60وَلَو نَشاءُ لَجَعَلنا مِنكُم مَلائِكَةً فِي الأَرضِ يَخلُفونَAli UnalIf We had so willed, We could have made some from among you angels, succeeding each other on the earth.1This is also stated to refute the deification of angels. The Qur’ān warns that being a human, Jesus, upon him be peace, was able to revive some of the dead and give life to some clay figures, but he did those things by God’s permission; and he was a human being who had been created, one responsible for worshipping God, which he did. The polytheists of Makkah thought that only angels could do the extraordinary things that Jesus, upon him be peace, and other Prophets did with God’s permission. In fact, the believers among human beings are more virtuous and exalted in rank than the angels; the distinguished ones among them, such as the Prophets, are greater than the greatest among the angels; and the ordinary ones among the believers are greater than their counterparts among the angels. Human beings have a will, i.e. freedom of choice, which the angels do not possess. So the angels cannot elevate their rank. Thus it was that God willed humankind, not the angels, to inhabit the earth as vicegerents, as a huge grace to humankind, to improve it and live on it according to His Will; and He chose the Prophets from among them. Therefore, there is no need to look for virtue and achievement in other creatures, as it is humankind that has been endowed with the potential to attain the greatest virtues and achievements any created being can attain. And this fact categorically refutes the deification of the angels and the worship of them by human beings.