Azrail

Azrail, also transliterated as Izra’il, Izrail, or Azrael, is a figure found in Islamic, Jewish, and Christian literary traditions as the agent responsible for collecting the souls of the dead. In many Islamic sources the name refers to the angel of death who carries out God’s commands to take souls. The term is especially common in Turkish language and culture, where the angel is known as Azrail. The figure also appears in medieval and later Jewish and Christian lore, though variations exist and the name is not uniformly canonical.

In Islam, the Qur'an does not name the angel of death; the role is described through hadith and tafsir as carried out by a dedicated angel, traditionally identified as Izra'il. According to these sources, the angel’s task begins at God's command and is part of the divine order governing life and death; the exact timing of death is known only to God. Descriptions of the angel's appearance differ across traditions and are not standardized.

In Jewish tradition, a figure called Malakh ha-Mavet (the Angel of Death) figures in rabbinic and later mystical literature, but Azrael is not part of the Hebrew Bible. In some medieval Jewish writings and in some Christian apocrypha, the name Azrael appears as a separate angel associated with death, but this is not universal across denominations and is treated as folklore or exegetical interpretation rather than a single dogma.

In modern culture, Azrael is used as a literary and popular-culture figure, appearing in novels, comics, films, and video games. In Turkish media and folklore, the name broadly denotes the personification of death, while in scholarly contexts the figure is discussed as a theological symbol adapted over time.