Christianity And Islamic Angelology

2019 Words5 Pages

The role that angels have in Christian theology is immense - from announcing the birth of Christ, protecting Christ in the wilderness, and to battling Satan in the Book of Revelation. While angels are a large part of Christian theology, scripture does not directly reveal anything about their creation or when it took place (Mother Alexandra, 1). What we know of angels comes from theologians throughout the years. Theologians have discovered that angels are natural beings without material form (Bara). Mother Alexandra describe angels as not being confined to time or space and not knowing neither youth nor old age. Angels know no pain, are unhindered by doubt or fear, have no gender, and are beauty, love, life, and action formed into individual …show more content…

As S.R. Burge says, “when looking at the Qur’ān, the influence of Judaism and Christianity is certainly unmistakable” (122). However, as Burge continues, “Islamic angelology always remains distinctly Islamic and this distinctiveness cannot be attributed to Christian influences” (122). Many similarities can be seen in the creation of angels, Satan, and even famous angels. Nonetheless, Islamic angelology is distinct from Christianity in the existence of Jinns, and the purpose of angels. Within both Islam and Christianity, the exact time that God created angels is unknown, and they do not have a real physical shape. Moreover, the existence of Satan, or Iblis, is a similarity between the two religions. Satan, in both religions, is a spirit who went against the authority of God and was banished from Heaven. He and his followers attempt to push people further away from God. The presence of the angel Gabriel is yet another similarity. Gabriel is the messenger angel, announcing the birth of Jesus Christ in Christianity, and delivering the Quran to Muhammad in Islam. Gabriel delivered the news of arguably the two most important events in each religion. Despite these similarities, there is a multitude of differences within the angelology of each religion. Primarily, the biggest difference would be the existence of Jinns in Islam. While there are fallen angels in Christianity that can be compared to Jinns, they are an entirely different entity from angels. Jinns are created from fire, whereas angels are created from light. Additionally, angels in Islam are incapable of going against the authority of Allah due to the fact that they do not have free will. Therefore, although fallen angels and Jinns are similar in purpose, they are entirely different types of spirits. Furthermore, the overall purpose of angels is distinctly different in each religion. In Christianity, angels are

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