Angels · Keeper of Jahannam
مالك
Malik
The people of the Fire will beg him for annihilation; his answer takes a thousand years of silence to say.
The account
Malik commands the Fire and its nineteen wardens, "over it are angels, stern and severe; they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them" (66:6). The Qur'an records the one conversation the Fire's people will have with him: "They will call: O Malik, let your Lord finish us. He will say: You are staying" (43:77). Classical tafsir adds that the answer comes after an interval that mocks the request; the mercy of quick death is not his to give.
The Prophet ﷺ met him: on the Night Journey Malik was the one angel who did not smile at him, and Jibril explained that he has never smiled at anyone since he was created; were he to smile for any, it would have been for you. In the dream-vision of Bukhari the Prophet saw him kindling, and identified him plainly: this is Malik, the keeper of the Fire. The Codex sets him beside the keeper of the Garden deliberately: both abodes have their appointed keepers, and their gates stand beyond all human bargaining. The door out of his jurisdiction is open only on this side of death.
The facts
- ChargeJahannam · 19 wardens (74:30)
- His sentence“You are staying” (43:77)
- NeverSmiled, since creation
- SeenOn the Isra, unsmiling
The Qur'an on it
وَنَادَوْا يَا مَالِكُ لِيَقْضِ عَلَيْنَا رَبُّكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنَّكُم مَّاكِثُونَ
They will call: O Malik, let your Lord put an end to us. He will say: indeed, you are staying.
The narrations
I saw Malik, the keeper of the Fire, and the Dajjal, among the signs shown to me.
cf. Bukhari 3236 · Muslim 172 (Isra narrations)
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The Unseen