Angels in Islam: Their Nature and Duties

A look at angels in Islamic teaching, drawn from the Quran and authentic hadith.

Islamic teaching describes a category of creation most people never perceive directly: the angels, malaika, created from light, described in a hadith recorded in Sahih Muslim as fundamentally different in substance from both humanity, created from clay, and the jinn, created from smokeless fire. Belief in their existence is not treated as optional folklore but as one of the six fixed articles of Islamic faith.

Created Only to Obey

Surah at-Tahrim describes angels as those who “do not disobey Allah in what He commands them, and do as they are commanded” (66:6) – a description scholars read as marking a fundamental difference between angels and human beings, since humans were given the capacity to choose disobedience while angels, in the standard theological understanding, were not built with that same capacity to rebel.

Jibreel: The Bearer of Revelation

Among the named angels, Jibreel holds the most prominent role in Islamic teaching, described in Surah ash-Shu’ara as “the trustworthy spirit” who brought the Quran down upon the Prophet’s ﷺ heart (26:193-194). He is identified in Surah al-Baqarah (2:97) as the one who brought revelation by Allah’s permission, and hadith describe him appearing to the Prophet ﷺ both in his true angelic form and disguised as a man, as in the well-known Hadith of Jibreel recorded in Sahih Muslim.

Mikail, Israfil, and the Angel of Death

Mikail is named directly in Surah al-Baqarah (2:98) alongside Jibreel, and classical scholarship associates him with provision and rainfall. Israfil, though not named explicitly in the Quran, is described in hadith as the angel tasked with blowing the trumpet that signals the Day of Judgment, referenced in Surah az-Zumar (39:68). Malak al-Mawt, the Angel of Death, appears in Surah as-Sajdah (32:11), tasked with taking souls at the appointed time set for each person.

The Recording Angels

Surah al-Infitar describes noble recorders assigned to every person, who know whatever is done (82:10-12) – understood in classical exegesis as the two angels, one on each shoulder, who record a person’s good and bad deeds throughout their life, forming the record that will be presented on the Day of Judgment.

Angels That Accompany Ordinary Worship

Beyond these named roles, hadith describe angels present in more everyday contexts – a hadith recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim describes angels who rotate in shift, some present at Fajr prayer and others at Asr, gathering specifically to witness these two prayers, and another hadith describes angels attending gatherings where Allah is remembered, surrounding those present and covering them, as recorded in Sahih Muslim. This pattern – angels present at prayer, at gatherings of remembrance, and recording deeds continuously – is part of why classical scholarship treats belief in the angels as shaping not just abstract creed but a person’s awareness of being observed even in solitude.

Munkar and Nakir: The Questioning in the Grave

Among the roles hadith assign to specific angels, none is more consistently discussed in classical works on the afterlife than that of Munkar and Nakir, two angels described as visiting every person in their grave shortly after burial to question them about their Lord, their religion, and the Prophet ﷺ sent to them. A hadith recorded by al-Tirmidhi describes their appearance as deliberately unsettling, and their questions as the first stage of the accountability that continues on through the Day of Judgment itself. Scholars have treated belief in this questioning as inseparable from belief in the angels more broadly, since it illustrates a consistent theme running through everything the Quran and hadith describe about them: unlike jinn, whose intentions toward human beings can be unclear or even hostile, angels are described as acting only within the bounds Allah has set for them, whether the task assigned is recording a deed, guarding a person through the night, or questioning a soul at the very moment it might feel most alone.

For a closely related topic, see our discussion of Belief in the Divine Books in Islam. For further primary-source reading, Sunnah.com offers searchable access to the full text of the Quran and its major hadith collections.