The Servitude of Exalted Angels

After stating that the Messiah does not disdain being a servant of God, regarding the angels it is said that they too do not turn away from serving their God: “The Messiah would never disdain being a servant of God, nor would the angels brought near [to Him]” (4:172). If the reason for Jesus the Messiah not being a servant is his creation without a father, then the angels have neither father nor mother; yet their exalted station never prevents them from serving God. Similarly, his ability to perform miracles: “When God will say, O Jesus son of Mary, remember My blessing upon you and upon your mother, when I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit, so you would speak to the people in the cradle and in adulthood… and when you would create from clay the form of a bird, with My leave, and you would breathe into it and it would become a bird, with My leave; and you would heal the blind and the leper, with My leave, and when you would raise the dead, with My leave…” (5:110) should not become the source of this delusion, because the Holy Spirit itself and other angels brought near (muqarrabīn) who have the power to perform all these acts by the permission of the Lord - and essentially the Messiah had these miracles as a result of benefiting from the assistance of the Holy Spirit - do not disdain worshipping God. The distinction (wajāha) of that personage before God also cannot be a reason for his fleeing from servitude: “When the angels said, ‘O Mary, God gives you the good news of a Word from Him whose name is Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, distinguished in the world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near [to God]’” (3:45) because none of the divine angels, while being distinguished (wajīh) before God, ever turn their faces away from worshipping Him. Rather, the beings brought near (muqarrab) worship God more than others: “Indeed those who are [stationed] near your Lord do not disdain to worship Him. They glorify Him and prostrate to Him” (7:206).

Perhaps the secret of conjoining “angels” (malāʾika) with “Messiah” (masīḥ) is to refute the notion of the polytheists of the Hijaz who called the angels the children of God: “They say, ‘The All-beneficent has taken offsprings.’ Immaculate is He! Rather they are [His] honoured servants. They do not venture to speak ahead of Him, and they act by His command” (21:26-27).