The Creation and Nature of Angels

The angels of creation are the angels created by God before Adam; they glorify God, seek forgiveness for the believers, and perform the works they are commanded. In the Qur'an they are "the angels" generally, and in hadith "God created the angels of light before He created Adam of clay" ^{1 2}.

• Their creation and their prostration to Adam: Al-Baqara 30, Al-Baqara 31, Al-Baqara 32, Al-Baqara 33, Al-Baqara 34 — in them God settled Adam in Paradise, created Hawwa', and commanded the angels to prostrate to him ².
• Iblis's refusal: Al-A'raf 11, Al-A'raf 12, Al-Hijr 29, Al-Hijr 30, Al-Hijr 31, Al-Isra' 61, Al-Kahf 50, Ta Ha 116, Sad 71, Sad 72, Sad 73, Sad 74, Sad 75, Sad 76 — in them Iblis's refusal and his blame ².
• Their mission of revelation: Al-Baqara 97, Al-Nahl 2, Al-Shu'ara' 193, Fatir 1, Al-Tahrim 4, Al-Qari'a 4, An-Nazi'at 5, At-Takwir 19, Al-Qadr 4 — in them the descent of revelation through the angels and the Spirit ².
• Their worship: Al-Anbiya' 20, Al-Tahrim 6, Ghafir 7, Al-A'raf 206, Az-Zumar 75 — in them they glorify night and day without flagging and seek forgiveness for the believers ².
• Their works: Qaf 17, Qaf 18, Al-Infitar 10, Al-Infitar 11, Al-Infitar 12, At-Tariq 4, As-Sajda 11, Fussilat 30, Al-Haqqa 17 — in them recording deeds, taking souls, and bearing the Throne ².
• Their station: As-Saffat 164, Az-Zukhruf 19, An-Najm 26, At-Tin 4, At-Tin 5 — in them each of them has a known station ².

• "God created the angels of light before He created Adam of clay" — in a narration of al-Tirmidhi from Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him) ³.
• "I was created of light two thousand years before Adam was created" — in a narration of Jibril in the Isra'iliyyat, which the hadith scholars question ⁴.
• "The angels neither sleep nor flag" in glorification ¹.
• "There is no space of four fingers in the heavens without the forehead of a prostrating angel" ¹.
• "Seventy thousand of the people of the Frequented House circumambulate it and never return" ⁵.
• "The angels do not disobey God in what He commands and do what they are commanded" — in it their absolute obedience ².
• "The angels bless whoever blesses the Prophet ﷺ" ¹.

• They do not eat or drink, do not marry, do not sleep, do not give birth and are not born ⁶.
• They have the ability to take form — they assume human shapes by God's permission ^{1 7}.
• They have wings, measures and command as in the Qur'anic description, and they have works in which they differ ^{2 7}.
• That it never occurs to them to precede God in word or deed ².
• In a narration they "possess for themselves neither harm nor benefit" ⁸.

Ibn Kathir details their attributes, mentioning that they are angels charged with matters, that they possess for themselves neither harm nor benefit, and that God called them "messengers" in places because they carry His command ⁸. Al-Qurtubi holds that belief in the angels entails affirming what the Prophet reported of their states and attributes ⁹.

• "Angels of creation" is a technical name for those who believe in them generally, and the Qur'an calls them "the angels" ².
• Their creation from light is reported in hadith, and there are hadiths in the Isra'iliyyat about the duration of their creation; the principle is that they were created before Adam ^{3 4}.
• Their companion in this topic is the angels on its page.