Angels in Islam

In Islam, angels (|malāk}}; plural: |malāʾik/malāʾikah|label=none}} or ) are believed to be heavenly beings, created from a luminous origin by God. The Quran is the principal source for the Islamic concept of angels, but more extensive features of angels appear in hadith literature, literature, Islamic exegesis, theology, philosophy, and mysticism.

Belief in angels is one of the core tenets within Islam, as it is one of the six articles of faith. Angels are more prominent in Islam compared to Judeo-Christian tradition. The angels differ from other invisible creatures in their attitude as creatures of virtue, in contrast to evil devils ( or ) and ambiguous jinn ( or ). Despite being considered to be virtuous beings, angels are not necessarily bringers of good news, as per Islamic tradition, angels can perform grim and violent tasks.

Angels are conceptualized as heavenly beings. As such, they are said to lack passion and bodily desires. If angels can nevertheless fail, is debated in Islam. Mu'tazilites and many Salafis usually hold the opinion that angels are always obedient and never fail to perform their tasks. In contrast, schools of theology (''Kalām'') often accept the fallibility of angels. Ashʿarites agree that angels have no free agency, but argue that they may still fail and then fall. Māturīdites say that the heavenly creatures are tested, and angels may fail such a test, whereupon they are dismissed from their duties.

In Islamic philosophy and Sufism, angels are related to the nature of reason ('''aql''). According to Sufi cosmology, they connect the higher realms of the intellect with the lower world of matter. Thus, the human mind is conceptualized to form a connection with the heavenly spheres (''malakūt'') through such heavenly entities associated with (''nūr''). In contrast, the devils attempt to disturb the connection by diverging the mind to the lower spheres, thus associated with fire (''nār''). Provided by Wikipedia