The Essence of Islam – Volume II — Page 179
Angles and does He need armies as they need them? 179. The answer is that God Almighty does not need anything, angels or sun or moon or stars, but He desired that. His powers should be exhibited through the mediation of means so that thereby wisdom and knowledge should spread among people. If there had been no mediation of means, there would have been no astronomy, or physics, or medicine, or botany. It is the employment of means that gave rise to these sciences. If you will reflect you will find that if there is any objection to the employment of angels, the same objection applies to putting the sun and moon and stars and vegetables and minerals and elements into service. Anyone who possesses insight knows that every particle works in accordance with the. Divine design and that a drop of water that goes inside us cannot produce any favourable or unfavourable effect upon our body without the command of God. Thus, all particles and heavenly bodies are in reality types of angels, who occupy themselves day and night with service; some serve the human body and others serve the human soul. The All-Wise, Who chose the mediation of means for the physical development of man and created many physical mediators to influence the human body in diverse ways, the same One without associate, Whose works have unity and symmetry, chose that man's spiritual development should also follow the system which has been adopted for his physical development so that the two systems, the external and the internal, and the physical and the spiritual, through their balance and harmony, should point to the One Creator, Who regulates everything by His will. . This is the reason why, for the spiritual and physical development of man, angels were appointed as media-