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Angel of Death
Death, personified is an anthropomorphic figure or a fictional character who
has existed in mythology and popular culture since the earliest days of
storytelling. Because the reality of death has had a substantial influence on
the human psyche and the development of civilization as a whole, the
personification of Death as a living, sentient entity is a concept that has
existed in all known societies since the beginnings of recorded history.
Definition by Wikipedia.com
Azrael, also known as Izra'il, one of the
four Archangels of Islam (Mikhail, Djibril, and Israfil), is pictured as
having gigantic proportions: one foot rests in either the forth or the seventh
heaven, while the other is on the bridge between hell and paradise. Supposedly
Azrael brought God a handful of earth from which to create Adam and therefore
earned his title as the Angel of Death. Izra'il keeps a roll of humanity, on
which the names of the damned are circle in black and the names of the
blessed, in light. When a person's day of death approaches, a leaf with the
person's name on it falls from the tree beneath God's throne. After forty days
have passed, Izra'il must sever the individual's soul from his or her body.
Azrael will be the last to die, but will do so at the second trump of the
Archangel. He is the angel who accompanies your soul to Heaven.
The phrase 'the Wings of Azrael' refers to the approach of death; the signs of
death coming on the dying.
Other faiths name the Angel of Death as a different angel:
In Judeo-Christian lore, Michael, Gabriel, Sammael, and Sariel all all named
as the angel of death.
Jewish lore says this angel is Rahab, who, lore goes on to say, was destroyed
by God for refusing to part the waters of the red sea. The new angel of death
then became Yama (Malach ha-Mavet).
The Talmud says the angel of death was equated with Satan, and thus became the
legend that the angel of death was evil, rather than the good angel he is.
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