Azrael: Encounters with the Angel of Death in Islamicate Thought and Culture

The archangel Azrael enforces the divine command that all living things must return to God in death. The very word islām implies submission to God’s will, and yet Muslim saints, prophets, and sorcerers used charisma, magic squares, and their bare hands to defy Azrael and extend their lives on Earth. Their efforts reveal tension between the necessity of submitting to God’s will and the human yearning to transcend death.

With particular attention to the writings of Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. ...