Praise be to Allaah. Belief in angels is one of the six pillars of belief or faith without which there is no faith. Whoever does not believe in any of these pillars is not a believer (mu’min). These pillars are belief in: Allaah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day, and that predestination, both good and bad, comes from Allaah. Angels are a part of the world of the Unseen which we cannot comprehend. Allah has told us about them in many places in the Qur’aan and via His Prophet Muhammad (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him). There follows a number of proven reports concerning the angels, which hopefully will make you realize the greatness of the Creator and the greatness of this religion which has told us so much about them: Of what are they created? They are created from light, as ‘Aa’ishah reported: "The Messenger of Allah (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) said: ‘The angels are created from light, just as the jinn are created from smokeless fire and mankind is created from what you have been told about.’" (Reported by Muslim, no. 2996). When were they created? We have no knowledge of precisely when they were created, because there is no text to tell us this. But they were created before mankind for certain, because the Qur’aan says (interpretation of the meaning): "Behold, your Lord said to the angels: ‘I will create a vicegerent on earth.’ . . ." [al-Baqarah 2:30] The fact that Allah told them of His intention to create man indicates that they already existed. Their great size Allaah says concerning the angels of Hell: "O you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern and severe, who flinch not (from executing) the Commands they receive from Allah, but do (precisely) what they are commanded." [al-Tahreem 66:6] The greatest of all the angels is Jibreel (Gabriel), upon whom be peace, who was described in the following report: "From ‘Abdullaah ibn Mas‘ood, who said: the Messenger of Allah (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) saw Jibreel in his true form. He had six hundred wings, each of which covered the horizon. There fell from his wings jewels, pearls and rubies, only Allah knows about them." It was reported by Ahmad in al-Musnad, and Ibn Katheer said in al-Bidaayah 1/47 that its isnaad is jayyid.