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According to fakhr Razi, in his interpretation of a verse of Surat at-Tahrim:

Angels obligated to responsibilities in afterworld just as humans are responsible in the world. The disobedience of angels means that they are disagreement with Allah's commandment and prohibition. (fakhr Razi, volume 30, p.46, Tafsir Kabir)

If we accept this commentary, can we also believe that the angels are infallible? In other words, how can one reconcile between the disobedience of angels on one hand and also their infallibility on the other hand?

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    What verse are you referring to?
    – Sayyid
    Nov 5, 2014 at 9:22
  • about your premise "angels are infallible" AFAIK Angels are beings with free-will. But don't have the humanly desires (نفس) as we do (desire/lust for power, sex, money, etc.). They can commit sins or disobey. They usually don't—because of the lack of desire. So I think technically they aren't inherently infallible but usually are. Jinn on the other hand are beings that have free-will but also have desire...
    – Thaqalain
    Feb 27, 2017 at 20:00

2 Answers 2

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It is widely known that angels don't have free will, thus can't disobey Allah's orders. If they could, there would be a test for them too, but I don't read or heard of anything about the test of angels. They are always be mentioned in the context of doing what Allah has commanded them.

Never would the Messiah disdain to be a servant of Allah , nor would the angels near [to Him]. And whoever disdains His worship and is arrogant - He will gather them to Himself all together. (Surat An-Nisā' 4/172)

And to Allah prostrates whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth of creatures, and the angels [as well], and they are not arrogant. (Surat An-Naĥl 16/49)

You can also look at these verses: Surat An-Naĥl 16/50, Surat Maryam 19/64, Surat Al-'Anbyā' 21/19-20, Surat Al-'Anbyā' 21/26-27, Surat Aş-Şāffāt 37/164-166, Surat Az-Zumar 39/75, Surat Ash-Shūraá 42/5 etc.

There are also more verses about angels in the Qur'an, all of them are describing the angels as servants of Allah, as they do whatever Allah commands, as they fear from Allah, as they pray to Allah and never tired for that, etc.

There is no verse about angels's disobedience, or their test, or their punishment in such cases, or any possibility of something like that. In some verses, the word "all" is used for angels, but there is no mention about exceptions.

There is a Satan issue coming from Surat Al-Baqarah 2/34, but we certainly know that he is not an angel, but a djinn from Surat Al-Kahf 18/50. So, he is out of topic.

In conclusion, they are infallible.

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I won't be able to answer your question with an exact Hadith or Ayah, however it is known that the Angels do not have nafs[?] and free-will, as such they are not capable of choosing between obeying and not-obeying

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