, but

mos l of th em are Isra'eeliyyat.

A mong the angels whose na mes are given in Ihe aIJadee/h are

Munkar and Nakeer (peace be upon th em both). Th eir names