Angelic · Islamic angels · c. 650 CE
Kiraman Katibin
Also called The Honourable Scribes
Two angels of Islamic tradition, one at each shoulder, writing down everything a person does. Theirs is the register produced at judgment.
Single lineage
Two angels, one at each shoulder, writing down what a person does — the honourable scribes, and the reason the register produced at judgment is not compiled after the fact but kept as it happens. What makes the pair interesting beside the other recording figures in this corpus is the absence of any weighing: no scales, no counterweight, no feather. The record is the evidence and the reckoning is God's. This is also the mechanism behind a good deal of ordinary Islamic practice, where an act is done or avoided in the knowledge that it is being written down at the moment of doing it.
Identity
Where does the name come from?
Where it was actually worshipped
None. The two recording angels sit on the shoulders, which is as close to a location as they get.
A figure with temples and a figure that only ever existed on a page are different kinds of thing, and the difference is easy to lose once both are entries in a list.
At a glance
Vitals
Vitals
Also known as
- First attested
- Qur'an & Hadith · 7th c. CE onward
- Named there as
- Kirāman Kātibīn
- Rank
- Recording Angels
- Order
- Islamic angels
- Base of operations
- None. The two recording angels sit on the shoulders, which is as close to a location as they get.
- Era
- c. 650 CE
- Traditions
- Islamic
- Placed in
- The Offices of the Mala'ika
Traits
- Domain
- The record of every deed
- Traditional form
- Two angels, one at each shoulder
Stats
2 attributed
What is it said to do?
Where these powers cluster
The 2 offices attributed to Kiraman Katibin, grouped by kind. Segment width is the share of powers falling in each category.
A bar dominated by one colour means a specialist; an even spread means a figure the sources credit with almost anything.
- martial1
- knowledge1
martial
knowledge
1 texts
Which texts say so?
Write down what each person does; nothing is uttered but there is a watcher ready.
Connections
What is it connected to?
No relationship to another figure in this corpus is recorded in the texts cited above. Where an edge exists here it is because a source states it, so an empty section means the sources are silent rather than that the connection is unknown.
Placement
Where does it sit in the hierarchies?
Answered from the sources
Common questions
Which texts mention Kiraman Katibin?
What rank is Kiraman Katibin?
How else is Kiraman Katibin spelled?
What is Kiraman Katibin said to do?
How old is Kiraman Katibin?
Nearest in the corpus
If Kiraman Katibin is what you came for, these are next
Chosen by proximity rather than by popularity: the same pantheon first, then the same rank, then the same kind of figure.
Cherubim
Second Choir · First Sphere
Guardians of thresholds and bearers of the throne — four-faced in Ezekiel, flanking the mercy seat in Exodus, and nothing at all like the winged infants of later art.
Dominions
Fourth Choir · Second Sphere
The administrative choir: they regulate the duties of lower angels and never act directly on the created world.
Gabriel
Archangel · Archangels / Chief Princes
The messenger. The angel who explains Daniel's visions, announces two births in Luke, and in Islam delivers the entire Qur'an.
Michael
Archangel · Archangels / Chief Princes
The warring archangel: prince of Israel in Daniel, captain of the host in Revelation, and the only angel the New Testament calls an archangel outright.
Seraphim
First Choir · First Sphere
Six-winged and burning, they attend the throne directly and sing the trisagion. Their name is the Hebrew verb 'to burn'.
Thrones
Third Choir · First Sphere
The wheels of the chariot — rings of fire studded with eyes, on which divine justice is said to be seated.
The book behind Kiraman Katibin
Every claim on this profile is attributed to one of these. It is public domain, listed oldest first, and each links to a full text where one is freely available.
Qur'an & Hadith
Various · 7th c. CE onward · Arabic
Read Qur'an & Hadith in full ↗Cover: Public domain · AnonymousUnknown author · Wikimedia file page
Corpus last revised 29 August 2026. A reference site’s credibility rests on being maintained, so this is the date the sourced records last changed — not the date the page was rebuilt.