The New Muslim's Guide to the Angels: What Islam Teaches, What It Doesn't, and What It Changes (The New Muslim Library)
By Yusef Ali
Muslims believe in angels. It is the second article of the creed, after belief in God himself. But most new Muslims arrive at it carrying a picture they never chose — cherubs, harps, fallen angels, a grandmother who "became an angel" — and nobody has told them which parts of what they hear are from the Qur'an, which from sound hadith, and which from a story someone told beautifully. This book sorts it out. In seventeen short chapters it explains what angels are made of and what follows from that; who the named ones are and how well each is established; the two who write your deeds, under rules weighted heavily in your favour; the guardians, and what "guarded" does and does not mean; the angels at the mosque door on Friday, in the rows, and standing by when you pray for a friend; what happens at death, in the grave, and at the gates; and what to say to a relative at a funeral, a friend who "works with archangels", or a child who asks what angels look like. With a chapter of the words — every prayer and phrase involving angels, transliterated — a verse index, and a chapter for the reader who believes all of this and feels nothing.