In
Islamic tradition the two ''kiraman katibin'' ( ar, كراماً كاتبين ‘honourable scribe’), are two
angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...
s called Raqib and Atid, believed by Muslims to record a person's actions. Whether a person is sent to ''
Jannah
In Islam, Jannah ( ar, جَنّة, janna, pl. ''jannāt'',lit. "paradise, garden", is the final abode of the righteous. According to one count, the word appears 147 times in the Quran. Belief in the afterlife is one of the six articles of f ...
'' (
paradise
In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...
) or ''
Jahannam
In Islam, the place of punishment for unbelievers and other evildoers in the afterlife, or hell, is an "integral part of Islamic theology", Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", Numen, 56, 2009: p.401 and has "occupied an important place in the Muslim imagi ...
'' (
hell/
purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
) is not, however, dependent on whether good deeds outweigh bad deeds; but is ultimately up to
God's mercy upon a believer. The
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
refers to them in two places, in 50:16-18 and by name as ‘Noble Recorders' in 82:10-12.
The work of the ''kiraman katibin'' is to write down and record every action of a person each day. One angel figuratively sits on the right shoulder and records all
good deeds, while the other sits on the left shoulder and records all
bad deeds.
The book in which the angels are writing is the cumulative record of a given person's deeds. After that person's death, it is said that on the Day of Judgement each person will be confronted with this record, and the two angels will be present to tell God of what the person did.
Relation to the "followers"
These angels are not
guardian angel
A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...
s, called in Islamic tradition the ''
mu'aqqibat'' "followers" (Q.13.10-11). According to many Muslims (see below), each human has two guardian angels, in front and behind him, while the two recorders are located right and left.
Muhammad said: "There is no one among you but he has with him a constant companion (qareen) from among the jinn and a constant companion from among the angels." They said, "You too, O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "Me too, but Allah has helped me against him (the devil-companion) and he has become Muslim.""
See also
*
List of characters and names mentioned in the Quran
*
Watcher (angel)
References
{{Angels in Abrahamic Religions
Angels in Islam
Classes of angels
Individual angels
Islamic eschatology