Subomi Adeleye 9W

‘Belief in angels shows no impact on the life of

Muslims today’
Some people may agree with the statement because they may believe that believing in
something has no link to actually doing anything about it. Angels may seem like a belief and
nothing else to people. A belief and a practice aren’t the same thing – belief is just you
acknowledging something is true whilst a practice is physically doing something. This means
that although people believe in angels they may not practice any good deeds as angels may
encourage them to do. Therefore, a belief in angels themselves may not have any impact on
Muslims and rather the thing that would have an influence is an actual practice.

Others may disagree to this previous opinion because they may believe some angels do
influence how some people may act. For example, the recorders of deeds, Karamen Katibin,
record your good and bad deeds on each shoulder; if the bad outweighs the good you go to
hell and if it’s vice versa then you go to heaven. This would drive them towards good deeds
and would make sure Muslims go around doing good deeds. Also the angel Azrael (The
Angel of Death) will rip your soul out of your body painfully if you have been a bad person,
however, if you’ve been a good person, the soul is described as being separated ‘like a drop
of water dripping from a glass’. This would also drive a Muslim towards good attitudes and
would impact their day-to-day life as they try and go around living life as it tells them to in the
Qur’an.

Some people may agree because they may argue that it’s not the belief in angels that
impacts Muslims lives today but rather Allah. Some may be fearful of him and because an
enemy of the angels is an enemy of Allah they may be scared of the consequences of that
decision because it is stated in the Qur’an 2:98,“Whoever is an enemy of God or his angels
or his apostles or Jibril or Mika’il, verily God is an enemy of the unbelievers”. They may say
that a belief in angels is merely a by-product of worshipping their god and trying to please
him as best as they can.

Others may think that since angels are one of the six articles of faith of the Muslim religion –
they will actually influence the way people think. For example, angels are represented as
beings that are often able to be present during prayer and some Muslims believe they take
their prayers directly to Allah and so they may try and pray more to get a more direct
approach to talking to Allah as it isn’t physically possible for humans to directly communicate
with him as stated in al-Shura 51, “It is not fitting for a man that Allah should speak to him
except by inspiration or from behind a veil or by the sending of a Messenger to reveal with
Allah's permission what Allah wills, for He is Most High Most Wise”. In fact, many Muslims
acknowledge their guardian angels before praying or will recite verses about them. This
shows that although a belief in angels may not be shown in a Muslim’s public life it may be
an active part in their private life.

Personally, I agree with this statement. Even though I don’t share the same religion I can
acknowledge the fact that beliefs sometimes structure a practice. As I am not a Muslim
myself, I cannot possibly know what a Muslim’s belief in angels can do for them in their
everyday life. However being a Christian that went to a Catholic primary school, I can see
 Subomi Adeleye 9W

how people may take extra time to acknowledge angels or figures in their religion – as many
Catholics do this as well with Virgin Mary;.