A CHILD ASKS: What is the difference between the kinds of angels: the angels, the archangels and the angelic hosts?
BAWA MUHAIYADDEEN (Ral.): Have you not observed the political government here? The president is the leader, is he not? After him, are the vice president and the ministers. Similarly, in the kingdom of God and in the kingdom of gnãnam, divine wisdom, there are angels, prophets, representatives and the heavenly messenger, Gabriel (A.S.), who is of the first [rank of angels]. There are four archangels: Gabriel (A.S.), Michael (A.S.), Raphael (A.S.), and Israel (A.S.). Gabriel (A.S.) is the heavenly messenger who brought the commandments from ALLAH to the prophets. Gabriel (A.S.), Michael (A.S.), Raphael (A.S.), Israel (A.S.) and Ruqã’il (A.S.) are the five angels who bring warnings to sections of the body. These angels of earth, fire, water, air and ether reside in the body.
ALLAH gives commandments to these angels. He gives them revelations and explanations so that they can do their work. Everything that exists within the body also exists outside the body. Similarly, the same angels who exist within the body also exist outside the body. Such is the sirr, the mystery, the sirrullãh, the mystery of ALLAH Externally, these angels are water, fire, air, earth and ether. Malakul-maut is the Angel of Death. Ruqa’il (A.S.) is the ether, the sun, the moon and the stars. What is inside requires what is outside. It is through this that God controls cause and effect. What is inside is invisible. What is outside is visible. Munkar (A.S.) and Nakir (A.S.) are the angels who are going to ask the questions tomorrow on Judgment Day in the grave. It is also like this internally. For each question in your mind, a reply will come from the section of wisdom. “This is right, that is wrong,” comes the warning; the warning comes right away. As soon as you make a mistake, the warning comes into your conscience, “What you did is not right. Think of this and do what is good.” If you do not act the moment you receive the warning, if you do not ask for forgiveness within two minutes, if you do not realize what you have done, then ‘Atid (A.S.), the angel on the left shoulder, will write it down; he will record it. If you have said something wrong, and do not say sorry, if you do not ask for forgiveness, it will become a fault. Will it not? Like that, we must ask God’s forgiveness for our hasty words, the things we think of and the things we look at. The angel [Raqib (A.S.)] who writes the good writes immediately. The angel who writes the evil waits a little and watches. He waits for you to ask for forgiveness. He writes only if you do not ask for forgiveness.
There are the angels Ridwãn (A.S.)1 and Mãlik (A.S.).2 One performs tasbih, he offers prayers to God, “O God, give them goodness.” He prays on our behalf. The other angel also asks for blessings on our behalf. “ALLAH!” The angels are the internal and external agents of cause and effect. Those who have strayed from this section are followers of satan, who was the leader of all the jinns. He was called mal‘un, and became the accursed one because of his jealousy and pride. Because satan and his thousand followers were in a state of intending harm to Adam (A.S.), and because of their pride, they were cast out of heaven. Satan is these qualities. These qualities are satan. No one has seen satan. Each evil quality is a satan: jealousy, backbiting, wrath, revenge, anger, self-importance, haste, vengeance, deceit, treachery, falsehood, theft, arrogance, karma, maya, Tãrahan, Singhan and Suran,3 sexual craving, hatred, miserliness, greed, fanaticism, envy, intoxicants, lust, theft, murder and falsehood. It is such qualities that are satan. Anyone who has these qualities becomes satan. All the thoughts that surround such a person, everything that comes from these qualities are miracles to him. They are desires. The hell known as sin is his miracle. His intentions and thoughts are the miracles of hell. This state is what is called satan. It is through these qualities that man becomes a satan. This is satan. These qualities are satan.
If a man performs taubah, repentance, and transforms those qualities, he becomes an insãn, a human being. When man becomes insãn, and washes his ensãn surah, his eight span body, with the kalimah, the praise of ALLAH and ‘ilm, and makes it clear, when he strengthens it with the faith, determination and certitude of imãn, he becomes an Insãn Kãmil, a perfected human being. When he becomes an Insãn Kãmil, he becomes a representative of ALLAH It is with him that the angels speak. ALLAH advises such a man through these angels. All of the actions of such a man will be performed according to the asmã’ul-husnã, the ninety-nine beautiful names of ALLAH, the actions of the ninety-nine wilãyãt, powers of God; his speech, his words, his actions and his demeanor will be the qualities of ALLAH His qalb, his heart, will open and become the ‘arshulmu’min, the throne of a true believer. His qalb will be the dhãhut, the throne, of ALLAH In that qalb, only ALLAH, His representatives, His lights, His qutbs, the auliyã’, the messengers, and the ambiyã’, the prophets, will exist performing tasbih, offering prayers to God. His breath and his words, his demeanor and his actions will be the actions of ALLAH Other lives will be like his own; the hunger of others will be like his own; the sadness of others will be like his own; other lives will be as valuable as his own. That understanding will remain within his awareness, his wisdom and his consciousness, always.
No matter how much fruit a tree bears, the tree will not eat any of the fruit, but will give it to others. Such a person is like a tree: he will give his ‘ilm, his divine knowledge, his goodness and his good qualities to others in order to make them peaceful. All the happiness that comes into his life will be dedicated to others in order to bring them peace.
He will never search for anything for himself. He will never work for the sake of healing his own illnesses. He will dedicate his life to dispel the sadness in the lives of others, and he will try to obtain blessings for them. These qualities are the qualities of God. The qualities that do evil are the qualities of satan. The kingdom of God will belong to one who understands the qualities of God. The curse of hell, la‘natul-jahannam, that kingdom of jahannam, of hell, will belong to one who has the qualities of satan. We must understand the difference between the two kingdoms with ‘ilm, with wisdom, with imãn, with faith, with love, with peace and with unity. It is only then that we will be able to understand these things.
THE CHILD: Thank you precious Father.
Footnotes
1. Ridwãn (A.S.) guards the entrance to heaven.
2. Mãlik (A.S.) is in charge of the punishment in hell.
3. Tãrahan, Singhan and Suran are the three sons of maya; they represent sexual energies and passions.
