Chapter 2 — Angels: The Network of Executors of AMR

After understanding that RUH = the streaming of the Lord’s affairs, the next question is:

How do those affairs reach, move, become recorded, become experienced and become manifested within the self?

This is where the functions of the angels become extremely important.

Allah says:

يُنَزِّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ بِالرُّوحِ مِنْ أَمْرِهِ

“He sends down the angels with the Ruh from His command.”

— An-Naḥl 16:2

This verse directly connects three things:

ANGELS → RUH → AMR

The angels do not stand separately from the Ruh.

The angels are the network of executors that carry and carry out the affairs.

The Ruh is the flow of data, knowledge and attributes.

AMR is the Lord’s affairs that are continuously taking place.

Therefore, the arrangement is:

AMR → ANGELS → RUH → PHYSICAL BODY → MANIFESTATION

ANGELS ARE NOT SOMETHING DISTANT

When angels are mentioned, human beings easily imagine distant figures in the heavens.

Yet the Quran frequently describes their functions.

Angels:

descend,

ascend,

carry,

receive,

record,

guard,

question,

take,

convey,

execute.

Allah says:

تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمْرٍ

“The angels and the Ruh descend therein by the permission of their Lord with every command.”

— Al-Qadr 97:4

Once again:

ANGELS + RUH + AMR

This indicates a system that is in motion.

Not a dead system.

Not a system that operates only once and then ends.

It is a network that is continuously functioning.

ANGELS ARE CLOSE TO THE SELF

Allah says:

وَلَا الْمَلَائِكَةُ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ

“…nor even the angels who are brought near.”

— An-Nisā’ 4:172

The word:

الْمُقَرَّبُونَ — al-muqarrabūn

comes from a root carrying the meaning of nearness.

Therefore, angels do not need to be sought far away from the experience of the self.

Their functions can be witnessed very closely:

human beings receive truth,

human beings experience bliss,

human beings breathe,

human beings die,

human beings question themselves,

human beings suffer because of unresolved questions,

human beings remember goodness,

human beings remember wrongdoing,

human beings experience torment,

human beings experience bliss and happiness.

All of this takes place within the self.

JIBRIL: THE LEADER BECAUSE HE BRINGS TRUTH

Allah says:

نَزَلَ بِهِ الرُّوحُ الْأَمِينُ ۝ عَلَىٰ قَلْبِكَ

“The trustworthy Ruh brought it down upon your qalb.”

— Ash-Shu‘arā’ 26:193–194

Jibril brings truth to the qalb.

Truth is fact.

When facts are present, the other nine functions submit to them.

If a person knows the true reality of something, fear can change.

Sadness can change.

Questions can be resolved.

Memories can be reinterpreted.

Torment can cease.

Bliss can be experienced.

Therefore, within this arrangement:

JIBRIL = LEADER OF THE NETWORK

Not because of form or physical body.

But because truth brings all the other functions into submission.

MIKAIL: SUSTENANCE THAT IS EXPERIENCED

Sustenance does not mean only money or food.

Sustenance is experienced through the self.

Human beings see.

Hear.

Smell.

Taste.

Touch.

Then the heart/feelings determine:

whether it is enough or not,

whether it is a blessing or not,

whether there is gratitude or disappointment,

whether there is tranquillity or restlessness.

Therefore, within this reading, Mikail is connected with sustenance experienced through the senses and the heart.

Sustenance becomes manifest when it is experienced.

ISRAFIL: THE CONTINUOUS BREATH

The blowing should not be imagined only as the sound of a trumpet.

Every human being lives through:

inhalation

and

exhalation.

Breath is a blowing that continuously takes place.

As long as breath continues to move in and out, the physical body remains an active terminal.

When breathing ends, the physical body’s connection with the flow of life also ends.

Therefore, within this model, Israfil is connected with the nafkh that continuously takes place within the self.

MALAK AL-MAWT: DEATH

Allah says:

قُلْ يَتَوَفَّاكُم مَّلَكُ الْمَوْتِ الَّذِي وُكِّلَ بِكُمْ

“Say: The Angel of Death who has been assigned to you will take you in death.”

— As-Sajdah 32:11

His function is clear:

DEATH.

When the physical body terminal no longer receives the flow, the connection with the old physical body ends.

However, the end of the physical body does not mean that the data is destroyed.

That will be discussed in a later chapter.

MUNKAR AND NAKIR: QUESTIONS WITHIN THE SELF

In the hadith, Munkar and Nakir are associated with questioning after death.

Within this reading:

MUNKAR = QUESTIONS THAT ARISE WITHIN THE SELF

and:

NAKIR = PRESSURE WHEN THOSE QUESTIONS REMAIN UNANSWERED

If a person dies with the truth already firmly established, the questions no longer remain unresolved.

If the questions have already been resolved during life, there is no conflict holding the person back.

This forms the basis of the concept:

BYPASSING BARZAKH

for those who have already become firm upon the truth.

Allah says:

يُثَبِّتُ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِالْقَوْلِ الثَّابِتِ

“Allah makes firm those who believe with the firm word.”

— Ibrāhīm 14:27

RAQIB AND ‘ATID: THE RECORD THAT IS REMEMBERED

Allah says:

مَا يَلْفِظُ مِن قَوْلٍ إِلَّا لَدَيْهِ رَقِيبٌ عَتِيدٌ

“No word does a person utter except that there is a watcher beside him, ready.”

— Qāf 50:18

Within this model:

RAQIB = MEMORY OF GOOD DEEDS

‘ATID = MEMORY OF WRONGDOING THAT REMAINS UNRESOLVED

Human beings themselves witness the record of their own selves.

They know what they have done.

They know whom they have hurt.

They know what has already been forgiven.

They know what continues to weigh upon them.

The record does not necessarily mean a physical book.

The record is the data of the self that remains within the system.

MALIK: THE EXPERIENCE OF TORMENT

Allah says:

وَنَادَوْا يَا مَالِكُ لِيَقْضِ عَلَيْنَا رَبُّكَ

“And they will call: O Malik, let your Lord put an end to us.”

— Az-Zukhruf 43:77

Malik is associated with the function of torment.

Within this reading:

MALIK = THE EXPERIENCE OF SUFFERING, PRESSURE, SORROW AND TORMENT THAT TAKES CONTROL OF THE SELF

When torment takes control, the other functions are also affected.

That is why Malik carries the meaning of “king” within the state of suffering.

When torment takes control, the entire system of the self submits to that torment.

RIDWAN: THE EXPERIENCE OF BLISS AND HAPPINESS

The opposite of the state of torment is:

contentment, bliss, tranquillity and happiness.

Within this reading:

RIDWAN = THE EXPERIENCE OF BLISS AND HAPPINESS

When a person has come to know the truth, their questions have been resolved, the record of the self no longer weighs upon them, and their heart is tranquil, what remains is bliss.

Allah says:

سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمُ ادْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ

“Peace be upon you; enter Paradise.”

— An-Naḥl 16:32

TEN ANGELS — TEN FUNCTIONS WITHIN THE SELF

Within this arrangement:

1. Jibril

Truth reaches the qalb.

2. Mikail

Sustenance is experienced through the senses and the heart.

3. Israfil

Inhalation and exhalation of breath.

4. Malak al-Mawt

Death.

5. Munkar

Questions asked by the self.

6. Nakir

Pressure caused by unanswered questions.

7. Raqib

Memory of goodness.

8. ‘Atid

Memory of wrongdoing that continues to weigh upon the self.

9. Malik

The experience of suffering and torment.

10. Ridwan

The experience of bliss and happiness.

All these functions exist within a single network.

And Jibril becomes the leader because:

WHEN TRUE FACTS ARRIVE, ALL THE OTHER FUNCTIONS MUST SUBMIT TO THAT TRUTH.

ANGELS AND RUH CANNOT BE SEPARATED

Ruh is the flow.

Angels are the network of executors.

AMR is the affair that continuously takes place.

The physical body is the terminal of manifestation.

Therefore:

AMR → ANGELS → RUH → PHYSICAL BODY → ATTRIBUTES → AF‘AL

Every moment that a human being is alive, this system is operating.

Data is received.

Feelings are formed.

Memories are recorded.

Choices are made.

Actions are manifested.

And all of these form the final profile of the self.

SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER

Angels are the network of executors of AMR.

They carry, receive, record, guard and perform the functions of the self.

Ruh is the streaming of the Lord’s affairs.

The physical body is where all of these become manifested.

And Jibril stands at the forefront because:

TRUTH BRINGS THE ENTIRE NETWORK INTO SUBMISSION.

When truth has become complete within the self:

questions are resolved,

torment ceases,

the record becomes clear,

and bliss takes its place.