The Relationship Between the Station of the Messiah and the Rank of the Angels Brought Near

From the verse about teaching the beautiful names of God to the station of the source of humanity and the prophets, and their reporting through the perfect human to the angels, it becomes clear that the possessor of the station of teaching the beautiful names has a superior rank to the angels who prostrated to him. Of course, just as the prophets are different and the messengers have varying degrees of excellence, it is possible that the possessors of the station of teaching the names are also not equal to each other, just as the angels are not uniform.

Some, by arguing from the verse under discussion, have said that the rank of the angels brought near (muqarrab) is not lower or inferior to the station of Jesus, otherwise their conjunction with the Messiah would not have been correct, just as if their rank were equal to the station of the Messiah, there would not have been much necessity to mention them in this sensitive position - although it would have been worthy of mention - but if they are superior to the station of Jesus, such a conjunction would have literary correctness.(133)

This aspect can be harmonious with the non-prostration of some angels - namely “the exalted ones” (al-ʿālīn)(134) - before Adam and prove their superiority - not of all angels - who, according to the great masters of gnosis (ʿirfān), due to their special submission before the Most Sacred Divine Essence, had no attention to other than God at all and were so immersed in the ocean of divine unity that they were not informed of Adam’s creation, and thus were not included in the command to prostrate before him.(135)

Note: The ruling concerning the totality of angels is not the same as the ruling concerning all of them, nor the same as the ruling concerning individual angels.

It should be said that discussion about the comparative excellence of prophets and angels is neither necessary nor beneficial, but for the literary justification of conjoining one with the other in the specific case, mentioning some matters is useful.

Some exegetes, based on two reasons, considered the Holy Spirit (rūḥ al-qudus) superior to the Messiah:

1. Jesus was born through his breathing.

2. Through his support, Jesus gained the ability to heal the leper and the blind.(136)

However, it should be noted that there is a profound difference between an agent in the sense of “that from which” (mā minhu) and an agent in the sense of “that through which” (mā bihi), and the preparatory factors for the realization of Jesus’s body in his mother’s womb will never be in the position of an agent granting the spirit of the Messiah, just as the support of the Messiah by the Holy Spirit is likewise.

The point is that neither is it easy to definitively assert the superiority of one over the other, nor are the mentioned evidences complete proof for the superiority of a particular angel over a perfect human like the Messiah, who is himself honored before God and among those brought near to the divine.