Angels and jinn

In a minute

All three faiths speak of beings that serve God and are unseen by us: angels. Muslims count belief in angels among the six articles of faith. Jews and Christians hold it as part of their scripture and worship without listing it among their creedal articles.

All three also speak of a figure of temptation, and of lesser spirits. Here the traditions differ in interesting ways. Jinn, shedim and demons are three different things, and they should not be merged.

Shared ground: angels

• Messengers. The Hebrew word is mal'akh and the Arabic is malak. Both are bound up with sending and carrying a message. The Catholic Catechism quotes Augustine: "Angel" is the name of their office, not of their nature, and the name of their nature is "spirit" (CCC 329).
• Servants of God. All three describe angels as servants whose delight is to do God's word.

• Guarding and watching. Psalm 91:11 says God "will give His angels charge over thee" (JPS 1917). Jesus says of the little ones that "in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father" (Matthew 18:10, WEBBE). The Qur'an speaks of "angels ranged before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's command" (13:11, Pickthall).
• Gabriel and Michael. Michael is named in Daniel 12:1. Gabriel is sent to Mary in Luke 1:26. The Qur'an names them both (2:97-98) and calls Gabriel the one who "hath revealed (this Scripture) to thy heart by Allah's leave" (2:97, Pickthall).
• Not to be worshipped. The angel says to John, "Worship God" (Revelation 22:8-9, WEBBE). Muslims and Jews likewise pray to God alone.

Honest differences: angels

Beyond angels: jinn, shedim, demons and Satan

Islam: the jinn. The Qur'an says "the jinn did He create of smokeless fire" (55:15, Pickthall). They are accountable beings who can believe or not, like humankind (51:56). Some who heard the Qur'an said "among us there are righteous folk and among us there are far from that" (72:11, Pickthall), and "there are among us some who have surrendered (to Allah)" (72:14, Pickthall). Unlike angels, jinn have free will.

Islam: Iblis and Shaytan. Iblis refused the command to bow before Adam, saying "Thou createdst me of fire while him Thou didst create of mud" (7:12, Pickthall). The Qur'an says of Iblis:

He was of the jinn, so he rebelled against his Lord's command.

Qur'an 18:50 · Pickthall

and of the angels that they "do what they are bidden" (16:50, Pickthall). Muslim commentators have understood this in two ways. Al-Hasan al-Basri and al-Zamakhshari held that Iblis was a jinni who had been among the angels. Other early commentators, including Ibn 'Abbas as reported by al-Qurtubi, held that he was an angel. Both views are found in Sunni teaching, and the Qur'an's own words are given here. Iblis is allowed to tempt, yet to God's sincere servants the Qur'an says "thou hast no power over any of them save such of the froward as follow thee" (15:42, Pickthall).

Judaism: ha-satan and the shedim. In the Hebrew Bible, ha-satan is an accuser or tester who acts within the limit God sets (Job 1:6-12). Zechariah 3:1 sees Satan standing at the high priest's right hand to accuse him, and in Numbers 22:22 the angel of the LORD himself stands in the road "for an adversary". Later Jewish writings say more, and teachers differ; Maimonides read the figure symbolically. The shedim are named in Deuteronomy 32:17 as "demons, no-gods" (JPS 1917), the objects of idol sacrifice. In rabbinic literature they become harmful spirits, but the rabbis did not make them rivals of God.

Christianity: the devil and demons. In the Gospels the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-4) and unclean spirits obey his word (Mark 1:23-27). Jesus says, "I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18, WEBBE). Revelation 12:7-9 describes war in the sky and "the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan" (WEBBE). Catholic teaching holds that the fall of the angels was irrevocable (CCC 393, 414). Orthodox and most Protestant churches likewise teach that demons are fallen angels.

The Qur'an's story of Harut and Marut (2:102) is told in the Islamic tradition, and commentators differ on whether they were angels or men. The Jewish and Christian parallels are not close, so it is left to the full Islamic pages.

Read next

• Islam: Belief in the angels
• Judaism: One God
• Christianity: Holy Spirit and Trinity

If an angel is a messenger, who has carried a message to you recently?

Next: The books. Back to the overview.