Malak al-Mawt

The Angel of Death is the angel entrusted with taking souls, and he was named in the Qur'an by his explicit name once: As-Sajda 11 "Say: the angel of death who is entrusted with you will take you, then to your Lord you will return." He is the one who takes souls when they die, and who descends with the angels upon the believers at their death throes, as in Fussilat 30 ¹.

• As-Sajda 11: "Say: the angel of death who is entrusted with you will take you" — and in it the naming of the Angel of Death expressly, and in it "entrusted with you" meaning entrusted with taking your souls ¹.
• Fussilat 30: "Those who say: Our Lord is God, then remain steadfast — the angels descend upon them: do not fear and do not grieve, and receive glad tidings of Paradise" — and in the tafsir the angels here are in the place of the death throes, and among them is the Angel of Death ².
• Al-An'am 61, Az-Zumar 42, and Muhammad 27 in the context of the taking of souls and God taking them — and in them that the taking is by God's hand, and the Angel of Death is His instrument ¹.
• Al-Nahl 32 and Al-Infitar 10 in the writing of deeds — no direct connection to the Angel of Death.

• The story of Musa and the Angel of Death: in Sahih Muslim from Ibn 'Umar that Musa said "My Lord, show me the angel of death who takes souls," so God showed him to him in the form of a man with a severed hand, and Musa said "If the one being raised on the Day of Resurrection is thus, then give them glad tidings..." and he waved at him and gouged his eye, then he returned to God and said "You sent me to a servant of Yours who does not want death, and he has gouged my eye" ³.
• In Muslim's narration "the Angel of Death sends the soul" and in it that the soul is taken by God's command ³.
• In al-Bukhari's hadith on the description of the Day of Judgment "the Angel of Death comes..." and in it scenes of the grave ⁴.
• In the hadith "The Angel of Death does not punish the believer" and in a narration he gives him glad tidings ^{5 6}.
• In a narration that the Angel of Death sends the soul to the body in the grave so that the soul enters it on the Day of Resurrection ⁴.

Ibn Kathir details the story of Musa with the Angel of Death, and mentions that the Angel of Death is the one who takes souls by God's command, and that he was in the form of a man with a severed hand ². And al-Qurtubi held that the Angel of Death is the one entrusted with taking souls, and that he is among the greatest of the angels ⁷.

• He takes the souls of the children of Adam when they die, one by one, by God's command ^{3 2}.
• At the death throes the angels of mercy or punishment descend upon him according to what the servant died upon, and the Angel of Death is the one entrusted with the taking ^{3 2}.
• In a narration he does not punish the believers but gives them glad tidings, and in a narration he weeps over the death of the disbelievers ⁶.

• "Malak al-Mawt" (the Angel of Death) is a singular name in the Qur'an, and in hadith he comes in the plural form "angels of death" in some narrations — and the principle is that the taking is by God's command and the Angel of Death is His instrument ².
• His story with Musa is famous in Sahih Muslim, and in it is an admonition in death and decree ³.
• His companion in the taking is the angels of mercy and punishment in the narration of the grave ^{4 3}.