Judeo-Christian Angels in Islam

Does Islam have Seraphim, Cherubims, and Ophanims

Source: Archangels in Islam

Let me preface this by saying that Islam is similar to Buddhism (for lack of a better example) in that it is somewhat orthopraxic while retaining the primary identity of being orthodoxic. The focus is primarily on the fixed doctrine, however, after the Qur’an and the Sunnah (which includes the vast collection of ahadith), it shifts to practicing the religion instead of pondering on the cosmology.

For instance, Muslims worldwide normally converse on the Shariah (legal ways drawn from the Qur’an and the Sunnah) and how it functions instead of sitting down and talking about angels or jinns. With the emergence of more literalist sects such as Salafism and Wahhabism, this attention to practice doubled. Meanwhile, mystics or Sufis who did discuss things apart from the obligations and laws — Ibn ‘Arabi, in particular, targeted the lawgivers of his time, due to their literal interpretation — were either discriminated against, had their teachings be subject to a similar approach, or they spoke in words too difficult for normal people. All of this contributes to the immense scarcity of the angelic texts and those that concern them.

Next, I’d like you to understand that angels or malaika in Islam are entities made of light/Nur. Humans are made of mud — though this has been proposed to apply to Hazrat Adam (A.S) only, with humans being born from Nutfah (mixture of male and female sexual discharges) instead — and Jinns are made of smokeless fire or Naar. The distinction between nur and naar is debated, however, the important part is that angels are beings of light; literally. All of them have wings too (some even have only three wings), wings of light, as well as the power to change shape, which they traditionally use to appear as humans. In their human forms, they have been described as highly pious Muslims, with beards and modest coverings; fulfilling both obligatory and optional requirements.

Gender too is controversial. Some verses of the Qur’an suggest that the angels are not females at all — although this is part of the literal interpretation — but numerous other different readings/translations posit that those verses are strictly to reprimand the kufar, not give basic anatomical statements. Later on, after the Arabic expansion to Central Asia and Persia, Peris were often associated with angels as their female counterparts but this is an outside conflation of two distinct religions. Whether there are female angels or not, that matter is rendered as indallah (close/near to Allah Ta’ala, signifying that man has no answer to it). However, the important angels have been addressed as “he”.

They taught him letters, and his eager mind

With learning was illumined. The world was blest

With quiet and repose, Peris and Demons

Submitting to his will

Source: Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh

I could also discuss their numbers but that is just as hard. A hadith about the Miraj & Isra (the Nightly Journey of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to Heaven and Back), mentions that every day 70,000 angels visit the Bait-al-Mamur — the “Frequented House” that functions as the heavenly counterpart to the Ka’ba in Mecca/Makkah — never to return to it again. Each day new angels would go visit it. In other hadith, it is mentioned that at a distance of two fingers, there is an angel from here to Sidrat-al-Muntaha (the Lote/Sidr Tree of the highest plausible point for any created being). Science has gone to prove that the universe is ever-expanding which some scientific Muslims have taken to mean that this expansion applies to our “sky”; the first of the seven ones, insinuating that the number of angels is immeasurable.

I should mention that psychological interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunnah, specifically done by those who were influenced by Neo-platonism, see the angels as abstract entities embodying the “good” of humans rather than physical beings. In this case, they are contrasted with the jinns, as the latter denote the “evil” of humanity; categorized as moral evil, natural evil (essentially natural disasters), and horrific evils (rape, homicide, etcetera). Contrast this to literalist Islam, which views philosophy and especially psychology in religion as heretical and wrong — this may be untrue for some but I speak from experience.

Let’s start with Seraphim. In Islam, they are commonly related to the “Bearers of the Throne”, eight mighty angels (the number eight is fixed according to the Qur’an). Others compare them to the angels that circumambulate around the Throne or Arsh of Allah Ta’ala. According to a hadith it is reported that they were ginormous in size. The distance between one’s ear-lobe and neck was comparable to the distance covered in a seven-hundred-year-long journey; given the time period, this may apply to either travel on foot or on horseback.

One of the most interesting examples is that of the Bearers of the Throne (hamlat al-arsh), who are associated with two forms; the first is that of the four-faced angel, which is derived from the Jewish hayyot (‘living creatures’) that bear the Throne or Chariot of God; the second is that the four Bearers of the Throne are in the form of a mountain goat {wail). In Judaism, the hayyot takes the forms of a bull, a lion, a human, and an eagle. The use of animal-angels in the imagery of God’s Throne may have its antecedents in pagan deities, but, in Judaism and Christianity, the four hayyot came to represent the whole of creation, as Richard Bauckham comments: ‘Their representative function is to worship on behalf of all creatures, and therefore it is fulfilled when the circle of worship expands to include not only humans but “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea” (5:13).’ There are six hadith in Al-Haba’ik that describe the Bearers of the Throne in these zoological forms, although, amongst these, there is no consensus, as four state that each angel has four faces and the other two that there are four different angels with one single form. One of the hadith alludes to the idea that the four angelic forms refer to creation as a whole:

Source: Angels in Islam: Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti’s al-Haba’ik fi akhbar al-mala’ik

They allegedly have six wings as well, but the part I’d like to highlight is the pagan imagery. During the age of antiquity, when the practice of drawing religious figures took hold — Persia in particular was the hub of such images, just as it had been to the earlier Zoroastrian ban on visualizing Ahura Mazda and Zarathustra; they do it with the latter rather than the former — angels and even the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) were drawn. Of course, this is a major sin in Islam, however, as the text claims, they were drawn with therian characteristics, mostly the faces. Their wings were of a multitude of colors, forming a rainbow, owing to the importance light had gained in the teachings of Imam Ghazali and Ibn ‘Arabi. This may also be due to the following two hadith, whose validity is somewhat *debated*, but they may be considered to be Sahih.

God Almighty has permitted me to speak on the authority of a rooster whose legs have spread across the earth, and whose neck is bent under the throne, and he says: Glory be to You, how great you are, our Lord. Then he responds to him: He who swore by me did not know that

Mentioned by Al-Mundhiri in Al-Targheeb

Permission is given for me to narrate about a king whose feet touched the seventh earth, and the throne was on his shoulders, and he said: Glory be to You, where have you been? And where are you?

Narrated by Abu Ya’la on the authority of Abu Hurairah.

This may clear your answer on the seraphim. As for the cherubs, classical confusion has them be pinned for the karubiyan (archangels: Jibrael, Mika’il, Israfil, and Izra’il/Azra’il (A.S)) due to their shared physical characteristics with the cherubims, however, I think that they are better placed in a separate category of their own. It’s hard to jot down how one would have them be listed. For instance, two of the karubiyan (Hazrat Mika’il and Hazrat Israfil) have been physically undescribed save for the general characteristics of angels. Hazrat Izra’il is slightly controversial as some are of the view that there is no singular angel of death, rather there exists a group of them known as the malakul maut (Angel of Death — here it is used for the group). My Qari (a person who teaches the Qur’an. In Pakistan this has been observed as a profession that functions as home tutelage) from five years ago, told me that Hazrat Izra’il has six or nine hundred arms, with “a stride capable of reaching East to West”. I have yet to find any source for the parts not in quotation.

Secondly, it has been observed that many traditions claim that the Angel of Death appears to a good man as what he loves the most and does so as the most feared thing of a bad person. In short, there is no fixed state. As for Hazrat Jibrael/Jibreel (A.S), the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) saw his true form twice, from what I’m aware of, describing it as having six hundred wings, large enough to cover the East and the West. A few claim that his wings were similar to those of a peacock, colorful and vibrant adding to the rainbow wing tradition I mentioned above.

Ibn Mas‘ūd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported, in relation to the verse: {And he certainly saw him in another descent} [Sūrat An-Najm: 13], that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I saw Jibrīl at the Lote Tree having six hundred wings, and there were multi-colored pearls and rubies falling from his wings.”

Source: Ahmad in al-Masnad

Narrated Aisha (RA), the mother of the believers that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said, “That is Jibreel; I never saw him in the form in which Allah created him except on these two occasions. I saw him descending from the heavens, with his huge size filling the horizon between the heaven and the earth.”

Source: Sahih Muslim

(While he was in the highest part of the horizon.) meaning, Jibril rose to the highest part of the horizon, according to Ikrimah and several others;Ikrimah said, “The highest horizon where the morning comes from.’’ Mujahid said, “It is (the place of) sunrise.’’ Qatadah said, “That from which the day comes.’’ Ibn Zayd and several others said similarly. Imam Ahmad recorded that Abdullah bin Masud said, “The Messenger of Allah saw Jibril in his original shape having six hundred wings, each wing filling the side of the horizon, with a colorful array and pearls and rubies falling from each wing as much as only Allah knows.’’ Only Imam Ahmad collected this Hadith. Imam Ahmad recorded thatAbdullah bin Abbas said, “The Prophet asked Jibril to appear himself to him in his original shape and Jibril said to him,Invoke your Lord.’ The Prophet invoked his Lord the Exalted and Most Honored, and a great huge figure appeared to him from the east and kept rising and spreading. When the Prophet saw Jibril in his original shape, he was knocked unconscious. Jibril came down and revived the Prophet and wiped the saliva off of his cheeks.’’’ Only Ahmad collected this Hadith.

Source: A commentatory/tafsir of Qur’an 53:17

What this implies is that the karubiyan were if anything not cherubims. This definition can then be extended to other angels such as Maalik, the keeper of Jahanum or Hell. Of course, we could always turn to Shiite Islam. I am no expert on it, but I’ve seen that within the ʾIsmāʿīlīyah or Ismailism, there are seven unique angels called the Cherubs. These are more akin to embodiments of abstract concepts not unlike the Amesha Spentas in Zoroastrianism. Interestingly, the similarity between them and the Amesha Spentas is profound; both are embodiments of holy attributes associated with the respective Divine.

After the creation of Qadar, the command is given to the seven cherubim] the twelve spiritual beings (see below for these), and the six hudud to abase themselves and bow down before Qadar and thereby confess the latter’s superior rank over their’s. All do so except one proud member of the hudud (hadd wahid) whose name is given, in esoteric lettering, as Iblis and who considers himself to be superior to Qadar. Because of the parallelism between what appears in the heavenly world and the lower world, which will be commented upon further on, the story of Iblis and Qadar constitutes a cosmic paradigm for the story of Adam and Iblis in the Garden.

It is Küni who has been responsible for the production, from the light between itself and Qadar, of these seven archangels or Cherubim (karubiyya) endowed with the esoteric names (asma’ barina) of al-’Azama (Majesty), al-’Izza (Glory), al-Huda (Right Guidance), al-Baha’ (Magnificence), al-Ra’fa (Mercy), al-Amr (Command) and al-Mu’tamar (Counsel). Particularly significant for Ismå’ilism here are the number of angels, seven because the total number of Arabic letters in Küni and Qadar is seven, and the idea of esoteric names. The significance and function of the angels themselves, however, is something of a mystery. If the karubiyya constitute the fourth tier of creation after Küni, the hudud and Qadar, then the spiritual beings (ruhaniyya) may be said to provide the fifth (and last in the spiritual world): these are created by Qadar from its own light. Eleven are actually named, though it appears that there should actually be twelve: al-Jadd, al-Fath, al-Khayal, al-Nasr, Ridwan, Mälik, Malakút, Munkar, Nakir, al-Jabarût, and al-Kibriya’. The list contains an odd mixture of the familiar (e.g. Munkar and Nakir) and the unfamiliar (al-Jadd) in Islamic angelology, and the absence of Gabriel, Michael, and Israfil has been commented upon though Stern points out that later Ismaili texts did identify this latter trilogy with some of the names in the above list. And the importance of these 11–12 spiritual beings is considerably more than that of the Ehernhim? the latter simply exist; the former function as intermediaries (wasd’it) between their creator Qadar and the prophetic speakers (al-nutaqa’) who inaugurate each of the seven eras of earthly history.”

Source: Allāh transcendent: studies in the structure and semiotics of Islamic philosophy, theology, and cosmology.

A chart from the aforementioned book.

Unfortunately, this is where I’ll be ending this. I cannot find anything remotely similar to the ophanim, so pursuing that direction is pointless. I hope this helps. Have a nice day!