Risāla means "message" in Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

. It is also an Islamic term that has a broader meaning.

Islamic term

The Message (Arabic ar-Risāla) is sometimes a way to refer to Islam. In the Islamic context, ar-Risāla means scriptures revealed from God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

 through a Messenger (Arabic ar-Rasūl) to the people. These messengers bring laws to their communities so as to guide them towards the straight path of God. They can be social laws, state laws or any other kind of laws.

To understand this concept better, it is important to know how Muslims look at the different terminologies of Messenger

Apostle (Islam)

In Islam, an Apostle or Messenger is a prophet sent by God.According to the Qur'an, God sent many prophets to mankind. The five universally acknowledged messengers in Islam are Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad, as each is believed to have been sent with a scripture...

, Prophet

Prophet

In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...

, Imam

Imam

An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...

, Guardian and Wiseman

Wiseman

-People:* Bob Wiseman, Canadian musician, filmmaker, singer-songwriter, actor* Chad Wiseman, Canadian ice hockey player* Clarence Wiseman, 10th General of The Salvation Army* Danny Wiseman, American professional bowler...

.

This is also the title of a popular work of Fiqh for the Maliki School of Thought written by Abi Zayd of al-Qayrawan. This work was the source text for many later works of Islamic Law and for one of the first Islamic texts the Bilali Document

Bilali Document

The Bilali Muhammad Document is a handwritten, Arabic manuscript on West African Islamic law. It was written by Bilali Mohammet in the nineteenth century. The document is currently housed in the library at the University of Georgia.-History:...

 written in the United States written by Bilali Muhammad, a slave in Georgia, originally from Timbo, Guinea.

Term used for Risale-i Nur Collection

Risale-i Nur

The Risale-i Nur Collection is an approximately six-thousand-page tafsir on the Qur'an written by Said Nursi between the 1910s and 1950s in accordance with the mentality of the age...

 of Bediüzzaman Said Nursi

Said Nursî

Bediuzzaman Said Nursî ,commonly known as Bediüzzaman , which means "The Wonder of the Age" was a Muslim scholar who wrote the Risale-i Nur Collection, a body of Qur'anic commentary exceeding six thousand pages. . He was born in Nurs, a village in the Ottoman Bitlis Province in eastern Anatolia. He...

.

Messengers

The Messengers are those prophets in the Islamic context, who have been given a Revelation. Abraham

Abraham

Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...

, Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

, David

David

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

, Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

 and Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

 are the well known messengers in Islam.

Prophets

Prophets (Arabic an-Anbīya) are the link of humanity to God through the Angels. They have specific functions according to the need of the time.

Imāms

Imāms

Imam

An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...

 are guides and leaders. Those who are not prophets

Prophets of Islam

Muslims identify the Prophets of Islam as those humans chosen by God and given revelation to deliver to mankind. Muslims believe that every prophet was given a belief to worship God and their respective followers believed it as well...

 are mostly Awsiyā "Guardians" of the Message of a Messenger as in Shi'a Islam

Shi'a Islam

Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'ites or Shias. "Shia" is the short form of the historic phrase Shīʻatu ʻAlī , meaning "followers of Ali", "faction of Ali", or "party of Ali".Like other schools of thought in Islam, Shia Islam is...

.

Guardians

Guardians Awsiyā are protectors of the message or the nation such as Joshua

Joshua

Joshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua...

 and Yasaʻ (Elisha) and Imāms for the Shīʻa. They may or may not be prophets.

Wisemen

A wise man (Arabic Ħakīm) is someone who has been educated by God's messages. There is a unique example in the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

: Luqmān

Luqman

Luqman was a wise man for whom Surat Luqman , the thirty-first sura of the Qur'an, was named. Luqman is believed to be from Africa...

. He attained a high degree of wisdom.

The relationship to Angels

Angels are the message carriers between God and His people. They are strongly connected to prophets and messengers, as well as miracles. They can appear to non-prophets such as Maryam

Maryam

Maryam/ Meryem / Merjem or Mariam may refer to:* Maryam , a female given name* Mary * Maryam , 19th sura of the Qur'an...

, Sara and Luqmān

Luqman

Luqman was a wise man for whom Surat Luqman , the thirty-first sura of the Qur'an, was named. Luqman is believed to be from Africa...

.

There are numerous Muslim accounts in which the angels appeared before the Sahāba

Sahaba

In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...

 "Companions" and the Ahl al-Bayt

Ahl al-Bayt

Ahl al-Bayt is an Arabic phrase literally meaning People of the House, or family of the House. The phrase "ahl al-bayt" was used in Arabia before the advent of Islam to refer to one's clan, and would be adopted by the ruling family of a tribe. Within the Islamic tradition, the term refers to the...

 "Family Members" of Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

.

On Laylat-ul-Qadr, Muslims believe that angels might appear to some pious people.