Belief in Angels – Lesson Plan & Resources

Assalaamu ‘alaykum,

Believing in the Angels is the 2nd pillar of Emaan, and is one of the aspects of the unseen that a Muslim must believe in.

There is a lot to know about the angels, and a lot of myths to deconstruct regarding their descriptions and capabilities. This lesson and the accompanying materials makes a point to address them.

Learning about the greatness of the angels, their numbers, size, and strength is so important because it helps us understand the Greatness and Might of the One who created them- Allah! It also gives us reassurance in Allaah’s mercy and His protection of us.

Belief in the Angels is Lesson 3 in our unit: The Six Pillars of Emaan. 

Forgive me, I did not prepare resources for the first pillar of emaan- Belief in Allaah. I didn’t teach that particular class. If I get around to preparing something, I’ll definitely share it, bi-ithnillah.

For each post in the series, I’ll give a brief overview of the topic and how I taught it, so that you can teach it too. I will share any worksheets I created for each lesson with you as well, inshaallaah. 

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Lesson Overview

Unit: The Six Pillars of Emaan 
Lesson: Belief in the Angels
Grades: 5+
Topics Covered:
> Characteristics, responsibilities, and tasks of angels
> Myths & misconceptions about angels
> Angels mentioned in the Quran & Sunnah

The Strategy

I taught this lesson in a classroom setting with 12+ students. Because there was so much material to cover, I opted to make use of centers/stations to cover all the material and complete the tasks.

Why Centers?

• Centers are a great way to manage larger groups in a learning setting.
• It reduces teacher talk time as students learn and work through the resources on their own, in groups.
• It prevents boredom because the task changes every 10-15 mins.
• It gives them a chance to move around as they move between stations.
• Keeps them engaged and focused because they work in short focused time blocks.
• Puts you in the role of a facilitator, while students gain more control of their learning.

If you are teaching your children at home, or have a smaller group, you can just have them complete each task one by one, over the span of 5 days.

How long is the lesson?

Because this is an Islamic creedal topic, there had to be some “lecturing”. Some topics can’t really be left for exploration, and sometimes the Muslim teacher needs to assume the role of ‘knowledgeable expert’ and give direct instruction.

There was a lot of information to cover regarding the angels of Allah, so I spent one whole lesson on the slides presentation alone. I’ve attached it below for you.

I honestly did not think I would spend a whole hour on the presentation, but we did. They had tons of questions. It was worth it. I’m sure we went over an hour.

So take your time, and ensure they are satisfied with the information.

If you don’t know the answer to something, tell them you’ll find out for them. Then go research and make sure you come back with an answer! They need their doubts dispelled! Also they’ll appreciate you for taking the time to find them an answer. They’ll feel valued, inshallah.

Admitting you don’t know something if half of knowledge. It doesn’t degrade your status as an educator at all (unless you are completely clueless and unprepared for the topic).

I almost never spend the whole time talking when I do direct instruction. I ask questions, and do spot check reviews throughout the presentation, just to make sure they are following and that no student is left behind.

So, if you find that you are doing a lot of direct teacher – student instruction, just make sure there is some two-way communication, so that they don’t get bored.

After direct instruction, we complete the following resources in the next class.

All 4 resources below were designed to reinforce what was taught in the presentation.

In a nutshell, this lesson may require 3-5 hours depending on your set up and “class” size.

The Resources

Presentation: Belief in the Angels Google slides presentation

Click the link above and make a copy of the Google slides document to use.

Activity Centre 1: True or False statements about Angels. – An important activity that gives the child a good foundation of what angels are and do and what they aren’t and don’t do according to Islam.

Activity Centre 2: Match the Angel to its Task/Description – A simple exercise to familiarize the child with the names of some angels and their jobs.

Activity Centre 3: Angel Profile Template – The students chooses one angel and creates an ID card or profile for that angel depending on it’s job. It is important to remind students not to draw the angel. Rather they can draw something that represents the angels tasks etc.

Activity Centre 4: Angels, Me, and the Quran – This task grants students exposure to the Quran as they search for ayaat/verses where angels are mentioned either by name or their description.

For more materials on teaching the concept of Angels, check out Knowledge Dunes’ post on the Belief in Angels.

Dr. Fadzidah Ariffin UmmuAbdullah, did an amazing job putting together the information in a visually appealing way. May Allah bless her and her efforts.

These resources didn’t exist, when I taught this lesson. But if I was to reteach it now, I would definitely use them. I would make copies and placed them at each station as a reference for the students to use to complete the tasks.

Both of us have relied on Dr. Muhammad Al-Jibaly’s Emaan Made Easy series to create our resources. So, her free resources on this topic will make a great supplement to what I’ve shared here. May Allah bless and reward her generously with Firdows!

Download from Knowledge Dunes here >>>>> Learning about the Angels <<<<<<<<

Also check out allamah education’s blog post on the topic. You can download an amazing set of resources on the angels that will work very well with this lesson.

Get it here>>> Forget Superheroes. Let’s Talk Angels. Aqeedah 101 Series.

Let’s grow together

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