Why are angels always males?

[WinterHold]

I tend to avoid believing in any kind of "Anthropomorphism" when it comes to religion.

This is wise, I think. As much as I love all that medieval and Renaissance art, the way they show angels has led to misunderstanding. There's a good reason for refraining from such imagery.

In terms of "artistic taste", medieval art fascinates me, I love the creativity but despise the reflection, it's like a direct portal to the kind of mentality that generation had; sad thing is that many religious people think that "the real picture" is just like that art. I mean look at Churches for example. Actually I'm sure that some Muslims think that God is "a Sultan sitting with a turban and carrying a huge sword", and some theists think of Satan as "a half reddish goat-man with horns".

There are a lot of similarities here between what you say here and the Christian tradition that developed over the centuries. It would be very interesting to know about cross-influences, common sources, etc. Ancient Mesopotamian and Sumerian art has multi-winged creatures before either Christianity or Islam were up and running, so I suspect they have roots in the same ideas. 

Pseudo-Dionysius, who did the most to describe angels in the Christian tradition, was from Syria, so he would be closer to Middle Eastern sources, at least geographically. 

I believe that the source of religion in general was the same, I think you will be interested to see that the Quran asserts this:

Sura 23, The Quran:
https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/index.php?l=en#...rans=en_sh

( 43 )   No nation will precede its time [of termination], nor will they remain [thereafter].

( 44 )   Then We sent Our messengers in succession. Every time there came to a nation its messenger, they denied him, so We made them follow one another [to destruction], and We made them narrations. So away with a people who do not believe.

The Sumerian, the Ancient Egyptians, all civilizations were contacted by the same God through human messengers carrying God's message, I think that's why angels -for example- have the same form in almost all religions. There is always the "winged creatures" who serve as "celestial high beings", some civilizations even worshiped them.

He and Dante and others used to give angels a large and varied role, as you describe. Classical theologians often insisted that God himself took no action -- being perfect and impassible he could not change or move -- so interventions in the material world were ascribed to the angels acting on his behalf. They would know what was necessary without God giving them a push. 

Ancient Arabs used to follow a pagan religion that focuses on "partners of the central God", so you would have the supreme God -mostly neglected as you say- and all worship is directed to his partners.

You can detect immediately that this rings a bell with the relationship of "God" with the "Angels" in Islam: but in Islam the difference is that they are servants of God who act upon his commands, while in the pagan religions they are "independent mini-Gods".

Some of the Jinn are righteous, others are bad. The ones who follow "Satan's" way are called "demons".

This is very interesting! Again there are fascinating similarities between Jinn the spirits that the Romans called geniuses -- though differences too. It would be very nice to know about how the ideas developed, and from where.

You know that the guy who lives in Aladdin's lamp is called a "genie" in English. I had always assumed that it was a Jinn, but that the use of the word "genie" showed it to be the same species of thing as a Roman genius. Now I've been Googling, and it turns out that this coincidence can't be traced back farther than the French translator of The 1001 Nights. The French word for genius is "genie," and that guy thought it sounded similar to "jinn," as well as familiar to French readers. So he called it a genie and somehow the French word got taken into English. 

The scholars speculate that the words have a common root, but apparently no one's sure. It just seems too good to be a coincidence. 

If you meet one, please ask him!

Thank you for taking the time to answer in such a complete way. I love learning about these things.

lol, I never knew that the origin of the word "genie" is Roman :p Arabs and Muslims in general say that the word "Gen" جن means :

https://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/%D8%AC%D9%86/

Gin: (noun) The plural of jinn, Moaniyah: Unlike people, they are named because they are hidden from people, and are invisible creatures of fire. The world of jinn is scary

But I think your explanation for it is more reasonable and accurate: I never knew Romans believed in "gins" ! very interesting.

You are welcome, and hey it's my pleasure : I enjoy talking about these stuff.