Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
Saying that angels do not eat or drink does not involve likening them to Allah Almighty. Their lack of need for food and drink is a characteristic with which Allah created them, while they remain created beings completely dependent upon Him for their existence, abilities, and every aspect of their affairs. Allah, on the other hand, is Self-Sufficient in Himself and independent of all His creation. Merely sharing a general meaning does not imply equality in the reality of attributes. Allah has described Himself as Hearing and Seeing, and He has also described humans with hearing and sight, while there remains a complete distinction between the attributes of the Creator and those of created beings.
The Qur’an indicates that angels do not eat, as shown in the account of the guests of Ibrahim (Abraham), peace be upon him.
Allah says:
“But when he saw their hands not reaching for it, he became suspicious of them and felt afraid of them. They said, ‘Do not be afraid. We have been sent to the people of Lot.’”
[Hud 11:70]
Ibrahim, peace be upon him, offered them food, but they did not eat from it because they were angels.
Al-Tabari (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“They refrained from eating it because they were not among those who eat it.”
Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“The angels have no desire for food; they do not crave it or eat it.”
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi also reported the agreement of scholars that angels neither eat nor drink.
Because there is a fundamental difference between Allah’s independence from food and drink and the angels not eating or drinking.
Allah Almighty is Self-Sufficient and independent of all His creation. He says:
“O mankind, you are those in need of Allah, while Allah is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy.”
[Fatir 35:15]
The angels, however, are created beings. Allah is the One who brought them into existence, sustains them, and gave them their abilities.
They do not need food because Allah created their nature in such a way that they do not require it, not because they are independent of Allah or self-subsisting.
There are other created things that do not eat or drink, such as inanimate objects, yet no one claims that this makes them similar to Allah.
Therefore, merely not needing food does not mean possessing absolute self-sufficiency.
A distinction must therefore be made between:
Not needing a particular type of means, and being completely independent of everything.
The first may exist in some created beings according to their nature, whereas the second belongs to Allah Almighty alone.
No.
Allah says:
“There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”
[Ash-Shura 42:11]
In the same verse, Allah denies any likeness to Himself while affirming that He is Hearing and Seeing.
At the same time, Allah says about the human being:
“Indeed, We created man from a drop of mixed fluids in order to test him, so We made him hearing and seeing.”
[Al-Insan 76:2]
Allah is Hearing and Seeing, and a human may also be described as hearing and seeing. Yet this does not mean that human hearing is like Allah’s Hearing or that human sight is like Allah’s Sight.
Rather, Allah has attributes befitting His Majesty, while created beings have limited attributes appropriate to their created nature.
The forbidden resemblance is to make Allah’s attributes equivalent to those of created beings in their reality and manner, or to attribute to a created being something that belongs exclusively to Allah’s Lordship.
Merely sharing a general meaning understood in the mind does not entail actual equivalence.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“Mere agreement in some names and attributes does not necessitate likeness and equivalence.”
The correct approach, therefore, is to affirm the attributes of perfection that Allah has affirmed for Himself while denying any likeness between Him and His creation.
Even among created beings, there are major differences in attributes and abilities.
Angels speak, hear, see, ascend, and descend, yet this does not mean that the true nature of these actions and attributes is identical to that of humans.
Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) pointed out that although angels and humans are both created beings, the attributes and actions of angels differ from those of humans.
If such great differences can exist between one created being and another, then the distinction between the Creator and creation is far greater and more complete.
The fact that angels do not eat or drink does not mean that they are being likened to Allah Almighty.
Angels do not require food or drink because Allah created them with a nature that does not need them. Nevertheless, they remain created beings completely dependent upon Allah for their existence, continued existence, abilities, and every aspect of their affairs.
Allah, however, is Self-Sufficient in Himself and independent of all His creation.
Likewise, sharing the basic meaning of a name or description does not imply equality. Allah is Hearing and Seeing, and humans are also described as hearing and seeing, yet “There is nothing like unto Him.”
Therefore, what is authentically established regarding the Creator and created beings should be affirmed in a manner appropriate to each, while believing that nothing in Allah’s creation is comparable to Him.
And Allah knows best.