What Are Angels

[Sufi Med]

Angelic Power !

What are Angels
Online Link : http://nurmuhammad.com/Meditation/Angelic/naqshbandiwhatisAngelicpower.htm


By : Shaykh Hisham Kabbani Angels Unveiled


A’udhu bi-wajhi-llahil-karim wa bi-kalimati-llahi-t-tammat-allati la
yujawizuhunna barrun wa la fajir, min sharri ma yanzilu min-as-sama’i
wa ma ya’ruju fiha wa min sharri ma yakhruju minha wa min fitan-il-
layli wa-n-nahari wa min tawariq-il-layli wa-n-nahari illa tariqan
yatruku bi-khayrin, ya Rahman!

(I seek refuge in the gracious nature of my Lord Allah, and in the
perfection of the Divine Word which neither the righteous nor the
transgressor is able to breach, from the evil which descends from the
sky and that which rises up to it; and from the evil which comes forth
from the sky; and from the tribulations of the night and the day, and
from all the calamities of night and day, except for those that result
in benefit, oh Lord of Mercy!)

“When this Du’a was recited, the fire of this Ifrit died down and the
creature ceased to exist.


Introduction: What Are Angels?
Angels are the hope of humanity. They are the source of light
and the energy of creation. They are the beacons for every seeker,
the oasis in every desert,
the waves in every ocean,
the spring of every river,
the crystal in every diamond. They are
the dew from heaven on every leaf. They are
the life in every drop of blood in animate beings,
the motion behind every living cell. They are
the driving force of constellations
and galaxies.
They are the stars
and suns
and moons in every firmament.
The universes swim in their orbits. They are the superpowers known
by all traditions, beliefs,
and philosophies.

It is universally known, based on these sources, that God created the
angels to carry out His orders and transmit the messages that pertain
to human beings. Angels are honored, subtle beings created from light
who serve their Lord. They exemplify the qualities of perfection,
obedience, and dedication. They can take any form they like at any
time and place. They carry unlimited miraculous powers through which
they can reach anyone in the blink of an eye to help and to heal, to
serve and to console, to love and to be loved.



Angels take any form they wish in the physical world. As crystal water
takes the form of the cup in which it is poured, angels can take the
form of any creation which they visit. They do not retain their full
original form of light when they are sent to human beings: "Say: If
there were in the earth angels walking secure, We had sent down for
them from heaven an angel [without change] as messenger" (17:95).
Angels can come as birds, as human beings, or as a form of light like
a rainbow adorning the sky. They have a mind and a heart, but no will
and no desire other than to serve and obey God. They are never too
proud to obey Him.



Angels worship day and night without fatigue. They do not need to
sleep, as their eyes never tire. They know no heedlessness. Their
attention never wavers. Their food is glorification of God, their
drink is to sanctify and to magnify Him. Their intimacy is in calling
their Lord through hymning and singing His praise. Their enjoyment is
to serve Him. They are devoid of any and all physiological restraints.
They suffer no mood-changes.



Angels inhabit Paradise and the seven heavens. They worship more than
human beings because they came before them and they have greater and
more powerful faculties than they. They are more pious than human
beings because they are innocent and unable to fall into mistakes or
wrongdoings. They never ask forgiveness for themselves but always for
human beings. This shows us how much they care for us and to what
extent God created them to look after us. God made them our guardians
because a guardian is more perfect than the one he guards.

Angels are more knowledgeable than human beings. The teacher, again,
is better than the student. Their knowledge is of two kinds:
intellectual and traditional. "Intellectual" means here: "of the
essence of reality" or "of the heart." "Traditional" means: "revealed
and translated down from above."



Intellectual knowledge is a must, such as knowledge about God and His
attributes. It is impossible for angels, the prophets, and pious
people to fail to possess it. They have no excuse in failing to know
it. The knowledge that is not obligatory is the way in which God has
created the wonders of creation, such as knowledge of the Throne, of
the Pen, of Paradise, Hell and Heavens. In addition there is the
knowledge of the different kinds of angels, human beings, the
inhabitants of the earth on the ground, under the ground, in the air,
and under the sea. In the latter kind of knowledge angels are
undoubtedly more versed than human beings. This is because they were
created long before them: angels accompanied the entire process of
creation of the universes as well as that of human beings. They are
also more familiar with that knowledge because of their God-given
vision and hearing. But such knowledge is only attainable to those who
have purified their heart and vision among human beings.



As for traditional knowledge, it is the prophetic knowledge that
cannot be known by human beings without benefit of revelation. Only
angels are able to bring that kind of knowledge to them. They were
indeed the intermediary between God and human beings in that respect.
Furthermore, it is possible that they are the continuous
intermediaries of the events of the Last Day, after having been those
of past and present events up to the Last Prophet, Muhammad, Peace be
upon him. They are knowledgeable in the traditions that particularly
regard them and with which God has entrusted them. That is the reason
why angels are far more knowledgeable than human beings and carry six
kinds of perfect attributes:



They are messengers from the divine presence;

are noble in God's sight;

They have been empowered by God with a power rendering them capable of
pure obedience;

are well-regarded and firmly established in the Divine Presence;

They are obeyed in the earthly world;

are trustworthy in receiving, keeping, and delivering the revelation.



The perfect state of human beings can no doubt never be achieved until
the angelic power is linked with it. By God's permission, angels
monopolize that angelic power which enlightens any human individual
that connects with it. The perfection of human beings, therefore,
depends on the capacity to annihilate the human soul in the crucible
of the angels. The conclusion of this process is described in the
Koranic verse: "Thou soul in complete rest and satisfaction! Return
unto thy Lord, accepted and accepting! Enter thou among my servants
(angels), and enter thou my Garden!" (89:27-30)



According to that verse, God causes the spirit of human beings to
enter the throng of the angels first, then Paradise. A condition of
entering Paradise is to receive angelic greetings and revelation, at
which time one enters it as a spirit endowed with angelic attributes.
God then makes of such spirits messengers for His continuous
creations; they are granted the happiness of living in Paradise and
enjoying the sight of their Lord. God made the greetings of angels
necessary for human beings when their spirits enter into the angelic
power. This is to elevate them to a higher state and produce for them
a great happiness. Therefore, without the heavenly input of angels,
the spirit of human beings cannot reach everlasting happiness.

The contribution of the angels to human happiness is derived from
their perfection. Angels are free from any kind of anger, illusion,
imagination, or delusion. This characteristic gives them the power to
be in the divine presence and under God's divine light. It is because
of these shortcomings that human beings are prevented from being in
the divine presence. Because perfection resides only in the state of
reaching the divine presence, only angels can properly be said to have
the attribute of perfection among created beings.

The spiritual dimensions of angels have different aspects.

The angel is a sublime luminescence.

His knowledge is perfect and complete because he knows the secret of
the unseen and

is acquainted with the hidden secrets of creation.

His knowledge is real, active, and continuous.

The action of the angel is genuine because angels are committed to
serve and their commitment is perfectly carried through.



Angels inhabit the seven moving planets, the polestar, and all the
fixed stars of every other galaxy.

Orbits are like their bodies whose hearts are the planets.

The movements of these planets in their orbits is the principle of the
changes on this planet earth.

The movements of angels in this universe has an influence on the
states of human beings on this earth.

From the movements of these angels, by God's order, the connection is
made between the movements of galaxies.

The transmission of signals even millions of light-years away from us
affect the states of human nature.

The heavenly world thus always holds sway over the earthly world.



God created the sun from the angelic light. It allows this world to
see everything of the material objects that were previously wrapped in
darkness. Without that light of the sun nothing can be seen.



The latter always shines and reflects on the moon like a mirror so
that it appears like a shining body. In the same way human beings,
though they are inscribed by an angelic power, darken themselves
through the oppression of their ego. Never theless, they are in a
position to be always shining, and shining far more radiantly than the
moon.



The moon possesses nothing of the light of the sun by itself; it only
reflects at best. The main power belongs to the sun. Similarly, God
has placed and organized in every orbit of the heavens, skies,
galaxies, planets, and Paradises a creation differing from one orbit
to another. They act like mirrors that reflect the light of the angels
from the divine presence.



These celestial phenomena extend that angelic light, mirror-like, for
the benefit of human beings and other creations. That light is "made
subject" (musakhkhara) to whatever is needed by creation. That light
is the source of the angelic power, the very angelic power itself.
Indeed, it is the substance of goodness and benefits every place of
creation.



As the angels move in the divine presence, their lights move in and
upon the orbits which God created to be governed by them. Angelic
powers affect the movements and contents of these orbits. Since these
orbits reflect angelic lights upon earth, we see how human beings can
in turn be affected by the movements of orbits in their lives. Angelic
lights also affect feelings, moods, manners, and actions.



The elements and qualities of human beings and other created objects
on earth vary according to their respective distances from the sources
of angelic power. Hence we find differences between human beings, even
though their bodies are similar. This is because they differ in
respect to their connections with angels. The differences are not
really in bodies but in the human beings' spiritual attributes and
characteristics.



Human beings carry from childhood either the characteristics of
goodness and holiness, or those of evil and wrongdoing. That is a very
real picture of the spiritual "dress" of human beings and their
hierarchies: one receives an angelic power while the other does not.
This is what makes one better than the other, just as diamonds excel
emeralds, which are better than sapphire, which is better than rubies.
All these are rare jewels but they vary in exellence. For all these
jewels are more precious than gold. Gold is more precious than silver
and silver is more precious than iron. The latter ends up as scrap
while the others are always kept as valuable elements.



Light is better than darkness. The transparent is better than the
opaque. The subtle is better than the dense. The enlightened person is
better than the one in darkness. The beautiful is better than the
ugly. The one calling to goodness is better than the one calling to
evil. The shy, courageous, generous, patient one is better than the
one who carries hatred, enmity, darkness, evil, greed, and stinginess.
All the above-mentioned characteristics depend on the nearness or
farness of their respective bearers to the sources of angelic power.



Therefore, in this world the human spirit is a sign pointing dimly to
the perfection of the higher world. It is like the light of the candle
in relation to the light of the sun, or a small drop in relation to
the ocean. Angelic light is the means of visibility of light on earth,
both material and spiritual. We know about the sun from its rays.
Similarly, we know about God from the creations of the heavens and the
earth, the perception of which is brought about by the shining of
angelic light upon them and their expression through revelation by
that light. There is no darkness for us deeper than the non-existence
of angelic light. There is no light of God more expressive for us than
the angelic light. The appearance of each single thing is the result
of this light, just as the existence of each thing proceeds from its
existence. In this way God preserves creation through the light of the
angels.





Human beings are themselves like a veil or eclipse of the angelic
light. That is, they eclipse the angelic light which eclipses the
light of God. Thus you can see the attributes of the Creator through
His wonderful creations. This is the meaning of the Prophet's saying:
"Think of the creations of God. Do not think of His essence."



The spirits of human beings can be described as atoms inside the
heavenly world and their bodies as the houses of their spirits. Now,
the house has a state and the inhabitant of the house has a state
distinct from the first state.

It is clear to us that the inhabitant is more honorable than the
house, for the greatness of the house depends on its inhabitant.
{ What makes Kabbah is Muhammad {S}}

These human spirits are an actual part of the angelic spirits.

That is why the condition of entry into Paradise for the soul of a
dying person is that it be accepted into the angelic realm first, as
we have said. That is also why the human spirit is qualified to
receive transmission from the angelic powers, as the satellite dish is
made to receive transmission from the main station.

To the extent that these individuals are connected to the angelic
powers, they become undoubtedly more and more important to other human
beings on earth. However, human bodies remain a compound of many
different elements mixed together. The bodies of angels, on the other
hand, are only made of light from the divine presence. It is important
to know that this difference never goes away in the material world.
That is why the angels prefer to support the spirits of the bodies of
prophets. For the prophetic spirits have elevated their bodily
receptacles to the point where they acquire all manners of gnosis and
spiritual states. These in turn enable them to become beacons of light
spreading heavenly gifts and carrying God's message to His creation.
All these relations between angels and prophets, saints and pious
people, obtain by God's will and His permission.



Angels are honored because of their knowledge and status as
inhabitants of Paradise and recipients of God's satisfaction. They
always look at their Lord and seeing nothing but their Lord. As we
said previously, the inhabitant is more important than the body it
inhabits. This is evident in the fact that the Prophets are more
precious than their mothers, although they inhabited their mothers'
wombs. The status goes to the prophets, not to their mothers, because
of the prophets' greater connection to the angelic powers. As an
illustration we may say that the spirit of Jesus is better than his
mother's body, and similarly that the spirit of the Messenger of God
(Muhammad) is better than his mother's body.



When God created creation, He said: "Lord of the heavens and the earth
and all that is between them, the Beneficent; with Whom none can
converse. On the day when the angels and the Spirit stand arrayed,
they speak not, saving him whom the Beneficent alloweth and who
speaketh right." (78:37-38) God shows in these words that the angels
are from among His greatest creations. They stand second to him and
they are His messengers of revelation sent to His prophets. He has
honored them by letting them reveal the astounding knowledge in two
ways: spiritually and phenomenally. He reveals it spiritually by
letting prophets bring such knowledge in heavenly books and thereby
guide others to the faith and honorable manners characteristic of the
servants of God. He reveals it phenomenally by inspiring the hearts of
humankind to investigate and discover the visible world and accumulate
empirical data. Hence, they achieve the most sophisticated technology
that can possibly be reached by them in every given century.



This opens another window into understanding the role of angels among
human beings. Scientists are actually using the energies that radiate
from the angels on this earth to build up technological knowledge. By
use of angelic energy they achieve a perfect mode of living:
educating, helping, and healing those in need.

Spiritual people use the angelic power as a path of discovery for
different purposes. They use this power in the knowledge that it is
special grant from God.

He gives them a sacred and noble trust that has the potential to
govern countless bodies other than their own.

This ability is defined as " the angelic power in them." These
spiritual people are known in Islamic spirituality as abdal: "changed
ones."

They can move from one place to another in the blink of an eye. They
can live at one and the same time in the first and the second place.

They can live in many other places as well and yet maintainn the same
appearance as their original self. This is called ubiquity.

Famous abdal in sufi history are al-Junayd, Abd al-Qadir Jilani, Jalal
al-Din Rumi, Muhyiddin ibn Arabi, Mansur al-Hallaj.

Sufi scholar-saints such as these, also known as knower-saints or
gnostics (`arif, pl. `arifun), have confirmed that there is another
world between that of human bodies on earth and that of angels, and
have called that world the imaginal world. This imaginal world is more
subtle than the earthly world and yet denser than the angelic world.
This characteristic of the imaginal world allows the abdal to travel
within that dimension in the way that we have mentioned.



The method used by these spiritual people can be described as a self-
riddance of the trappings of gravity. Everything yearns for its origin
and the body yearns for earth which is pulled by gravity. The spirit,
however, yearns to the heavenly realm which pulls upwards. These abdal
were capable of balancing the opposite elements earth/heaven, or
upward/downward, within themselves in such a way that the element
earth which once dominated over the other is now dominated by the
other and follows it.



The intellect dominates the conscience to the extent that some have
said that the conscience is in the prison of the mind. If the
intellect is of the destructive type, that person will use knowledge
and self-discovery to hurt instead of to heal. Laser beams can be used
for destruction as well as healing, but they are the same rays in
either case. If that intellect does not balance properly between right
and wrong, then it will be using the knowledge it acquires in an
inappropriate way. If, however, the conscience dominates and plays a
greater role, it will at one point dominate over the mind and ensure
that it is controlled by the yearning to do good. That is best for
himself and for humanity at large, for that person will be constantly
motivated to use his knowledge to help and to serve others.

This is the case in the body that imprisons the spirit: the person who
can balance the two poles within will be qualified as a wise one.

Further down the road, if that person can progress more in the
heavenly direction, he can use his spirit to dominate the body and
acquire those powers that cut through the fetters of gravity.

This enables him to use the spirit to move the mass of the body, not
only his own but those of others as well. For such a spirit, when it
connects with its angelic power, will become a form of energy and
light.

These entities can move mass at higher speeds than the mind can
conceive.

This is how these pious people known as saints or abdal were known to
appear at any critical time and any place that they liked.

Thus, they help people and teach them. The ubiquitous appearances of
one's person in many places are like reflected images of the same one
body through the mirror of an angelic power.

This mirror produces thousands upon thousands of pictures at the same
time, except that those pictures are every bit as real as the original
which is being reflected. {similar to Facsimile machine}

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