The Job of Angels

By Fethullah Gülen

Muslims believe that angels are created from light. The Arabic word for angel is malak. According to its root form, “malak” means messenger, deputy, envoy, superintendent, and a powerful person. The root meaning also implies descent from a high place. According to Islam, angels build relations between the macrocosmic world and the material one, convey God’s commands of, direct the acts and lives of beings (with God’s permission), and represent their worship in their own realms. Having refined or subtle bodies of light, angels move very rapidly and can be found in all realms of existence. They place themselves in our eyelids or in the bodies of other beings to observe the works of God. They also descend into the hearts of Prophets and saintly people to bring them inspiration. Such inspirations are usually from God, but sometimes they come from angels. Some animals, like honeybees, act according to Divine inspiration. Science asserts that all animals are directed by impulses, but cannot explain what an impulse is and how it occurs. Scientists are trying to discover how migrating birds find their way, how young eels hatched in the waters of Europe find their way to their ancestral waters in the Pacific. Even if we attribute this to information coded in their DNA, Muslims assert that this information is assuredly from God, Who knows everything, controls the universe, and assigns angels to direct these creatures’ lives. If science says we must not question the existence of such invisible forces as the law of growth in living creatures, it is even more scientific to attribute such forces to angels, God’s special servants. Everything that exists, either as an individual or as a species, has a collective identity and performs a unique, universal function. Each flower displays a superlative design and symmetry and recites, in the tongue of its being, the names of the Creator manifested on it. Muslims believe that the entire earth performs a universal glorification as though it were a single flower. The vast “ocean” of the heavens praises and glorifies the Majestic Maker of the universe through its suns, moons, and stars. Even inert material bodies, although outwardly inanimate and unconscious, perform a vital function in praising God. Angels represent these immaterial bodies in the world of the inner dimensions of things, and express their praise. In return, these immaterial bodies are the angels’ representatives, dwellings, and mosques in this world. Classes of Angels There are various classes of angels. One class is engaged in constant worship; another worships by working. These working angels have functions that resemble human occupations, like shepherds or farmers. In other words, the face of the Earth resembles a general farm, and an appointed angel oversees all of its animal species by the command of the All-Majestic Creator, by His permission and power and strength, and for His sake. Each animal species is overseen by a lesser angel appointed to act as its shepherd. The face of the Earth is also an arable field in which all plants are sown. Another angel is appointed to oversee all of them in the Name of Almighty God and by His power. Lower ranking angels worship and glorify Almighty God by supervising particular plant species. Archangel Michael, upon him be peace, one of the bearers of God’s Throne of Sustenance, oversees the angels of the highest rank. Angels who function as shepherds or farmers bear no resemblance to human shepherds or farmers, for their supervision is purely for God’s sake, in His Name, and by His power and command. They observe the manifestations of God’s Lordship in the species they are assigned to supervise, study the manifestations of Divine Power and Mercy in it, communicate Divine commands to it through inspiration, and arrange its voluntary actions. Their supervision of plants, in particular, consists of representing in the angelic tongue the plants’ glorification in the tongue of their being. In other words, these angels proclaim the praises and exaltations that all plants offer to the Majestic Creator through their lives. These angels also regulate and employ the plants’ faculties correctly and direct them toward certain ends. Angels perform such services through their partial willpower and a kind of worship and adoration. They do not originate or create their acts, for everything bears a stamp particular to the Creator of all things. Only God creates. In short, whatever angels do is worship, and it is therefore not like the ordinary acts of human beings. The first class of angels are never promoted for what they do, for each has a fixed, determined rank and receives a particular pleasure from the work itself as well as a radiance from worship. Their reward is found in their service. Just as we are nourished by and derive pleasure from air and water, light and food, angels are nourished by and receive pleasure from the lights of remembrance and glorification, worship and knowledge, and love of God. Since they are created of light, light sustains them. Even fragrant scents, which are close to light, are enjoyable nourishment for them. Indeed, pure spirits take pleasure in sweet scents. Angles receive their own reward — elevated bliss — for carrying out the commands of the One Whom they worship, working for His sake, rendering service in His Name, and supervising through His view. They gain honor through their connection with Him, are refreshed by studying His kingdom’s material and immaterial dimensions, and are satisfied by observing His Grace and Majesty’s manifestations. The resulting bliss is a so elevated bliss that we cannot even begin to comprehend or perceive it. Source: Reading Islam

* This article is taken with kind permission from the author’s website http://en.fgulen.com

Fethullah Gülen is a modernist Islamic scholar, writer, and leader of the Gülen movement. He is the author of over 60 books. Gülen was recently listed among the top hundred public intellectuals by Foreign Policy magazine.