The angels are neither females nor males, and are pure of all depravity and sins. Some of the first rank among them are entranced in the contemplation of the divine perfection which they witness, so that they are not aware of God Almighty having created the world and mankind. The second order of angels are the ministers of bodies and gigantic forms; the revolution of the heavens is their office; and with every drop of rain an angel comes down, and no leaf appears without an angel fostering it. But among the angels four are distinguished, namely: _Jabrîl_, _Isráfîl_, _Mâîkáíl_, and _Azráîl_. The message of revelation is the business of Jabrîl; to sound the trumpet belongs to Isráfîl; the surety of professions is Mâikáil’s; and Azráil seizes the souls. Four angels are the appointed guardians of mankind, and write down the good and the bad; two of them are occupied with this business during the day, and two during the night. The writers of the good keep the right side, those of the bad the left. The angels can in some form appear to men; “Especially to the eyes of the guides of the ways, From among the possessors of constancy,[519] the prophets and apostles.” The prophets are the select of God from among all the children of Adam and of the exalted angels, and the spirit of Satan can never hurt them, if, by an extraordinary emergency, one of them commits a fault, it is reckoned to be for giving good advice. “Adam, at the moment when he tasted wheat,[520] Received the seed for the propagation of mankind; From the grain which he ate sprang up a tree; Life in me and in thee is its fruit.” Although there be among the prophets, as compared with each other, a higher and a lower rank in their exaltation, yet Muhammed the Arabian (may the blessing of God, the high and omnipotent, be upon him!) is the noble and excelling prophet, who unites all virtues and perfections. “Before the intelligent, there is no messenger But Muhammed for all mankind.” He is the seal of God’s prophets, and after him no other shall come, and when at the end of time the Messiah shall descend, he shall adopt the law of Muhammed; he shall convoke the nations to his religion; the law of the prophet shall cancel all other laws. “If the decision of the law of the sovereign (Muhammed) happens to be Corresponding with another law, There is no obedience whatever due to the latter, Except from the circumstance of its being right according to the law of the prophet.” The ascent of the prophet[521] with his body happened during his being awake, as far as the mosque _Aksa_; there he mounted on the back of _Borák_,[522] and passed above the heavens. He saw all the prophets, and the stories of the heavens and the hells; in the heavenly mansion of Jabrîl (God be praised!) the angel remained behind him; then, by means of the arch he proceeded further.