– those charged with taking souls;
– those tasked with fashioning embryos in the wombs;
– those who record everything that will befall them, both in the present state and in the final outcome;
– those appointed over Paradise and Hellfire;
– and among them are the Bearers of the Throne and the angels who circle around it—
and many others besides, as they have been described in the Book and the Sunnah.

Therefore, it is obligatory to believe in them both generally and in detail. Many surahs of the Qur’an mention the angels and relate information about them, and we must affirm all of it.

You will scarcely find anyone who denies the existence of the angels except the zanadiqa—heretical atheists who deny the very existence of their Lord. Should any of them cloak themselves in Islam, they still in reality deny the angels and reject what Allah and His Messenger have reported about them. They interpret the angels with a malicious distortion, claiming that the angels are merely the benevolent forces and praiseworthy qualities found within a human being, while the devils are the malevolent forces within him. Their aim in this corruption is to ward off public condemnation, yet by this very distortion they have only increased their own wickedness.

This vile distortion has gained currency with some who entertain good thoughts about those heretics, though they lack any insight into the religions brought by the Messengers—even if they outwardly profess to honor them—for the heretical philosophers hold a higher place in their hearts than the Messengers. How great the misguidance and deviation of the servant who reaches such a state! We seek refuge in Allah from the trials that lead astray.

Their audacity and submission to the sayings of ignorant zanadiqa persisted until they explained the angels in that corrupt fashion, and some of them even alleged that the angels’ prostration to Adam was not an actual event, but rather