The Eternal Reality of Angels and Spiritual Beings
This text and the accompanying videos are based on a classical work of Islamic thought that establishes the existence of angels and spiritual beings through both rational and transmitted evidence.
The author emphasizes that belief in the existence of these beings is a fundamental pillar of faith, presenting the enduring consensus of humanity throughout history and the common testimony of religious scholars as primary evidence.
The text develops a logical inference based on the idea that the witnessing of even a single spiritual being would be sufficient to establish the existence of the entire category to which it belongs.
It further states that the testimony of prophets and saints concerning this matter is far more authoritative and conclusive than the views of those who deny their existence.
Ultimately, it is expressed that the nature and mode of existence of angels can be understood most accurately only within the framework of the truths conveyed by the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad.
Gemini Notebook
THE TWENTY-NINTH WORD — THE ANGELS AND THE UNSEEN
There are questions that reach beyond what the human eye can see.
Questions about the unseen.
About angels.
About spiritual beings.
And about the life of the human spirit.
For thousands of years, humanity has asked the same questions.
Are we truly alone?
Is there a world beyond the visible?
And if we cannot see it…
does that mean it does not exist?
The Twenty-Ninth Word approaches these questions from a different perspective.
It begins with a simple principle.
Sometimes, the existence of the whole can be understood through a single example.
If one member of a species is known to exist…
then the existence of that species can no longer be dismissed.
And this principle leads us to something remarkable.
Across the ages, people of revelation have spoken of angels.
They have spoken of spiritual beings.
And they have described encounters with them.
Not in one place.
Not in one generation.
But across civilizations.
Across centuries.
Across the long history of humanity.
From the time of Adam…
until the present day.
The great scholars of the revealed religions have affirmed their existence.
And many have claimed to have witnessed them.
Some have described speaking with them.
Others have recorded signs of their presence.
Different peoples.
Different languages.
Different cultures.
And yet…
a remarkably consistent belief.
But could such a belief have appeared from nothing?
Could it have survived thousands of years…
through wars…
through revolutions…
through the rise and fall of civilizations…
if it had no foundation?
Could an idea without evidence become one of the most persistent beliefs in human history?
The argument presented here is simple.
Perhaps this universal belief is not based on imagination.
Perhaps it comes from countless observations.
Countless testimonies.
Countless signs.
One testimony may be questioned.
A second may be doubted.
But what happens when the number becomes enormous?
When generations upon generations report similar experiences?
When those reports come from people regarded as trustworthy and spiritually qualified?
Then the question changes.
We are no longer asking…
“Why do people believe?”
We are asking…
“What lies behind this belief?”
And there is another important point.
Throughout human history, prophets and saints have spoken about the unseen world.
They have described angels.
They have spoken of spiritual beings.
And they have claimed to have encountered them.
These individuals were not merely observers.
They were people who devoted their lives to truth.
People who accepted immense responsibility.
People who spoke to humanity about realities beyond ordinary experience.
If a person is qualified to speak about a particular subject…
his testimony carries weight.
And in this question, the argument becomes even stronger.
Because the prophets and saints were not alone.
Their testimony was supported by generations of followers.
By traditions.
By observations.
By signs.
And by revelation.
The Qur’an stands at the center of this argument.
For believers, it is not simply an ancient book.
It is a source of revelation.
A light in the world of truth.
Its message points repeatedly toward realities beyond the visible world.
And at the center of that message stands the Prophet Muhammad.
The Messenger of God.
The one whose life became a testimony to the unseen.
His prophetic journey reaches beyond ordinary human experience.
Beyond the limits of the physical world.
And toward realities that cannot be measured by the senses alone.
Here, the argument reaches its deepest point.
Suppose…
just once…
the existence of a single spiritual being were established with certainty.
Then something extraordinary would follow.
The existence of one individual would demonstrate the possibility…
and reality…
of the entire species.
Just as seeing one living creature can prove that such a species exists…
one verified spiritual being would establish that spiritual beings are not merely products of imagination.
The question would no longer be whether they exist.
The question would become…
what are they?
And what is their place in the universe?
According to the Qur’anic vision…
they belong to a reality far greater than the world we normally perceive.
A reality filled with beings of light.
A reality in which the visible universe is only one layer of existence.
Perhaps this is the deeper lesson.
Human beings have always lived between two worlds.
One that we can see.
And one that we cannot.
We see stars.
But we do not see everything that exists between them.
We see matter.
But we do not see every force acting upon it.
We see the surface of life.
But beneath that surface lies a universe of hidden processes.
So perhaps the unseen should not be dismissed simply because it is unseen.
After all…
the universe has always been larger than our senses.
There was a time when humanity could not see bacteria.
They were there.
We simply lacked the means to perceive them.
There was a time when we could not see distant galaxies.
They were there too.
Our vision had limits.
Reality did not.
And perhaps…
that is the question at the heart of the Twenty-Ninth Word.
How much of existence lies beyond the boundary of human perception?
Maybe the unseen world is not a contradiction to reason.
Maybe it is a reminder of reason’s limits.
And if even one glimpse beyond that boundary can be established…
then the universe becomes larger than we imagined.
The visible world is no longer the whole story.
It becomes only the beginning.
A doorway…
into a reality far greater.
A reality in which angels exist.
Spiritual beings exist.
And the human spirit itself may possess a destiny beyond death.
Because perhaps…
what we call the end…
is only the end of what we can see.
Not the end of existence.
Not the end of the journey.
And certainly…
not the end of the human spirit.
ChatGPT
Original text
The Twenty-Ninth Word
About the Immortality of Man’s Spirit, the Angels, and the Resurrection of the Dead
…
First Aim
To believe in the angels and affirm that belief is a pillar of faith. There are four fundamental points in this aim.
…
THIRD FUNDAMENTAL POINT
The angels and spirit beings are one of those questions in which the reality of a universal may be inferred from the existence of a single particular. If a single individual is seen, the existence of the species may be concluded. Whoever denies it, denies it as a member of the species to which it belongs. While whoever accepts the single individual is compelled to accept its whole species. Since it is thus, consider the following:
Have you not seen and heard that all the scholars of the revealed religions throughout the ages from the time of Adam until now have agreed on the existence of the angels and the reality of spirit beings? The different groups of humankind have concurred in having seen and conversed with angels and in their narrations concerning them, as though they were discussing and narrating events about one another. Do you think that if a single angel had not been seen, and the existence of one or numerous individuals not been established through observation, and their existence not been perceived clearly, self-evidently, that it would have been at all possible for such accord and such a consensus to continue, and to continue persistently and unanimously in such an affirmative and positive manner, based on observation?
Also, is it at all possible that the source of this general belief should not be some necessary principles and self-evident matters? And is it all possible that a baseless delusion should persist and become permanent in all the beliefs of mankind throughout all the revolutions it has undergone? And is it all possible that the basis of the assertion of these scholars of the religions, of this mighty consensus, should not be a certain intuition and empirical certainty? And is it at all possible that that certain intuition and empirical certainty which result from innumerable signs, and those signs which have been observed on numerous occasions, and those numerous observations should not all, without doubt or hesitation, be founded on necessary principles? In which case, the cause and the basis of the assertion of the universal belief held by these scholars are the necessary and categorical principles resulting from the great number of times the angels and spirit beings have been observed and seen, which demonstrates the strength of the consensus.
Furthermore, is it all possible, rational or feasible that the unanimous testimony of the prophets and saints, who are like the suns, moons, and stars in human society, concerning the existence of the angels and spirit beings and their actually seeing them, should be prey to doubts or be the object of suspicion? Especially since they are qualified to speak in this matter. It is obvious that two people who are qualified to speak on a matter are preferable to thousands who are not. Moreover, in this question they are affirming a matter, and people who affirm a matter are preferable to thousands who deny or reject it.
Is it at all possible for there to be any doubt concerning the statements of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, the Sun of Suns in the world of truths, which never at any time sets, shining continuously in the skies of the universe? And can there be doubt concerning the testimony and witnessings of the Muhammadan Being (UWBP), the Sun of Prophethood?
Since, if on a single occasion the existence of a single spirit being is verified, this demonstrates the actual existence of the whole species; and since it proves the existence of the whole species to be true, for sure, the best and most rational and acceptable form of their real existence will be similar to that expounded by the Shari’a, described by the Qur’an, and seen by the One who ascended to the “distance of two bow-lengths.”
SOURCES
Risale-i Nur Okuma Programı 2.1.0, Words[2021] – 543, email: syesilova72@gmail.com
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, The Words – The Twenty-Ninth Word – About the Immortality of Man’s Spirit, the Angels, and the Resurrection of the Dead, The English translations of the Risale-i Nur Collection, translated by Şükran Vahide and published by Sözler Neşriyat, are an exact printed version of the original text. (erisale.com)
https://erisale.com/index.jsp?locale=en#content.en.201.529”