Avenging Angels Trivia Quiz

Answer: Raqib and Atid

Angels in Islam are beings of light who obey Allah without question. The kiraman katibin's job is to record a person's deeds in life. Unlike the guardian angels, who stand in front of and behind a person, the kiraman katibin are on each side. The angel on the left records bad deeds and the angel on the right records good ones.

The Qu'ran refers to them as 'Noble Recorders' in 82:10-12. Muhammad stated that the angel on the left would wait for six hours before recording a Muslim's bad deeds, in order to give them time to repent and ask Allah for forgiveness.

Answer: Michael

Archangels are found in all three Abrahamic religions, and are high-ranking angels, the most well-known being Gabriel / Jibril, Michael / Mikail and Raphael / Israfil. Michael is the commander of G-d's Army, and Satan's arch-nemesis who kicked him out of Paradise. According to Catholic tradition, he is the Angel of Death who comes to collect the souls of the dead and weigh them, and give them the chance to redeem themselves (in some artworks, he is depicted holding a set of scales).

In Revelation, he leads an army of angels in a fight against a dragon.

Answer: Jacob

In Genesis 28:10-19, after Jacob runs away from his brother Esau, he has a lie down on the way and dreams about a ladder reaching from Earth to the heavens, with angels climbing and descending it. G-d tells him that He will give the land to Jacob and his offspring, and that they will spread across the world. Jacob names the place Bethel ('house of G-d'). Some commentaries on the Torah have suggested that the angels descending represent civilisations such as Babylon and Rome, or that the area where Jacob rested was actually Mount Moriah, the future home of the Temple.

Later on in Genesis 32:22-32, while on his way back to Canaan, Jacob wrestles an angel - said to be Samael, the Jewish Angel of Death - until the break of dawn. The angel gives him the name of 'Israel'. This also gets a mention in Hosea 12:4. (Some Christian interpretations state that the angel Jacob wrestled was actually G-d.)

Answer: Alam al-Jabarut

Islamic cosmology was greatly studied in medieval times, and categorised the cosmos into two domains: the unseen universe (Aalam ul-Ghaib), the domain of Allah, heaven, hell and angels, and the observable universe (Alam ul-Shahood) which, unlike the unseen universe, could be perceived by humans. One of the names for Allah in the Qu'ran is 'alim al-ghaib wa al-shahada', or 'the One who knows the unseen and the visible'. Alam al-Jabarut, the World of Power, is one of the planes of existence within Aalam ul-Ghaib, and the very highest, where the most elected angels live.

As for the others, Al-Malakut, the World of Dominion, is another supernatural realm, home to angels, demons and seven heavens, and is the next plane down from Alam al-Jabarut. Alam al-Mulk, the Kingdom, is the physical plane. As-Sirat is the bridge that has to be crossed on Judgement Day (Yawm ad-Din) in order to get into Paradise, and is said to be as sharp as a sword and as thin as a hair.

Answer: Assyrian

Assyria was an ancient realm in Upper Mesopotamia, which encompassed parts of Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq. Sennacherib, King of Assyria, destroyed the city of Babylon for refusing to submit to Assyrian rule, and also waged war against the kingdom of Judah. According to 2 Kings 19, he sent a warning to King Hezekiah that Jerusalem would fall to Assyria. G-d responded via the prophet Isaiah, saying, "(Sennacherib) will not enter this city. I will defend this city and save it, for My sake and for the sake of David, My servant." (2 Kings 19:33-34) The angel slaughtered the Assyrian troops overnight, and Sennacherib retreated.

He was later assassinated by his own sons.

Answer: Enoch

The man in question is Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. Although Enoch is not part of the Jewish canon (except Beta Israel), it is accepted as canon by Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches. Most of it is written in Ge'ez, the language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

It talks about the interaction of fallen angels - led by Samyaza - with humanity, where they take human wives and teach humans how to make weapons and cosmetics. 3 Enoch, allegedly written by the sage Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha, tells of Enoch's transformation into an angel known as Metatron, the Recording Angel, and ascent into Heaven.

The Song-Uttering Choirs are a class of angels who reside in the fifth heaven of Makhon, ruled by the archangel Samael. Their job is to sing the Trisagion, a hymn sung in Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Answer: Numbers

Specifically, it happens in Chapter 22, verses 21-35. Balak, the King of Moab, tries to get Balaam to go and curse the Israelites, but Balaam has a dream in which G-d tells him not to go. Balak sends officials to come and get Balaam, but Balaam says that he can only do what G-d tells him to do.

When he gets on his donkey and goes off with the Moabites, G-d sends an angel to stand in the way of the donkey three times. Whenever the donkey sees the angel, it turns off the path, and Balaam beats it. G-d gives the donkey the ability to speak, and the donkey asks Balaam why he keeps beating it.

The angel then reveals itself and tells Balaam that it would have killed him if the donkey had not stopped.

Answer: 19

The 19 Zabaniyya (guards) are known as the Angels of Punishment or Angels of Hell, and are mentioned in 66:6 and 74:30 of the Qu'ran. Their leader, Maalik, meets the prophet Mohammed on his way to Heaven, and is the only angel not smiling in welcome. He opens the gates of Hell to show Mohammed the suffering of the sinners down there. ('19' is the name of the British singer Adele's debut album.)

Answer: Lion, ox and eagle

If you're an astrology buff, you might have noticed that these four heads all correspond to the fixed signs of the Western zodiac: Leo (the lion), Taurus (the ox), Aquarius (the man), and Scorpio (the eagle, as it is an alternative symbol to the scorpion). The faces also represent different living creatures; humans (the man), birds (the eagle), wild animals (the lion), and domesticated animals (the ox). Cherubim carry G-d's throne in the first chapter of Ezekiel, and as well as the four faces, they also have four wings - two pointing upwards and two covering their bodies - human hands, and calves' feet.

The chubby babies are actually called 'putti', and frequently occur in Baroque art, both religious and secular.

Answer: Zaphkiel

The full list is as follows: Keter (Crown) and Metatron; Chokmah (Wisdom) and Raziel; Binah (Understanding) and Zaphkiel; Chesed (Kindness or Mercy) and Zadkiel; Gevurah (Strength) and Camael; Tiferet (Beauty) and Michael and Raphael, jointly (who also represent Hod, or Glory); Netzach (Eternity) and Haniel; Yesod (Foundation) and Gabriel; and Malkut (Kingdom) and Sandalphon.

In Hermetic Kabbalah - which is not part of Jewish tradition - each archangel also has an opposing demon which represents the opposite value in the Qliphoth, ten evils or impurities. For instance, Lucifer is the demonic counterpart of Zaphkiel, and Sathariel (Concealment of G-d) is the opposite of Binah.