عزرائيل
ʿAzrāʾīl
Person
The angel of death, whose name comes from later tradition and not from the Quran or the sound hadith.
What it means
The Quran speaks of “the angel of death who is put in charge of you” (32:11), of “Our messengers” who take the soul (6:61), and that “God takes souls at the time of their death” (39:42). The name Azrail comes from later tradition.
Often misunderstood as
That the Quran contradicts itself about who takes the soul.
What the sources say
The three statements are compatible: God is the one who decrees death, the angel of death carries it out, and he has helpers, as the plural “Our messengers” shows. The Quran places the cause with God and the means with His servants.