FAQ 2.13

Do angels have free will

Question:

Can you please advise in the light of the Quran if angels do not have free will or can they disobey God just like humans and jinn?

Reply:

One of the claims of the traditional scholars is that angels do not have free will and thus they always obey God without having any choice.

The verse that is usually used to make this claim is:

[66:6] O you who believe, safeguard yourselves and your families from the fire whose fuel is people and rocks. Guarding it are stern and powerful angels who do not disobey God in respect of what He commands them to do; they carry out what they are commanded to do.

The underlined words in 66:6 tell us that the angels do not disobey God, however these words do not say that angels do not have free will.

Let us examine the following two statements:

1- The angels do not disobey God

2- The angels do not have free will

On first impression, it may appear that the two statements lead to the same conclusion, that being that the angels do not have free will, but is this the accurate deduction from these two sentences?

The first Quranic observation to note is that nowhere in the Quran do we read that the angels do not have free will. In 66:6 God is only saying that the angels do not disobey God.

What this means (Quranic evidence shown below) is that the angels do not disobey God what he commanded them and they do so willingly and not because they don't have free will. The Quranic evidence to this understanding is given in Sura 18.

[18:69] He (Moses) said, "You will find me, God willing, patient and I will not disobey any command of yours."

These words were spoken by Moses to the teacher who taught him a number of lessons. When Moses said to the teacher thathe will not disobey any of his commands, did that mean that Moses did not have free will? Obviously not, it only meant that Moses chose willingly not to disobey the teacher.

The related words in 66:6 are identical in concept to the words in 18:69.

In 66:6 we read that the angels guarding Hell will not disobey God. Considering that there are no words anywhere in the Quran that say that angels do not have free will, it follows that the words in 66:6 carry the same meaning as those spoken by Moses in 18:69.

The angels do not disobey God and they do so willingly and not because God deprived them of free will.

In addition, the case of Satan disobeying God is another indictor that angels have free will, for Satan was at the time an angel then he was turned into a jinn after he rebelled and disobeyed God.

Satan was an angel for the simple reason that God tells us that He gave the command (to prostrate to Adam) to the angels. Then God tells us that all the angels obeyed except Satan:

[15:28] Your Lord said to the angels, "I am creating a human being from clay, moulded into shape.

[15:29] Once I have fashioned him, and blew into him from My spirit, you shall fall prostrate to him."

[15:30] So all the angels fell prostrate, every one of them

[15:31] except Satan. He refused to be with the prostrators.

1- If Satan was not an angel when the command from God was issued the command would not apply to him in the first place.

2- If Satan was not an angel when the command from God was issued God would not have said "the angels fell prostrate, every one of them except Satan".

There can only be one explanation for these words; Satan was one of the angels at the time this command was issued by God.

3- If Satan disobeyed God when he was an angel, then once again, this proves that angels have free will.

The traditional scholars offer a ridiculous excuse here, they explain that Satan was not an angel but he was hanging out with the angels when God issued the command!

The total irrationality of this excuse is obvious. God said that He commanded the angels to prostrate, God did not say that He commanded the angels to prostrate and whose who were hanging out with them!

Following this analysis it remains to say that what makes angels 'angels' is not because they cannot disobey God, but that they can disobey God but they choose not to!