The meaning of Faith in the Angels, The Books, and The Prophets

Islamic creeds: The meaning of Faith in the Angels, The Books, and The Prophets

1- الإيمان بالملائكة الكرام إجمالا, واما تفصيلا فبما صح به الدليل من أسمائهم وصفاتهم وأعمالهم بحسب علم المكلف

2- الإيمان بالكتب المنزلة جميعها وأن القران الكريم أفضلها وناسخها وأن ما قبله طرأ عليه التحريف وأنه لذلك يجب اتباعه دون ما سبقه.

3- الإيمان بأنبياء الله ورسله صلوات الله وسلامه عليهم وأنهم أفضل ممن سواهم من البشر ومن زعم غير ذلك فقد كفر. وما صح فيه الدليل بعينه منهم وجب الإيمان به معينا ويجب الإيمان بسائرهم أجمالا وأن محمدا صلى الله عليه وسلم أفضلهم واخرهم و أن الله أرسله للناس جميعا

4- الإيمان بانقطاع الوحي بعد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وأنه خاتم الأنبياء والمرسلين, ومن اعتقد خلاف ذلك كفر

1. Believe in the noble angels as a whole. As for the details, then it should be based on valid indications that explain their names, attributes, and tasks according to the knowledge of a mukallaf (people who are of legal age)

2. Believe in all Books that have been sent down, and that the Noble Qur’an is the main Book that nullifies the previous Books and that those previous Books has been mixed with man-made changes. Thus, the Book to follow is the Qur’an only, and not the previous Books..

3. Believe in the prophets and messengers of Allah -may peace and prayer of Allah be upon them-, and that they are more prominent than the rest of human being. Whoever believes in other than that, is indeed a disbeliever. Also believe in a specific indication mentioning one of them. Beside that, we should believe in all of the messengers in general, and believe that Muhammad -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- is the most prominent and the last of them (no other prophet or messenger after him), and Allah has sent him down to all human being.

4. Believe that the divine decree had been stopped after the death of Prophet Muhammad -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-, and that he was the last and the closer of prophets and messengers. Whoever believes in other than that, has committed infidelity. (See: “Mujmal Ushul Ahlissunah”, by Dr. Nashir Al ‘Aql)

Explanations:

No. 1:  The angels are creatures who live in the unseen realm, who always pray to Allah. They do not have any godly attributes, nor that they are deserved to be worshipped. Allah the Holy and Exalted created them from light and granted them constant obedience to His orders and ability to do it.

Their numbers are huge, no one’ll be able to count it but Allah. In the hadith of Isra’ and Mi’raj (the night journey and ascension to the seventh sky), Allah’s messenger -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- said:

فَرُفِعَ لِيَ الْبَيْتُ الْمَعْمُورُ فَسَأَلْتُ جِبْرِيلَ فَقَالَ هَذَا الْبَيْتُ الْمَعْمُورُ يُصَلِّي فِيهِ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ مَلَكٍ إِذَا خَرَجُوا لَمْ يَعُودُوا إِلَيْهِ آخِرَ مَا عَلَيْهِمْ

“Then I was shown the Bait al Ma’mur. I asked Gabriel (about it), and he replied, ‘This is Al-Bait-ul-Ma’mur where seventy thousand angels perform Salât (prayer) daily, and when they leave they never return to it as their last duty (but always a fresh batch comes into it daily).” (Narrated by Bukhari)

Among the faith in the angels is to believe in their existence, and believe in them in general and specific ways.

In general means that we believe that Allah has plenty of angels who always worship Him, obey His orders, and are capable of doing it. As for the specific, as mentioned above, we believe in all indications that explain about the angels’ details, their attributes, duties, etc, according to the knowledge level of every muslim who already reached legal age. Example of their names are angel Gabriel, Michael, Israfil, Munkar, Nakir, Malik, etc. Example of their attributes is the attribute of angel Gabriel. The Messenger of Allah ever saw him in his real shape; he had 600 wings (Narrated by Bukhari), and each wing covered the horizon (Narrated by Ahmad). As for the example of their duties are as follow:

  1. Angel Gabriel is sent to deliver the divine decree.
  2. Angel Michael is sent to regulate the rain and plants.
  3. Angel Israfil is sent to blow the trumpet.
  4. The death angel is sent to take out souls.
  5. There are angels who are sent to guard the Paradise and Hell.
  6. There are angels who are sent to blow the spirit into the fetus, and write down his sustenances, death, deeds, and whether he’ll be a wreck or a happy man.
  7. There are angels who are sent to guard and write down men’s deeds. Every human being will be guarded by two angels, one is in his right side and the other in his left.
  8. There are angels who are sent to ask questions to the deceased in their tombs. The dead soul will be asked about his Lord, religion, and prophet.

No. 2 : Allah the Holy and Exalted has sent down His Books to His messengers as graces and guidance to mankind, to achieve happiness in this world and in the Hereafter. The Books contain Allah’s divine decree sent to His messengers, to be delivered to His creatures. The divine decree is not a creature, because decreeing is one of the attributes of Allah, and attributes aren’t creature.

Among the faith in Allah’s Books are:

– Believing that the Books came from Allah.
– – Believing in those Books, in general and specific ways. In specific way means that we believe in the explanations of The Qur’an and The Sunnah which mention about the other Books of Allah in details, such as it’s name, and the name of prophet who receive it, and so on. As for the general part, we believe that Allah has sent the Books to His messengers, although their name aren’t mentioned.

Confirming the truth of every news brought by the Books (the unchanged one) such as the news in the Qur’an and in other unchanged Books. We use the word ‘unchanged because Books other than the Qur’an aren’t guarded, unlike the Qur’an, which is guarded by Allah the Holy and Exalted Himself. As for other Books than the Qur’an, such as Torah and Gospel, has been changed by the irresponsibles men, with addition, changes, lessen, or omitted, thus it!s condition is not as pure as it was when revealed. Allah the Exalted decreed, which can be translated as, “Among those who have become Jews there are some who alter the words from their context, ‘ (QS. An Nisaa’/The Women: 46)

Performing the laws contained in those Books, as long as it hasn’t been committed yet- with pleasures, and acceptance, whether we understand the wisdom beyond it one not. But after the revelation of the Qur’an, then the previous Books are omitted and irrelevant to use, and the Qur’an in the only source of deeds and laws.

Sulaiman Ibn Habib said, “We are ordered to believe in the Torah and Gospel, and we’re not ordered to perform it’s laws.”

No. 3: A messenger is a man who received divine decree, is ordered to convey new shari’a, whereas prophet is a man who is sent by the shari’a of previous messenger
who came before him.

The messengers were human being, and they possessed nothing of godly attributes (creating, regulating, and mastering the universe), they knew nothing of the unseen, and they were unable to give advantages or deny any dangers. Allah the Holy and Exalted ordered His prophet, Muhammad, -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-, (while he was the leader of the messengers, and the highest in position among them) to say:

“Tell them (O Muhammad): “I have no power to benefit or harm myself except as Allah may please. And had I knowledge of the Unseen, I should have amassed all kinds of good, and no evil would have ever touched me. I am merely a warner and the herald of glad tidings to those who have faith.” (QS. Al A’raaf/The Height: 188)

Among the faith in the messengers are:

– Believing that their treatise is truly from Allah’s side. Thus, whoever disbelieve in one of them, means that he disbelieves in all of them.

– Believing in the messengers, in general and specific ways. In general, we believe that Allah the Exalted has sent to every nation a messenger to enjoin them to worship Allah alone, although He doesn’t tell us the names and stories of them. As for the specific way, is we believe in the messengers whose names and stories had been revealed to us.

– Confirming the truth of the valid news that they brought.

– Performing the shari’a (laws) brought by the messenger that was sent to us. And the messenger that was sent to us is Prophet Muhammad -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him.

It is also compulsory for us to believe that the messengers are more excellent than all mankind, even better than the wali, unlike the assumption of some of the Sufis, who believe that the wali ( friend of Allah, meaning His pious slaves)  is more prominent than prophet. While the correct order is a messenger is more prominent/more excellent than a prophet, and a prophet is better than a wali. Also, we must believe that the divine decree has been stopped after the death of Prophet Muhammad -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-. Hence, there are no more divine decree revealed to anyone after him, that make them as prophet and messenger. He was the last of the prophets and no more prophet after him. One who claims that there are prophets after Prophet Muhammad -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- is indeed a disbeliever.

Allah the Holy and Exalted decreed, which can be translated as,

“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the seal of the Prophets.  Allah has full knowledge of everything.” (QS. Al Ahzaab: 40)

The Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- said:

لِى خَمْسَةُ أَسْمَاءٍ : أَنَا مُحَمَّدٌ ، وَأَحْمَدُ ، وَأَنَا الْمَاحِى الَّذِى يَمْحُو اللَّهُ بِى الْكُفْرَ ، وَأَنَا الْحَاشِرُ الَّذِى يُحْشَرُ النَّاسُ عَلَى قَدَمِى ، وَأَنَا الْعَاقِبُ

“I have five names: I am Muhammad and Ahmad; I am Al-Mâhi through whom Allâh will eliminate Al-Kufr (i.e., disbelief—infidelity); I am Al-Hâshir who will be the first to be resurrected, the people being resurrected thereafter; and I am also Al-‘Aqib (i.e., there will be no Prophet after me).” (Narrated by Bukhari)

He also declared:

…وَإِنَّهُ سَيَكُوْنُ فِي أُمَّتِي كَذَّابُوْنَ ثَلاَثُوْنَ كُلُّهُمْ يَزْعُمُ أَنَّهُ نَبِيٌّ وَاَنَا خَاتَمُ النَّبِيِّيْنَ لاَ نَبِيَّ بَعْدِيْ

“There will be among my Ummah thirty liars, each of whom will claim to be a prophet, but I am the Last of the Prophets, there will be no Prophet after me. “ (Narrated by Ahmad, Abu Daud, Ibn Maja, with a valid narrational chain. See the book: “ash-Shahiihah (IV/252)” by Sheikh Al Albani)

Author: Marwan Ibn Musa
Article of www.whatisquran.com

References:
– “Mujmal Ushul Ahlis Sunnah wal Jama’ah” by Dr. Nasir Ibn Abdul Karim Al ‘Aql
– “Sharh ‘Aqidah Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah” by Ustadz Yazid Ibn Abdul Qadir Jawas
– etc.

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