Could you please give information on the nature of Angels?
Angels are creatures who have subtlety and capability of transforming into various forms. They were created only to do good deeds. (Tajrid Trns., IX, 19; Baydawi, I, 134)
Angels are obedient slaves of Allah (SWT). They do whatever they are ordered to do. They never rebel or disobey orders. (al-Anbiya, 26-27) They are free from any sin. Apart from sincere worship, they do nothing; they can intervene in nothing unless commanded, and cannot even intercede without permission. (The Fruits of Belief)
Since they have no nafs (evil commanding soul) and feelings of anger and lust, they have no spiritual advancement or decline as a result of struggling with their nafs. Satan does not bother them. They each have a static position, an unchanging rank and a definite duty.
Angels do not eat or drink, sleep, marry and reproduce like us. They have no gender. They are present in the sky, on the ground and everywhere. They can travel to the farthest places in a short time and are capable of appearing in any form and shape as they wish. Allah (SWT) gave them this ability.
As Angels have no duty of choosing between the good and evil and only have capability of doing good deeds, they are not rewarded for the deeds they do like humans. May be they get peculiar pleasure for the deeds and worships they perform according to their levels. (The Words, 327) That is, their rewards are in their service. Man feeds on water, air and light; similarly, angels feed on the noor (luminous light) of dhikr, tasbih (glorification), praising, worship, knowledge and love. (The Words, 327; Tajrid Trns., IX, 19) Since they were created out of light, light is enough for them as nourishment. Furthermore, good scents which are similar to light are a sort of their nourishment. Good and clean sprits definitely love good scents. (The Words, 327) Since Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was sent revelations and He frequently met angels, he did not eat food that have stinking smell like onion and garlic and that are not liked by angels. In his words, wearing nice scents was among the three things he liked best in the world.)
The worshipping of Angels is like fard (obligatory) worship; they have no voluntary (supererogatory) worship. However, supererogatory worship is a great honor for humans. As a matter of fact, the following hadith al qudsi (sacred hadith) explains this as follows; “My servants would gain my love by performing supererogatory worship”. (Husayn Jisri, Risala al-Hamidiyya; 577)
Angels cannot get the thawab (reward) of avoiding things forbidden by Allah (SWT) because they have no inclination to perform bad deeds and harams.
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