Our Angels
Question:
Assalam alaikum,
I understand that every human being is ascribed two angels during their lifetime. One records good and one bad.
Now I have come across some information about the angels I am not sure of or how this conclusion came to be. I am hearing(presently) that the angel on the right, records our good deeds and when we do them, he writes them down immediately and multiplies it by 10x. The angel on the left, records our bad deeds but can not do so unless the angel on the right (apparently the one in charge) gives him permission to do so. Permission is given after 6 hours to record the bad deed if we do not repent during this time.
What? Where did this come from?
Answer:
Assalamu Alaykum,
First, reference to the angels that write deeds of people are mentioned in the Qur’an, 82:10-12; 50:17.
As to what you have quoted, this has been reported in a variety of wordings. The one reported by al-Tabarani is as follows:
“The angel on the right is in charge of the angel on the left. So when a person does good he writes it, and when the person does bad the angel of right says (to the angel of left) wait for six hours, so if he asked for forgiveness don’t right it for him, otherwise write one bad deed for him” (al-Tabarani, 7787)
This narration is not reported in more reliable collections of Hadith and the scholars of Hadith like al-Albani do not categorise this Hadith as fully reliable. Al-Albani comments that the most reliable degree of authenticity that this Hadith can achieve is the degree of Hasan (a degree below authentic).
Whether the Hadith is authentic or not, the message it delivers is that the angels do not rush in recording the bad deeds of a person, in a hope that he may repent. This is indeed very much in line with the Qur’an. The Qur’an informs us that God accepts true repenting of His servant and that good deeds remove the effect of bad deeds in our soul. An implication of this can be that some of our minor sins that are followed by immediate and sincere repenting are not even recorded for us or are deleted from our book of actions. We also have in the Qur’an that our good deeds will be rewarded ten times (6:160).
So to conclude, the exact wording that you quoted may not be authentic however the general message of it is inline with the Qur’an.
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September 2013
Assalam alaikum,
I understand that every human being is ascribed two angels during their lifetime. One records good and one bad.
Now I have come across some information about the angels I am not sure of or how this conclusion came to be. I am hearing(presently) that the angel on the right, records our good deeds and when we do them, he writes them down immediately and multiplies it by 10x. The angel on the left, records our bad deeds but can not do so unless the angel on the right (apparently the one in charge) gives him permission to do so. Permission is given after 6 hours to record the bad deed if we do not repent during this time.
What? Where did this come from?
Answer:
Assalamu Alaykum,
First, reference to the angels that write deeds of people are mentioned in the Qur’an, 82:10-12; 50:17.
As to what you have quoted, this has been reported in a variety of wordings. The one reported by al-Tabarani is as follows:
“The angel on the right is in charge of the angel on the left. So when a person does good he writes it, and when the person does bad the angel of right says (to the angel of left) wait for six hours, so if he asked for forgiveness don’t right it for him, otherwise write one bad deed for him” (al-Tabarani, 7787)
This narration is not reported in more reliable collections of Hadith and the scholars of Hadith like al-Albani do not categorise this Hadith as fully reliable. Al-Albani comments that the most reliable degree of authenticity that this Hadith can achieve is the degree of Hasan (a degree below authentic).
Whether the Hadith is authentic or not, the message it delivers is that the angels do not rush in recording the bad deeds of a person, in a hope that he may repent. This is indeed very much in line with the Qur’an. The Qur’an informs us that God accepts true repenting of His servant and that good deeds remove the effect of bad deeds in our soul. An implication of this can be that some of our minor sins that are followed by immediate and sincere repenting are not even recorded for us or are deleted from our book of actions. We also have in the Qur’an that our good deeds will be rewarded ten times (6:160).
So to conclude, the exact wording that you quoted may not be authentic however the general message of it is inline with the Qur’an.
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September 2013
