Angels and jinn: the unseen

Angels have wings, “two, three and four” (35:1). They glorify Allah night and day without tiring (21:20), carry the Throne (40:7; 69:17), record deeds (82:10-12), take souls at death (32:11) and guard Hell, “stern and severe, they do not disobey Allah” (66:6). Jibrīl brought the Quran to the heart of the Prophet ﷺ (2:97). Ibn Kathir explains al-nāziʿāt (79:1) as the angels who draw out souls, the view of Ibn Masʿūd and Ibn ʿAbbās, while also reporting other early views.

In 2:102 the devils taught people magic, “and what was sent down to the two angels in Babylon, Hārūt and Mārūt”, who warned everyone: “We are only a trial, so do not disbelieve.” The ontology files them as angels. The commentators differ about who they were and what was sent down to them, and Ibn Kathir warns that many stories told about them come from the Isrāʾīliyyāt and are not reliable.

The jinn were created before humans “from scorching fire” (15:27) and “from a smokeless flame of fire” (55:15). Like humans they are created to worship Allah (51:56), and like humans some believe and some do not (72:11, 72:14). A group of jinn listened to the Quran and said, “We have heard an amazing Quran” (72:1; 46:29). They served Sulaymān by Allah's permission (34:12), and Surah al-Raḥmān addresses both jinn and humans with its refrain. Surah al-Jinn is named after them.

When the angels were told to prostrate to Ādam, all did except Iblīs; “he was of the jinn, and he rebelled against his Lord's command” (18:50). Iblīs said, “I am better than him: You created me from fire and him from clay” (7:12). Scholars differ on whether Iblīs had been counted among the angels: Ibn Kathir reports from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī that he was never one of them, and from Ibn ʿAbbās that he was from a group of angels called al-jinn; 18:50 is the key verse. Al-shayṭān is named 88 times, and the Quran repeats that he is “a clear enemy” to humans (2:168; 12:5).