Belief in angels and its significance
I have now briefly indicated the three fundamental principles of a Muslim’s faith, but I may further add that belief in the “unseen” also includes a belief in those agencies which we call angels. This belief, though common to many religions, is not as widely accepted as the three principles explained above, and therefore a few remarks relating to the truth underlying this belief will not be out of place here. In the physical world we find it as established law that we stand in need of external agents, notwithstanding the faculties and powers within us. The eye has been given to us to see things, and it does see them, but not without the help of external light. The ear receives the sound, but independently of the agency of air it cannot serve that purpose. Man, therefore, essentially stands in need of something besides what is within him, and as in the physical, so also in the spiritual world.
Just as our physical faculties are not by themselves sufficient to enable us to attain any object in the physical world without the assistance of other agents, so our own spiritual powers cannot by themselves lead us to do good or evil deeds; but here too, intermediaries which have an existence independent of our internal spiritual powers are necessary to enable us to do good or evil deeds. In other words, there are two attractions placed in the nature of man: the attraction to good or to rise up to higher spheres of virtue, and the attraction to evil, or to stoop down to a kind of low, bestial life; but to bring these attractions into operation external agencies are needed, as they are needed in the case of the physical powers of man. The external agency which brings the attraction to good into work is called an angel, and that which assists in the working of the attraction to evil is called the devil. If we respond to the attraction for good, we are following the Holy Spirit, and if we respond to the attraction for evil, we are following the Satan. The real significance of belief in angels is, therefore, that we should follow the inviter to good or the attraction for good which is placed within us.
Belief as basis for action
The above remarks explain not only the significance of a Muslim’s belief in angels, but also the meaning underlying the very word belief. Belief, according to Islam, is not only a conviction of the truth of a given proposition, but it is essentially the acceptance of a proposition as the basis for action. As already shown, the proposition of the existence of the devils is as true as that of the existence of the angels; but while belief in angels is again and again mentioned as part of a Muslim’s faith, nowhere are we required to believe in the devils. Both facts are equally true, and the Holy Quran speaks on numerous occasions of the misleadings and insinuations of the devils, but while it requires belief in the angels, it does not require belief in the devils. If belief in angels were only an equivalent to an admission of their existence, belief in devils was an equal necessity. But it is not so. The reason is that whereas man is required to accept and follow the call of the inviter to good, he is required not to follow the call of the inviter to evil, and therefore, as the former gives a basis for action which the latter does not, we believe in the angels but not in the devils. On the other hand, the Holy Quran requires disbelief in the devils:
“So whoever disbelieves in the devil and believes in God, he indeed lays hold on the firmest handle” (2:256).
It can thus be seen that the principles of belief enumerated above, as given in the Holy Quran, are really principles each of which serves as the basis for action, and no other belief is known to Islam. The word Allah — the Arabic word for God — indicates that Being Who possesses all the perfect attributes, and when a Muslim is required to believe in Allah, he is really required to make himself the possessor of all those attributes of perfection. The belief in Divine revelation makes him accept and imitate all the good that is met with in the lives of righteous men, and the belief in the hereafter is equivalent to the recognition of the principle of accountability for one’s actions.