Azrael

Not to be confused with Sir Azreal, a Knight of the Round Table.

Artistic depiction of Azrael, the Angel of Death.

Azrael is the Biblical Archangel of Death. He is also the Angel of Death in Islamic extrabiblical tradition and folklore. It is an English form of the Arabic name Azra'il (عزرائيل) or Azra'eil (عزرایل), the name traditionally attributed to the angel of death in Islam and some Hebrew lore.^[1] The Qur'an never uses this name, referring instead to Malak al-Maut (which translates directly as angel of death). It is also spelled Izrail, Izrael, Azrail, Ezraeil, Azraille, Azryel, or Ozryel. Chambers English dictionary uses the spelling Azrael. The name literally means Whom God Helps.^[1]

Background

Although some sources have speculated about a connection between Azrael and the human priest Ezra,^[2] he is generally depicted as an archangel whose history long predates this figure.^[3] Rather than merely representing death personified, Azrael is usually described in Islamic sources as subordinate to the will of God "with the most profound reverence."^[4] In Jewish mysticism he is identified as the embodiment of evil, not necessarily or specifically evil itself.^[1] Depending on the outlook and precepts of various religions in which he is a figure, Azrael may be portrayed as residing in the Third Heaven.^[5] In one of his forms, 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.^[6] Riffian (Berber) men of Morocco had the custom of shaving the head but leaving a single lock of hair on either the crown, left, or right side of the head, so that the angel Azrael is able "...to pull them up to heaven of the Last Day." ^[7]

Commentary

There has been much confusion over true identity of Azrael. The historical documentation provided by scribes in the Islamic tradition, provide a conflicting and inconclusive narrative.

Notwithstanding the phonetic similarities between the Arabic Azrael and the Hebraic Israel, it is in the latter that we are given to understand the full significance of the covenantal encounter that transforms Jacob, patriarch of the twelve tribes of Israel (Heb. Ya'aqobh, lit. "one that takes by the heel"), into Israel (Heb. Yisra'el "he that striveth with God).^[8]

In art and literature

Azrael, as both a character or a more abstract concept has been adopted by many different artists, musicians, poets, and authors over the centuries to express or evoke a variety of different meanings or emotions in the reader – often drawing on the cultural resonance of the name for effect.

Depiction of Azrael by Mikhail Vrubel.

In literature, Azrael has been featured by a variety of authors, across a broad range of styles and countries.

• American poet Florence Earle Coates (1850-1927) writes of 'wan-visaged Azrael' in her war poem, "Their Victory Won," published in the December 1918 issue of Harper's Monthly Magazine.
• The Mexican poet Amado Nervo wrote a poem entitled Azrael
• The playwright Arthur Miller wrote in Azrael as a character in "The Creation of Life and Other Business"
• Asrael is a symphony by Czech composer Josef Suk, dating from 1906
• In Salman Rushdie's 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, voiceover artist Saladin Chamcha has a vision of Azrael.

In popular culture

• In the cartoon The Smurfs, Azrael is the name of the Wizard Gargamel's cat.
• In the Kevin Smith movie Dogma, Azrael was a character played by Jason Lee as a fallen muse and demon.
• In the South Park episode Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics, "Azrael's Toys" is the name of a shop in hell.
• In Terry Pratchett's Discworld universe, Azrael is an entity of immense scope and size which is to universes what the character Death is to living beings on the Discworld. He also appears in Prattchet and Gaiman's "Good Omens" universe as the Apocalyptic Horseman, Death.
• The Baron of Hell, Azrael, is a character in Paul Doherty's novel "The Plague Lord".
• Azrael is the main character in Anne Rice's Servant of the Bones.
• In DC Comics, the character Azrael is a genetically modified assassin-turned-vigilante created by Dennis O'Neil and Joe Quesada in the Batman Family titles.
• In the Warhammer 40,000 universe Azrael is the commander of the Dark Angels Space Marine Chapter.
• In Marvel Comics, Azrael is the warrior/angel of death whom Wolverine has to fight every time he suffers a lethal wound in order to save his soul, which is returned to his physical body if he is victorious.^[9]
• In music, Azrael has been written about in both songs and albums by such varied acts as Metallica, Demons & Wizards, Coil, The Nice, Crimson Glory, VNV Nation, Marduk and Udo.
• In the world of Ravenloft, Azrael Dak is the political ruler of Sithicus.^[10]
• In Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series, Azrael is portrayed as the New York City socialite Madeleine 'Mimi' Force.
• In the video game Tekken 6 Azrael is an unplayable final boss. He is described as the embodiment of the ultimate evil, set to be released after the clash of "two evil stars", personified by the 2 warring factors controlled by Jin and Kazuya.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Azrael

• Death (personification)
• Sariel
• Angels in Islam
• Thanatos - The personification of Death in Greek Mythology
• Azrael- Nation of Gods and Earths
• Punishment of the Grave

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Davidson, Gustav (1967), A Dictionary of Angels, Including The Fallen Angels, Entry: Azrael, pp. 64, 65, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-19757
2. ^ Who is Azrael? The Man to the Myth, The Azrael Chronicles: A Compendium of the Books of Azrael ha'Malak, wgOfAzrael.org
3. ^ Lindemans, Mica F., Azrael at the Encyclopedia Mythica
4. ^ Hanauer, J.E. (1907), Folk-lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish, Chapter V: The Angel of Death, at sacred-texts.com
5. ^ Davidson, Gustav (1967), A Dictionary of Angels, Including The Fallen Angels, Entry: Third Heaven, p. 288, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-19757
6. ^ Hastings, James, Selbie, John A. (Editors) (2003), Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Part 3, Kessinger Publishing, 2003, ISBN 076613671X
7. ^ El Maghreg: 1200 Miles' Ride Through Morocco, Hugh Edward Millington Stutfield
8. ^ http://www.etymonline.com, accessed Monday 22nd June 2009
9. ^ Wolverine, vol.3, #58, writer Marc Guggenheim, artist Howard Chaykin, color artist, Edgar Delgado (Oct. 2007)
10. ^ http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=rldb&uid=default&view_records=1&subject=azrael&type=---&view_records=Search

External links

• Song of Azrael - An online study of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim records of Azrael.
• The Teaching. Teaching about the purpose of human life, written by Kathleen Long, who claims that she had a personal contact to Azrael.