What do Muslims believe about angels?

Muslims believe in angels (malāʾika, ملائكة) as one of the pillars of faith. Angels are beings Allah created from light. They worship Him without tiring, carry His revelation to the prophets, guard every human being, record each person’s deeds, and ask Allah to forgive the people of the earth. The closing verses of Sūrat al-Baqarah describe the faith of the Prophet ﷺ and the believers:

كُلٌّ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَمَلَـٰٓئِكَتِهِۦ وَكُتُبِهِۦ وَرُسُلِهِۦ

“Each of them believes in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers.”

Quran 2:285

When Jibril came to the Prophet ﷺ in the form of a man and asked what faith is, the Prophet ﷺ named belief in Allah, His angels, the meeting with Him, His messengers, and the Resurrection (Sahih al-Bukhari 50). See What are the six articles of faith?

What are angels made of in Islam?

The Prophet ﷺ described the three kinds of beings with speech and understanding:

«خُلِقَتِ الْمَلاَئِكَةُ مِنْ نُورٍ وَخُلِقَ الْجَانُّ مِنْ مَارِجٍ مِنْ نَارٍ وَخُلِقَ آدَمُ مِمَّا وُصِفَ لَكُمْ»

“The angels were created from light, the jinn from a smokeless flame of fire, and Adam from what has been described to you.”

Sahih Muslim 2996

Angels do not eat or drink: the angels who visited Abraham (peace be upon him) left his meal untouched (11:70). The Quran calls them “honored servants” (21:26) who “do not disobey Allah in what He commands them” (66:6). It describes them with wings, “two, three, or four,” and adds that Allah “increases in creation as He wills” (35:1). Angels can also appear in human form: Jibril came to Mary “in the form of a well-made man” (19:17).

Are angels male or female?

Angels have no sex. The pagan Arabs called the angels the daughters of Allah, and the Quran answers them: “They have made the angels, who are servants of the All-Merciful, into females. Did they witness their creation?” (Quran 43:19). Muslim theologians concluded that angels neither marry nor bear children. The masculine grammar used for them in Arabic is a matter of language, as it is for Allah, who is beyond gender (Does Allah have a gender?).

What are the names of the angels in Islam?

The Quran and the sound hadith name only a few angels:

• Jibril (Gabriel), who brought the Quran down upon the Prophet’s ﷺ heart (2:97). The Quran also calls him “the Trustworthy Spirit” (26:193).
• Mikaʾil (Michael), named beside Jibril in 2:98.
• Israfil, named in the Prophet’s ﷺ night-prayer duʿāʾ (Sahih Muslim 770).
• The angel of death (malak al-mawt), “who has been put in charge of you” (32:11). The name ʿIzrāʾīl, common in later writing, appears in neither the Quran nor the major hadith collections.
• Mālik, the keeper of the fire (43:77).
• Munkar and Nakīr, the two angels who question the dead in the grave (Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi 1071, graded hasan by al-Albani). For what follows death, see What happens after death in Islam?

Do Muslims believe in guardian angels?

Every person is accompanied. The Quran says:

لَهُۥ مُعَقِّبَٰتٞ مِّنۢ بَيۡنِ يَدَيۡهِ وَمِنۡ خَلۡفِهِۦ يَحۡفَظُونَهُۥ مِنۡ أَمۡرِ ٱللَّهِ

“Each person has angels in succession, before them and behind them, who guard them by Allah’s command.”

Quran 13:11

Alongside these guardians are “noble scribes” who know what we do (82:10–12), one on the right and one on the left, recording every word (50:17–18). Many Muslims call them Raqīb and ʿAtīd, from the words “watchful” and “ready” in 50:18.

The record they keep is weighted toward mercy. The Prophet ﷺ taught that a good deed intended is written as a complete good deed, a good deed done is written ten to seven hundred times over, and a wrong intended and then abandoned is also written as a good deed (Sahih al-Bukhari 6491).

Do angels pray for human beings?

They do. The angels who carry the Throne pray for the believers:

ٱلَّذِينَ يَحۡمِلُونَ ٱلۡعَرۡشَ وَمَنۡ حَوۡلَهُۥ يُسَبِّحُونَ بِحَمۡدِ رَبِّهِمۡ وَيُؤۡمِنُونَ بِهِۦ وَيَسۡتَغۡفِرُونَ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْۖ رَبَّنَا وَسِعۡتَ كُلَّ شَيۡءٖ رَّحۡمَةٗ وَعِلۡمٗا

“Those who carry the Throne, and those around it, glorify their Lord with praise, believe in Him, and ask forgiveness for those who believe: ‘Our Lord, You embrace all things in mercy and knowledge.’”

Quran 40:7

Another verse widens the circle: the angels “ask forgiveness for those on earth” (42:5), every one of them. The Prophet ﷺ described angels who travel the roads looking for gatherings where Allah is remembered. Allah forgives everyone present, even a passer-by on an errand: “They are the company whose companion is never left wretched” (Sahih al-Bukhari 6408).

Can angels disobey Allah, and was Iblis an angel?

The angels fear their Lord and do what they are commanded (16:50), so most scholars hold that they do not sin. They can ask questions: when Allah announced a successor (khalīfa) on earth, they asked why, and Allah answered, “I know what you do not know” (2:30). Then He commanded them to bow before Adam, a sign of human dignity (2:34).

Iblis refused. The Quran explains that he “was one of the jinn” (18:50), and the stronger view is that he was never an angel by nature, though he was among them when the command came. The beings with free will are humans and jinn (What are jinn?).

How should belief in angels shape a Muslim’s life?

The angels are servants of mercy. After the people of Taif drove the Prophet ﷺ away, Jibril came with the angel of the mountains, who offered to crush the town between its two mountains. The Prophet ﷺ refused and said he hoped Allah would bring from their descendants people who would worship Him alone (Sahih al-Bukhari 3231). The angels stood ready, and the Prophet ﷺ chose mercy.

On Laylat al-Qadr the angels descend with every decree (97:4). A Muslim who knows this prays in good company: no gathering of remembrance is empty, and no good intention goes unwritten.

The Prophet ﷺ opened his night prayer by calling on Allah as the Lord of the angels:

«اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ جِبْرَائِيلَ وَمِيكَائِيلَ وَإِسْرَافِيلَ فَاطِرَ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ عَالِمَ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ»

“O Allah, Lord of Jibril, Mikaʾil and Israfil, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen.”

Sahih Muslim 770

May Allah make us among those for whom the angels pray, and gather us in the company of those who remember Him.