The Angels of Aid

The angels of reinforcement are the angels who descended to aid and strengthen the Muslims at Badr and Hunayn, as in Al-Anfal 9, Al-Anfal 12, Al 'Imran 123, Al 'Imran 124, At-Tawba 25, and At-Tawba 26. They are among the clearest reported meetings of angels with humans in the sira ^{1 2}.

• Al-Anfal 9 and Al-Anfal 12: "when you sought help from your Lord and He answered you: I will reinforce you with a thousand angels, rank upon rank" — in them the reinforcement at Badr with a thousand angels ¹.
• Al 'Imran 123, Al 'Imran 124, and Al 'Imran 125: "And God indeed aided you at Badr while you were weak... when He said to the believers: is it not enough for you that your Lord should reinforce you with three thousand angels, sent down?" — in them the promise of reinforcement with the three thousand ¹.
• At-Tawba 25 and At-Tawba 26: "God has indeed granted you victory... on the day of Hunayn when your great numbers pleased you... so God sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and the believers, and sent down hosts you did not see, and punished those who disbelieved" — in them the reinforcement at Hunayn ¹.
• At-Tawba 40: "and had it not been for a decree from God that preceded, you would have been touched with a great punishment for what you took" — in it a reference to God's victory ¹.

• In a narration of Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi in the hadith of the Isra' that Jibril told the Prophet ﷺ that God reinforced him at Badr with three thousand angels and at Hunayn with a thousand angels ^{3 4}.
• In a narration of al-Bukhari on the description of the day of Badr "God reinforced you with a thousand angels" ⁵.
• In the hadith "You saw few..." in which the angels descended on the day of Badr ⁵.
• In a narration of Muslim that the Prophet said "the angels on the day of Badr..." ⁶.
• In the hadith "Jibril came to me with Mika'il..." in some narrations ⁴.

Ibn Kathir details that the angels of reinforcement are those who descended to strengthen the believers and aid them, and mentions that their number at Badr was three thousand and at Hunayn a thousand ². Al-Qurtubi holds that "mardifin" in Al-Anfal 9 are the angels who followed you ⁷.

• The better-known view: they descended for reinforcement and victory, strengthened the believers, and there is a narration that they fought ².
• Another view: they did not fight at Badr but only strengthened the believers ⁸.
• The principle in tafsir is that they descended for aid and victory ².

• "Angels of reinforcement" is a technical name; the Qur'an calls them "angels" and "hosts you did not see" ¹.
• Their companion in this topic is the angels of Badr on its page.
• What is related about the details of their fighting from books of the sira; the principle is that their reinforcement is established in the Qur'an and hadith ².