Malaika (Angels)
3. MALAIKA (ANGELS)
1. I am not saying that Allah’s treasures are with me. Nor do I know the ghaib. Nor Am I saying that I am an angel (6: 50)
C. Allah’s treasures are just that: Allah’s. No creature can own or dispense them except what little bit Allah allows each angel or man to own and dispense in a metaphorical or delegated sense. All we creatures do are mere appearances and are always infinitely small and shadowy compared with the whole in all its reality which is in Allah’s Hand exclusively.
The Prophet sws is also commanded to confirm that, contrary to what others may expect or demand from him, he does not know the ghaib. That gahib is relative is true but be as it may, there is no creature who may know ghaib (things and matters outside man’s perceptive capacities) in an absolute sense as Allah does. What relative ghaib each creature is allowed to know is nothing when compared to what Allah knows. Mind you, relative ghaib has two senses: Relative ghaib means something not perceived by someone while it is perceived by others, like I cannot know what you are thinking or doing five miles away from me unless somebody tells me. In general terms and in a shallower sense relative ghaib means that each creature knows a small part of the whole as a result of being surrounded by a small part of the universe beyond which it cannot see. Secondly and more profoundly, what each creature perceives is hardly more than a hoax played on its perceptive apparatus. Our nervous system provides us with one and only one possible version of representation of the reality and that only in a small locality. For example, seeing colours does not mean that colours actually exist. It is possible to modify the eyes or brain so that either no colours can be seen or different colours may show up in the same object. Lastly nobody can prove that what he sees as a certain colour other won’t see differently and yet all agree to call it by the same name. So poor is man compared to his Maker. There are ghaibs within ghaibs and all boastings on the part of anybody about sharing in Allah’s Powers are blasphemous to the utter degree. Ultimate Ghaib, called Ghaib al Mutlaq (Absolute Ghaib) belongs only to Allah.
The Prophet sws also clearly rules out his being an angel with the implication that at least in certain respects angels are superior to men including himself. Had it not been so the Prophet sws would not almost seem to boast of seeing Gabriel once on the Highest Horizon (53: 5- 6) and a second time while coming down during the Mi’raj/Heavenly Ascension, near the Garden of Refuge/Jannat al Ma’wa (53: 13, 14). Creaturely merits are always relative and only Allah’s excellence is absolute and full. Even among men merits are more evenly and fairly distributed than most idealists would like. The Prophet sws is surely the greatest of men in an overall, total merit and worth sense. But it does not follow that a certain man does not know more about or is not more able than the Prophet sws in a given subject. Furthermore, that the angels know things which to men, including the Prophet sws, are ghaib is sure, the greatest example being Gabriel knowing the Qur’an before he delivered it to the Prophet sws. He also explains to the Prophet “There is none among us but for him is a known standing (of authority and portfolio of duties from Allah)/maqamun ma’lum” (37: 124).
The Prophet sws is rightly protesting his ignorance of ghaib and we shall insha Allah see other examples of it. And that is as it should be. No creature can duplicate Allah even as much as a shadow; all boastings to that effect are vain if not blasphemous. Allah’s knowledge or power need not be duplicated in anybody even in a shadowy form. Creatures only receive tiny parts of knowledge and that is the best for them for themselves and all concerned. That is because each of us has a part to play and parts are played with knowledge and powers that are just enough. Knowing more or better but doing less or worse than one knows is as much sin as doing more than he knows or attempting more than he can do.
2. And the angels are around it, carrying the Throne of their Lord above them that Day, eight of them (69:17)
C. On the Day of Judgment angels surround the Lord’s Throne and eight among them carry it above their heads. This seems to be a metaphor for all angels abandoning all their usual jobs they used to do before and gather around Allah’s Holy Ground to hear His commands and get their portfolios under the new circumstances. Eight among them actually carry the Throne, which may mean they are Allah’s nearest angels which in fact never depart from His Presence but must carry the heaviest responsibilities in eight departments of Divine Dispensation. These angels are possibly those who are also spoken of as “mala al a’la”/The Highest Attendants or Courtiers of Allah. It is they who debate the matters Allah consigns to their care and may at times differ in their opinions as to how to go about them ( see 38: 69)
3. But when the earth is torn to pieces and thy Lord and the angel-kind in rank after rank come and the Hell is brought- man that Day remembers, but what use is remembering that Day!” (89: 21- 23)
C. When man’s smug and comfortable world collapses on his head and nothing to hold on to remains the Truth of the Lord and the vision of His angels rushes upon him which make him to remember all those warnings about his spiritual life and future he used to receive before. But it is then too late and he himself knows that the game is up and the defences are down.
4. (They want angels to bring them the news, not a human prophet. Say to them o Muhammad sws) “Had there been angels (instead of men) walking happily on the earth We would send down on them an angel as the messenger (17: 95)
C. A hypothetical case used to drive home the fact that each creature needs what its own nature requires for its welfare and success. Hypothetical because angels have almost nothing in common with men who are far more sophisticated creatures spanning the whole gamut of creaturely qualities and potentials. Angels may be seen as nature spirits in the sense that they have neither material bodies nor material needs to exist and function. They are pure intelligences extending from Allah’s Light and penetrating and moving all bodies. Their function is mediating between the Creator and the created on a cosmic scale and as spirits arwah, plural of ‘ruh’) they are part of Allah’s implementation of His Will (Amr) acting as facilitators for the workings of the universe at all levels which levels range from the movements of the heavenly bodies to the process of digestion in an animal’s gut, in fact all life processes. If they ‘materialise’ in the likeness of men it does not mean that they have become material men; theirs is a case special hallucination caused in men which hallucination is powerful and effective enough to work changes in matter. As such angels are hardly in need or capable of men’s qualities and in any case being too pure and obedient to God are not prone to committing sins. So what Allah is saying in effect is “Do not waste your time and miss your opportunity for saving guidance by asking for things which are irrelevant to your case. You are men and only a messenger of your kind can relate to and set an example for you as you need and can benefit from”.
5. They (the Jews) followed what the devils recited about Solomon’s kingdom (saying that he was a magician). Solomon did not blaspheme (by dabbling in magic) but the devils did. They were teaching the people magic and what was being sent down on two angels in Babel, namely Harut and Marut. The fact was that those angels used not to teach anybody without first saying “We are (our communication with you is) a test for you, therefore do not blaspheme (by abusing the knowledge we are teaching). They used to learn from the two about separating man from wife. They were not harming anybody except with Allah’s permission. They were just learning what could neither harm nor benefit them. They knew well that those who bought it (the magic) had no share in the hereafter. How bad was the things for which they sold their souls had but they known! (2:102)
C. All of us at all times are visited and sometimes inhabited by demons and angels which merge with our thoughts and emotions which then we cannot tell how much of these thoughts and emotions are ours and how much is contributed by our visitors and occupants. In the verse above some Babylonian Jews are diagnosed as suffering from both devilic tempters and angelic testers which two species cooperated under Allah’s providence to test their human hosts. Because angels are privy to some secrets of psychic manipulation among men the two angels Harut and Marut taught those Jews about some techniques of sowing discord between married partners just as an example of how devils could similarly spoil human relationships but they also warned their students that they were not meant to use these methods on each other but only meant to familiarise them with the parallel tactics of devils. It is like teaching police officers how banks can be burgled and robbed so that they can know what to look for and how to interpret the suspicious activities of bank robbers. Demons are reported to be employed by Solomon who could harness them as wild beast trainers can employ their tigers or hawks for their purposes; although Solomon unddestood how they did their tricks and feats he personally did not use their skills which were magical. He knew only to well and we should all know that magic is a very dangerous affair and should have no place in human acts and relations. Magic is based on two deceits, namely material illusion and mental delusion. Physical magic is made by a special exploitation of the laws of physics while mental magic is basically an abuse of hypnosis. This hypnosis can be induced by mere words provided they are said with enough skill. All advertisement and propaganda as well as sales talks and words of seduction contain some magical features. With this mental magic salesmen sold things which are not worth the price they ask for while politicians obtain the support and Casanovas obtain the consent of their victims.
6. Are they awaiting but for Allah coming to them in the shadows of clouds and the angels as well and the affair be settled thus? All affairs are returned (can be referred or traced back for their ultimate explanation ) to Allah (2: 210)
C. All that happen are willed by Allah and implemented by His angels as His closest agents. As such all are Allah’s doing and to His credit. There is no need for either Allah or His angels to become visible to unbelieving silly people just to convince them. Such people are taking themselves too seriously which means Allah is not taking them seriously. The humbler we feel and behave the more blessing and glory Allah projects to us. Amen.
As for the ‘Coming in the shadows of the clouds”, it refers to iconographic traditions of Christians who love representing God and angels in human forms and embellish their paintings with light haloes and clouds for more dramatic and dreams-inducing silly effects and in fact believe that God and angels can come down like that. However Allah and His angels are for not physical sight but for insight, which insight is a convincing and motivating deep understanding of those spiritual facts which can never be reduced to tangibles.
7. Their prophet said to the Jews “The sign of his (Talut’s) kingdom (which you are hesitating to acknowledge) is the coming of the (long lost) Ark (of the Covenant) to you in which are Shakina (Sakeenata/the secret of high pious morale) and the remnants of what the House (dynasty) of Moses and House of Aaron had left behind, angels carrying them (2: 248)
C. The angels’ carrying of the sacred Ark of the Covenant may mean that because of its holiness angels must always be supporting it and helping its blessings to come out to those who visit it. In other words the Ark, like other sha’air/reminders of Allah such as the Kaaba, the Black Stone and the hillocks Safa and Marwa (see S. al Baqara, v. 158), by virtue of being always accompanied by the angels who pay respects to them. Secondly, only very pious men were allowed to carry the Ark and such pious men were angels-motivated.
8. He (Allah) does not ask you to take the angels or the prophets as lords (3: 80)
C. Taking a creature as one’s lord means regarding the creature perfect and infallible and all-powerful in practice if not in principle. When one does that he then confidently put his affairs in the new lord’s hands, worships it at least in the sense of extreme veneration bordering on that for God if not entirely so and prays to it both in its actual or symbolic presence (icons, statues, relics) or in its absence believing that it will hear and comply. Allah is prohibiting all these.
9. Remember when you (at Badr) were begging for your Lord’s help and He had responded in that (He said) “I am going to support you with a thousand angels following each other” (8:9)
C. See the next verse.
10. When you (o Prophet sws) was saying to the believers “Will it not be enough for you that your Lord helps you with three thousand angels coming down?”. Nay, if you show patience and maintain piety and the enemy suddenly descend on you then your Lord would support you with five thousand branded (specially commissioned) angels. Allah did not do it but as a piece of good-news for you and to steady your hearts with it. No support comes but from Allah’s Side, the Dear Powerful and Decisive (3: 125- 126)
C. Before the start of the fighting at Badr the Prophet sws gave the believers the good-news that their Lord was about to send down a thousand and then three thousand angels to help them against the formidable enemy facing them. Apparently they were still anxious and the good-news had to be improved on: Now five thousand angels with special markings indicating their exclusive prowess in battle were to be sent for for help. Suddenly the morale among the believers surged, they fought magnificently and they quickly put the enemy to flight, having slaughtered seventy of them against their seven martyred, and took more as prisoners. What Allah seems to intimate is that morale born of true piety and supported by exceptional steadfastness goes a very long way to win a battle and morale being a spiritual power can only come from Allah Who equally demoralises the impious enemy. The Prophet sws was absolutely sure that he was the Messenger of Allah, that his believers were Allah’s army and that his opponents were the army of the Satan. He had prayed most intensely for a victory and was inspired that his prayer was fully heard and accepted, as Abu Bakr RA had also remarked to him. Gabriel added more assurance and detail to the success of his ardent prayer: That thousands of angels were being commissioned to help to ensure a relatively easy and quick victory. All came true without a hitch.
11. Consider when thy Lord was inspiring (wahy) to the angels “I am indeed with you, do steady the believers, (for My part) I shall be casting terror in the hearts of the unbelievers, strike them on the neck, strike them on each fingertip” (8:12)
C. This shows two things: First, Allah corresponds with His angels via ‘wahy’, like He does with His prophets- none hears Him direct. Second, Allah’s help is the subtlest yet the most effective of all; He may use a way like demoralising the party He wants to be defeated. That squarely corresponds to the subversive and destructive effects of a guilty conscience. Here comes in a perhaps never before admitted secret and it is this: THE REASON WHY SOME PERSON CAST AWAY HIS RELIGIOUS FAITH AND THEN GO ALL OUT TO WIPE OUT RELIGIOUS FAITH FROM THE HEARTS OF THE PUBLIC IS BECAUSE HE WANTS TO ERASE THE RELIGIOUS CONSCIENCE FROM ALL WHICH CONSCIENCE STANDS IN THE WAY OF INDULGING THE HIS EGO AND THEIRS, STANDING IN THE WAY BY MEANS OF THE TERRIBLE AND DISABLING CRITICISM AND WARNING IT ISSUES TO THE ACTORS.
So long this Divine Voice is heard any intending sinners find it very difficult to act out their criminal and lascivious ego longings. For this reason secularism was invented and is being promoted worldwide. By secularism we do not mean that impartial attitude towards various people’s religious beliefs so long they obey the political authority and do not rebel or are not put down on religious grounds; Islam allows such impartiality in politics as its fair treatment of its non-Muslim citizens goes. What we mean by secularism is that other more militant definition of being against religious faith in any form and positively discouraging it and positively cultivating a materialist world view to replace any spiritual views.
Yet, whatever who does what religious faith can never be stamped out even from the heart of its most extreme ostensible enemy. Belief in a god or the God/Allah always survives in everybody’s heart once stirred to life in a heart by suggestion and example from other members of a society. That is because it is true, it is in our genes although not always as a dominant trait appearing in the actual individual phenotypically. ‘Genotype’ is a term of the science of genetics with the term ‘genotype’ as its opposite. When a genetic trait appears in an individual he is said to be phenotypical, i.e., demonstrating his inherent genetic potential thanks to the environment being helpful. If the environment is not helpful the trait will not show up in the person’s appearance or behaviour. Religious faith is genotypal in all but not in equal strength or even if strong some stronger gene like for avarice or suspicion can undercut the religious gene. Despite all, a sense of a Just God has some representation in all souls and when that soul goes too much against what is just and fair its morale begins to suffer. The pagans facing Muhammad sws at Badr were going too far in opposing his fair and honourable proposition, they felt it in their bones and therefore could neither gather enough courage nor achieve the necessary muscular coordination to use their arms and weapons as they could when they were in the right. These are angelic manifestations because from the moment of conception to the moment of death our lives, emotions and acts are facilitated by the angels appointed by Allah to do so. At Badr additional angels were sent down to enhance the existing angelic control of the combatants and that undid the unbelievers.
12. Are they waiting but for angels to come to them or thy Lord to come or some Signs of thy Lord to come? The Day when some Signs of thy Lord comes any faith a soul attains does it no good if it had not believed before then or earned some good with that belief (6: 158)
C. Taking themselves always too seriously as all fools do, unbelievers demand that angels present themselves to them to prove the religious truths spoken by the Prophet sws and even Allah to visit them and do the same. At least they expect some signs from Allah they cannot miss. None will come and especially Allah in His full Essence is not in the habit of visiting anybody let alone the unbelievers. He just sends His messengers with whom he sends the message which is full of as many wonderful sings as anybody may need under the circumstances. His even more compelling Signs shall come on a Day of no return when the unbelievers will be compelled to admit. But the belief gained then shall be of no use whatsoever because the farming ground which was this earth and the blessing rains which were Allah’s nutritious inspirations are no more around to enable the soul to sow, farm and reap any crops. In any case faith without good works is useless, contrary to what some supposed sages claim. Faith is genuine when it WORKS. It is not like a statue which looks like a man but cannot produce anything a man can. The faithful are so much in love with Allah that they cannot wait a minute before they do something to please Allah. If they have nothing to give, they can at least praise Allah and ask for his forgiveness. And those are good works. Saying that faith and works are separate like two machines are and one can operate while the other is not is non-sense. No work, however useful helps in the Hereafter unless it is done for Allah, that is to say, with loving compassionate motivation which comes from Allah only. A faith obtained on the moment of death is useless because it cannot generate any good for anybody. Faith well before death is another matter; it will do some good.
13. You would see when the angels are killing those who are disbelievers, striking them on their faces and on their backs (8: 50)
C. Unbelievers are so unprepared and reluctant for death that when it comes to them they perceive it as the most intolerable insult and aggression ever. That is equal to being slapped on the face as a gross insult and being hit on the back to make him cough up his life. As for the believers they are treated far more leniently and any pains of death are moderated by graceful compliments and plainly obvious mercy on the part of themselves the sorry angels of death. May Allah take our souls painlessly and with all sweetness and embrace us in His loving mercy when our time comes. Amen.
14. The thunder glorifies Him with His praises and the angels with His fear (13: 13)
C. One must understand all natural phenomena as Signs of Allah’s Power and Wisdom and His Wisdom is expressed both in merciful and hurting terms. We must respond to each manifestation of Allah’s Power and Wisdom with thanks, reverent admiration and fear as necessary. The thunder glorifies Him because it is happy to do Allah’s work, that of triggering the clouds to rain down Allah’s mercy which the rainwater is. The angels glorify Him out of fear because they are afraid on our behalf that the thunder may also spell disaster for some of us, like a bolt hitting a man. We take refuge in Allah’s Mercy.
15. He sends down the angels with the Spirit/al Ruh as part of His Amr (Implementation of His Will) on whom He wants from among His servants (to the effect that) “Warn that there is no god by I, therefore reverently fear Me” (16: 1-2)
C. It is Allah’s angels, as always the case is in all natural phenomena, to effect the installation of a human messenger, who a prophet is, which in this case accompany the Holy Spirit in its descent from Allah’s Presence to the prophet’s heart. The message is always the same: There is no god but I, therefore fear Me. Who is this ‘I’? It has two levels of meaning. The Supreme, unknowable level, in fact a reality in a category of its own, which level is the Divine Identity or Essence. It is out of bounds to all creation. The lower meaning is the deepest created level of the human identity which contains a manageable image of Allah to which image man constantly relates. This may be called the conscience which is but only one aspect of the image and not the deepest; the rest of man’s true godly (i.e., God-loving and fearing identity reveals itself as and if the man develops spiritually. The God image in us is not always worthy of the name because it partakes many of the wrongs we maintain in our poor and fallible souls. It has to be checked and corrected by frequent references to Allah’s Word to us which is the Qur’an. By constant cultivation under the light of the Qur’an- which only blesses us if we keep the Commandments in it- the God image becomes purer and truer until it becomes powerful and genuine enough to claim our whole heart and run our whole life. It is not an intellectual or rational concept but an instinctive recognition of something supreme which is surrounded by noblest and most compelling emotions. This should be our real ‘I’ and of this is what we should be afraid and ashamed of in the first instance. Amen.
16. Allah chooses messengers from among the angels and men (22: 75)
C. Firstly and as the case of Muhammad sws shows Allah inspires (wahy) His Message to an angel like Gabriel, sends him to a prophet like Muhammad sws who is commanded to transmit the Message to us. Second ly Allah may also send angelic messengers to non-prophets with vital messages when they need it. Among such fortunate servants were two women, namely mother of Moses AS and mother of Jesus AS. In Mary’s case the messenger was no less than Gabrieland that in his top capacity as the bearer and wearer of the Holy Spirit! Angelic messengers are sent to many other human beings to inform and guide them on many matters. All saintly miraculous events, i.e. ‘karamat’ from seeing into the future to triggering exceptional occurrences which we rightly or wrongly call ‘supernatural’ occur when holy angels with the Holy Spirit guard and help a believer. They may come to us while we are awake or asleep but the latter is more effective for those who are not spiritually mature enough. Incidentally what we see in our dreams as so and so holy person coming to us and intimating something verbally or by implication are not those persons in an ontological sense but Allah’s angels disguised as they.
Prophets and saints are pure enough to be represented angelically and effectively, that is to say. Or to the same effect, there is so much in common between a holy man’s spirit and the angels that the difference really does not matter so much although it is not entirely unimportant. We may therefore accept the dream as being a vision of and conversation with the holy person. Any uncertainties are solved when one remembers that IT IS ALLAH WHO IS GIVING THE HELP and the means He is employing are ultimately irrelevant although worthy of respect and thanks in their capacity. For all are in Allah and Allah is in all and each of us contain the whole created existence in metaphoric but still spiritually effective forms. Vision of Rasullullah sws is the supreme blessing in this respect and always signifies full truth and Rasulullah’s sws approval of us alongside Allah’s. Amen.
17. Those who say “Our Lord is Allah” and then walk Straight- angels come down on them (saying) “Do not be afraid, do not be sad but instead rejoice with the Garden you have been promised. We are your helping guardians in this world and in the hereafter…” (41: 30- 31)
C. This explains how a wali/saintly believer comes about. There is nothing mysterious or difficult about it. You must sincerely adopt Allah as your top commander whose all commands are correct and their obedience both mandatory and worth obeying and then you must lead a life of increasingly loving obedience to Him Almighty. Of course we must never forget that a lot of Allah’s commands are prohibitive, i.e., banning certain acts which therefore are called ‘haram’. WITHOUT THESE OUT OF THE WAY keeping other commandments is both difficult and rather ineffectual, they cannot save you so much. Muslim or not you must not harm or cheat anybody unjustly. Overall, kindness and charity should define your character and rule your whole life. As you become more and more righteous you find that more and more correct and saving inspirations come to you and you begin to feel that great and benevolent powers, which are Allah’s guarding angels are doting in you. These blessings are certainly angelic and at times they may metaphorise themselves in the form of visible angels, using your dreaming mind to conjure up the images for you. But for the advanced souls such theatricals don’t matter: The heart’s eye sees without forms or colours. The upright, pious servant smells Paradise which smell causes him to do even better. Amen.
18. On it (Hell) are angels rough and violent, not disobeying Allah but doing as told (66: 6)
C. Hell is not a place of pity or grace but of brute and unapologising punishment. If a servant dares to offend Allah, insists on offending, never repents and dies as a confirmed, determined offender he can blame nobody but himself for what awaits him in Hell. Those rough and violent angels of Hell who torment him are nothing but the symbols of his own ruthless and relentless character and the torments he tastes are the echoes of the torments he directed at his victims. There is no cure for that but the pains must be inflicted as the criminal had inflicted them on others. If the identities of the punished and the punishers look confused that is as it should be; that is because ultimately only One Identity is Real and Eternal and that is Allah’s. His creatures’ identities are shadowy and ephemeral and mutually diffusible. That is why a man sometimes feels, looks and acts like a holy angel while at other times like a devil. We are as weak and flimsy as soap bubbles however big, solid and decisive we may look to ourselves and to other fools like us. We need to be humble at all times. Allah said “All on it (the earth) are bound to perish and only the Face of thy Lord the Possessed of Greatness and Grace endures” (55: 27)
19. It is He Who rains blessings on you together with His angels in order to take you out of depths of darkness into light: He has always been kind towards the believers (33: 43)
C. All the angels are commissioned to help Allah’s believers in every way until they successfully outgrow their immaturities and begin to live fully enlightened and delightful lives eventually ending up in Allah’s very Garden. Allah charges His angels with lights upon lights of salvation which the angels then rain down on Allah’s beloved believers. These are felt by the believers as rightly guiding inspirations, breaks of good fortune, more willingness to put Allah first, more motivation towards kindness and charity, more determination to fight evil and more success with all pious acts in general. In brief those layers of darkness which our ignorance, bad habits and unhelpful attitudes make are taken away and we are issued into more and more sunshine of true knowledge, true understanding, good habits and helpful, charitable attitudes. Angels being of light can do all that for us.
20. Indeed Allah and His angels rain blessings on the Prophet sws. Then o believers, you also rain blessings on him and greet him with the greetings of peace (33: 56)
C. Allah is all out for His Prophet sws and has consequently commissioned all His angels to transmit His blessings onto his Prophet sws in the form of Divine Support in his every act and enterprise. O believers, emulate then Allah’s angels and you also give full and constant support to the Prophet sws and greet him with your greetings of peace which is your delighted obedience and loyalty to him sws (for the verb ‘sallama’ means both to greet and to obey submissively). Incidentally, had Muslims understood this verse this way and obeyed it they could be at a better place today than they actually are. Amen.
CONCLUSIONS ABOUT ANGELS AND THE (HOLY) SPIRIT
As we already noted ‘spirit’, among other and allied things, means ‘meaning, purpose, attitude etc.’. Angels are Allah’s best and most numerous servants; they feed on Allah’s Light and embody towards and enforce his His Will on His creatures. They are instructed to be especially attentive to the needs of Allah’s believing human servants whose most problems stem from their ignorance and bad habits and wrong attititudes. To cure these the angels impart of their light derived from Allah’s Light on these believers which means they make believers to love and hate the same things as Allah and volunteer to work towards the realisation of Allah’s best wishes for His creatures. To persuade and support the believers more the angels may influence, with Allah’s permission, the minds of the believers by which influence the believers can see the angels in human form who then speaks to them and can be spoken to. This is a form of dream but unlike ordinary dreams it can also be seen while fully awake. It is a true vision, in fact more true than our ordinary wakeful visions simply because a vision of an angel or angels is a prelude to something very important in our lives. Through such a vision, a chosen good servant, for example, can become a prophet, therefore we should not despise spiritual visions wrongly and foolishly believing that only the sight of physical objects represent reality. In fact the very opposite is true; we share physical vision with all animals while spiritual vision is the privilege of only us men, I mean true men with God inside them.