ABSTRACT
In an article published in The Muslim World in 1937, the American missionary Samuel M. Zwemer commented: ‘The angelology of Islam is very extensive and has been treated only partially by western scholars, although it holds such an important place in the belief of popular Islam . . .’1 There still remains a large gap in the scholarly literature on the role of angels in Islam, with only two early monographs available on the subject.2 Admittedly, there are a number of studies in areas that include material about angels, but none is devoted exclusively to them. This is quite surprising as angels are a fundamental part of Islamic belief: ‘The Islamic concepts of creation, revelation, prophecy, the events that occur in the world, worship, the spiritual life, death, resurrection, and the central position of man in the cosmos cannot be understood without reference to angels.’3 In fact, belief in angels is necessary in Islam and their rejection constitutes kufr (unbelief ).4 This strong stance on angels can be seen quite clearly in the Qur’an itself: ‘Whoever is an enemy to God and His angels and His messengers, Gabriel, and Michael – surely God is an enemy to the unbelievers.’5 In some of the exegeses of this verse, the belief in angels is linked clearly to belief in the revelation of the Qur’an to Murammad.6 This is why believing in angels is a fundamental part of the Islamic worldview and why they deserve attention.
