Author’s Introduction
Indeed all praise is for Allah; we praise Him, seek His assistance, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves and from the wickedness of our actions. Whoever Allah guides there is none to guide him and whoever He misguides there is none to guide him back. I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship except for Allah; He is alone having no partners. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger.
{O You who believe be conscious of Allah and fear Him as He has the most right to be conscious of and feared and do not die except as Muslims.}
{O Mankind be conscious of your Lord and fear Him the One who created you from a single soul creating from it it’s mate. Then He spread from them both many men and women. Therefore be conscious and fear Allah the One Whom you demand your mutual rights and do not cut the relations of the wombs. Indeed Allah watches over you.}
{O You who believe be conscious of Allah and fear Him and when you speak, speak truthfully. He will accept your good deeds and forgive you of your sins. Thus whoever obeys Allah and His messenger then he is one who will obtain a great reward.}
To proceed: Without a doubt knowledge of the fundamentals of our faith is from the noblest of the sciences of our religion since knowledge is characterized by the distinction of information. The fundamental beliefs in our faith are what Allah the Mighty and Majestic mentioned in His statement:
{The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord and so do the believers. Each one believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books, and His Messengers. They say, "We make no distinction between one another of His Messengers" - and they say, "We hear, and we obey. We seek Your Forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return.}
These verses contain the fundamental beliefs of our faith that are obligatory to believe in which is belief in Allah, His angels, His revealed books, and His messengers. Likewise the belief in the Day of Judgment is also indicated in His statement:
{We seek Your Forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return.}
It points out that the believers must submit themselves to the command of Allah while being obedient to Him and affirm what He revealed and then after this completely believe in it.
And there is no doubt that our belief in al-Qadhaa wal-Qadar (Allah’s divine decree and His creation’s destiny or appointed life span) is included with our belief in Allah, the Glorified the Most High.
That has come explicitly in his statement contained within the well known prophetic narration of Jibreel (the angel Gabriel):
((al-Imaan is that you believe in Allah and in His angels, His revealed books, His messengers, the Day of Judgment, and in al-Qadr; the good of it as well as the bad.))
The previous verse also outlines the path to knowing these fundamental beliefs and that knowledge of these fundamental principles is restricted to what Allah revealed to His messengers (peace be upon them all).
{The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord and so do the believers…}
This does not mean that one’s intellect should be restricted from thinking as are many issues found amongst the various sects of deviance like the Sufis and others. Rather what is intended here by this restriction is that the intellect is not capable of independently knowing these fundamental principles in detail. On the contrary it acquires this knowledge only by way of the divinely legislated texts that Allah has revealed to His messenger (peace & blessings be upon him). After all of this then the role of using the intellect comes into play which is through deep contemplation of the texts and by understanding them then by deriving the legislated rulings from the detailed evidences.
This is the beginning of the differences of opinion (that occurred) between the Salaf (the Predecessors)-may Allah have mercy upon them-and between the remaining sects and Islamic splinter groups. Whether by one who is close to the way of the Salaf from amongst them or one who is far from their way. The first difference of opinion that occurred between them and between the Salaf was in Manhaj (the Prophetic Methodology). So based on that it became necessary for the student of knowledge-and especially in this day and age-to first learn the methodology of the Salaf-may Allah have mercy upon them-and the fundamental principles that they built their way upon. Whether that was in the fundamental principles such as al-‘Aqaaid (Creed) or in the Furu’oo (Subsidiary Branches like Fiqh, etc.). All of it to the Salaf was one by way of seeking evidences in the Book, the Sunnah, and the understanding of as-Salaf-us-Saalih (the Rightly Guided Predecessors). So when the student of knowledge knows the methodology of the Salaf and he applies it in his lessons if some issues arise then he can establish himself upon a clear methodology without confusion. So he finds a solution for this issue by way of analogy emulating what is established from it because all of it is one. No problem will arise except that Allah willing he will find a solution for it in the Book of Allah or in the Sunnah of His Messenger or in the statements of the rightly guided Salaf or even by way of Qiyaas (Analogy).
And from these fundamental principles which are obligatory upon the Muslims to believe in and in which the servant will not have complete faith except by it is the belief in the angels-peace be upon them. The Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Muslims point out the obligation of believing in them. Not believing in them is to disbelieve in Allah, the Glorified, the Most High. The previous texts proved that and additional details will soon follow Allah willing in the upcoming sections.
But what is strange is that despite the importance of believing in them-peace be upon them-you will find some Muslims not being concerned with the minute details of believing in them. Rather they are content with common words they generalize. There is no doubt that the general belief in the angels which includes affirmation in their existence and the confirmation of what came from Allah, the Glorified, the Most High and from His Messenger concerning them-when he believes in the remaining pillars-benefits its companion with the permission of Allah. But in reality weakness of faith and its fruits are little in regards to the fruit of complete faith since reflection upon Allah’s creation increases a person’s faith in Allah, the Glorified, the Most High.
Based on this I wanted to write something in detail about the angels-peace be upon them-to acknowledge this great unseen world that is constantly repeated in the Quran many times. Likewise it is constantly mentioned many times in the Sunnah until we actualize the meaning of our belief in them and see the benefits of that for us in this life and in the hereafter. I used to ask some of the students during some lessons if someone asked you about those who sat with you in the gatherings of knowledge what would you say to him? They responded with the gathering of the teacher with his students. So I said to them, “and the angels-peace be upon them.” And they would laugh with smiles but when I mentioned to them the evidences of the angels attending the sittings of knowledge and that the angels accompanied the people protecting them and writing their deeds and that we believe that they are with us now attending our class and listening to our words then many of them became humble and affirmed what I had said with the utmost dignity regarding this gathering in which the angels were sitting in. They said, “It is as if we had never heard these evidences before until now”. They had heard them before but they commanded others to believe in it without reflection. The effects of these texts had not appeared to them and this situation in reality is from the important issues that benefit true faith in the angels-peace be upon them-and Allah knows best.
Because of this I wrote something on this topic in detail and that is due to the non-existence of a book to the best of my knowledge covering in depth the issue of belief in the angels-peace be upon them.
I saw it beneficial for the student of knowledge to familiarize himself with the creed of some of the Islamic splinter groups as well as some of the deviated religions such as the Christians and Jews and even the pagan religions such as the Buddhists and Hindus. I saw it beneficial to familiarize him with their beliefs concerning the angels in detail and to study the creed of most of them regarding Allah, the prophets, and the revealed books. Due to that I made a second section to this book specific to the creed of these groups and religions concerning the angels.
Allah the Mighty and Majestic facilitates and assists by His blessings and favors in which a large portion of their statements were collected from various subjects. There was no difficulty experienced in this act except for him who is tested and that is due to the few references and few studies concerning the angels from many of the sects and religions. It is Allah who assists and to Him is the praise and grace. So their words were gathered from what clarified their beliefs regarding that and it sufficed me to exert my ability and efforts by way of gathering the subject matter for this book and in arranging it. I hope that it will be a source of pleasure for the one who reads it. I praise Allah for that. I thank Him and I ask Him that it be sincerely for His face as a benefit to whoever will read it indeed He is the Protector of that and the One who is able to do so.
In this book I tried to collect the authentic narrations from their originals sources that mentioned the angels. I pointed out in the footnotes to the reference source so if the narration is in the two Saheehs or in one of the two I was content with tracing it back to them both. If it was from a source other than the two then I tried to mention it along with mentioning the ruling of the scholars about it from what is authentic and from what is weak. Then I followed that up with what was relayed from the Salaf-may Allah have mercy upon them-in explaining and clarifying this narration. Then the acquired creed in the angels from it as well as the speech of the Salaf-may Allah have mercy upon them-from the great benefits in connecting the reader of the book with the books of the Salaf in knowing their statements, their detailed understanding, the goodness of their beliefs, and their deep insight in the speech of Allah and the speech of His Messenger .
I placed several indexes to point out the sections of the book at the end. In closing I thank Allah, the Glorified, the Most High for His assistance and facilitation. I ask Him, the Glorified, the Most High to make it sincerely for His face and that it benefit me after my death and that it benefit my Muslim brothers.
As I hope that whoever reads it from my brothers that he does not withhold from me any observations or statements of the sects, schools of thought or religions regarding the angels that I did not mention in this printing until I correct it or add what is found in the upcoming printings-Allah willing.
Glorified is your Lord of Might above what they ascribe to Him. Peace be upon the Messengers. All praise is for Allah, Lord of all the worlds.
Written by the one who hopes for the pardon of his Glorious Lord,
Muhammad bin ‘Abdil-Wahhaab al-‘Aqeel
Al-Madeenah an-Nabawiyyah – 1418 A.H.
Source --> http://thestraightforwardword.blogspot.com/2009/07/excerpt-from-new-book-belief-of-muslim.html
