Azrael    Jibril   Shaitan   Djinn  

Azrael (in standard Arabic transliteration it is Ezra'il or Ezra'eil عزرائیل) is typically known as one of the names of the angel of death, and is an English form of the Arabic name Ezra'il or Ezra'eil, the name traditionally attributed to the angel of death in Islam, although the Qur'an never uses this name, usually using instead Malak al-Maut (which is a direct translation of angel of death). It is also spelled Izrail, Izrael, Azrail, and Azrael. In standard Arabic transliteration it is `Ezra'il or `Ezra'eil. Chambers English dictionary gives Azrael, but it doesn't seem to be in the Oxford English Dictionary. The name literally means whom God helps.

Azrael was first known as Azra, the descendant of the high priests of Aaron and scribe of the Babylonian exile and second Temple Jerusalem period. During the early Christian period he became known as Esdras, the prophet who bears witness to the coming of the Messiah. It was this early Christian story that claimed Azrael ascended into heaven without tasting death. He was also mentioned in the Christian heretic Marcion's records concerning the "Angel of Law". He is generally depicted as an archangel under the command of God rather than in the fashion of the figure of Death personified. Depending on the outlook and precepts of various religions in which he is a figure, Azrael is portrayed as residing in the third Heaven. He has four faces and four thousand wings, and his whole body consists of eyes and tongues, the number of which corresponds to the number of people inhabiting the earth. He will be the last to die, recording and erasing constantly in a large book the names of men at birth and death, respectively. [Rf: Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics IV, 617]

Azrael is also portrayed as the wisest or cleverest of the archangels. One story in the Qur'an has that God asked the four archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Azrael) to gather seven handfuls of dirt from the base of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. They realized that only three of them would be able to present the Lord with two handfuls, while the last would only bring one handful. Michael and Uriel immediately began to argue over which of them would carry two handfuls and which would carry only one. Gabriel tried to step in as a mediator, but eventually fell in with the argument. While they were thus distracted, Azrael snuck away and gathered all seven handfuls of dirt by himself, putting them in a bag and taking them to God alone.

In Exodus 12:12, when God inflicts the tenth and final plague on Egypt (the death of the firstborn), it is said that Azrael was the one that actually came and took the souls of the firstborn.