Allah, Most High, says:
“Those whose souls the angels take while they are in a state of purity.”
And He says:
“Say: The Angel of Death, who has been entrusted with you, will take your souls.”
And He says:
“Our messengers take his soul, and they do not neglect their duty.”
And He says:
“Those whose souls the angels take while they have wronged themselves.”
All of these verses are to be understood together, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ explained their meaning, as will be clarified, Allah willing.
Allah also says:
“If only you could see when the angels take the souls of those who disbelieved, striking their faces and their backs.”
And He says:
“Then how will it be when the angels take their souls, striking their faces and their backs?”
Some of our scholars said that this was specifically concerning those disbelievers who were killed on the Day of Badr, according to the consensus of the scholars of Qur’anic interpretation. Al-Mahdawi and others, however, mentioned a difference of opinion concerning this matter, and stated that disbelievers continue to have their souls taken with beating and humiliation until the present time. Allah knows best.
Muslim narrated, within a lengthy hadith, that Abu Zumayl said:
Ibn ‘Abbas narrated to me that while a Muslim man was pursuing one of the polytheists before him on that day, he suddenly heard the crack of a whip above him and the voice of a horseman saying:
“Advance, Hayzum!”
He then looked at the polytheist before him and saw him fall flat upon his back. When he examined him, he found that the front of his nose had been struck and his face split open by the blow of the whip, and the entire area had turned green.
The Ansari man came and informed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said:
“You have spoken the truth. That was assistance from the second heaven.”
On that day, they killed seventy and took seventy prisoners.
Allah, Most High, also says:
“If only you could see when the wrongdoers are in the agonies of death and the angels stretch forth their hands, saying: ‘Deliver up your souls!’”
That is, they stretch forth their hands with punishment, until His saying:
“Because you were arrogant.”
Al-Kalbi said:
The Angel of Death takes the soul from the body, then hands it over to the angels of mercy if the person was a believer, and to the angels of punishment if he was a disbeliever.
This meaning is explicitly stated in the hadith of Al-Bara’.
It has also been narrated from the Prophet ﷺ:
“The Angel of Death calls to the souls just as one of you calls to his young horse or young camel, saying: ‘Come forth, come forth.’”
The meaning of yuhib here is: he calls.
It has also been narrated that when the lifespan of a person whose soul is due to be taken comes to an end, a leaf bearing his name falls from Sidrat al-Muntaha onto his name in the record. It then becomes known that his appointed term has been completed and his provision has come to an end.
Likewise, as stated in the preceding report, when the Angel of Death looks upon a person whose provision has been exhausted and whose sustenance has ended, the agonies of death are cast upon him. Its distress overwhelms him, and its stupor overtakes him.
Allah knows best.
The Angel of Death and the Taking of Souls
In a report concerning Al-Isra’, narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas from the Prophet ﷺ, he said:
“I passed by another angel seated upon a throne, with the entire world and all those within it placed between his knees. In his hand was a written tablet at which he constantly looked, without turning away from it to the right or the left.
I said: ‘O Jibril, who is this?’
He replied: ‘This is the Angel of Death.’
I said: ‘O Angel of Death, how are you able to take the souls of all those upon the earth, on land and at sea?’
He replied: ‘Do you not see that the entire world is between my knees, all creatures are before my eyes, and my hands reach the east and the west?
When the appointed time of a servant comes to an end, I look toward him. When I look at him, my angelic assistants know that his soul is to be taken. They proceed swiftly and seize him, working to extract his soul.
When they bring the soul to the throat, I know of it, and nothing concerning his condition is hidden from me. I extend my hand, remove it from his body, and take possession of it.’”
It is also stated in another report that four angels descend upon the dying person:
One angel pulls the soul from his right foot, another from his left foot, another from his right hand, and another from his left hand.
It is also said that the unseen realm may sometimes be unveiled to the dying person before the soul reaches the throat.
He then sees the angels according to the reality of his deeds and according to the realm to which they belong.
If his tongue remains capable of speech, he may speak about their presence. He may also repeat to himself what he has seen, thinking that it is something Satan has caused him to imagine.
He then becomes silent when his tongue loses its ability to speak, while the angels draw the soul from the tips of his fingers and the ends of his limbs.
The soul slips out as an arrow is drawn from its shaft. As for the soul of the wicked person, it is pulled out like an iron skewer from wet wool.
This is how the lawgiver ﷺ described it.
The dying person feels as though his abdomen has been filled with thorns, as though his soul is emerging through the eye of a needle, and as though the heavens have closed down upon the earth while he is trapped between them.
Why the Dying Person Becomes Unable to Speak
When the soul gathers at the heart, the tongue loses its ability to speak. No one is able to speak at that moment, because the soul has become concentrated within the chest for two reasons.
The first is that the matter is overwhelming, and the chest has become constricted by the soul gathered within it.
Do you not see that when a person receives a blow to the chest, he is left stunned and may become unable to speak?
Every person who is stabbed may cry out, except one who is stabbed in the chest, for he falls without making a sound.
The second reason is that the faculty responsible for producing sound depends upon the movement generated by natural bodily heat. At that point, the condition of the soul changes between rising and cooling, because the body has lost its natural heat.
At this stage, the conditions of the dying differ.
Some are struck by the angel with a poisoned spear that has been saturated with poison from the Fire. The soul then flees and pours out of the body.
The angel takes it into his hand while it trembles, resembling mercury, in the form of a human figure no larger than a locust. He then hands it over to the angels of punishment.
For some of the dead, the soul is drawn out gradually until it becomes confined within the throat. Nothing remains connecting it to the body except a branch attached to the heart. At that point, it is pierced with the spear already described.
Imam Al-Suyuti رحمه الله commented upon this report:
“I have not found any mention of this spear in the transmitted reports other than what was mentioned by the Hafiz Abu Nu‘aym.”
He then said:
Abu Nu‘aym narrated to us from Ahmad ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Mahmud, from Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Yahya, from Salamah ibn Shabib, from Al-Walid ibn Muslim, from Thawr ibn Yazid, from Khalid ibn Ma‘dan, from Mu‘adh ibn Jabal, who said:
“The Angel of Death عليه السلام possesses a spear that reaches from the east to the west.
When the appointed term of a servant in this world comes to an end, he strikes his head with that spear and says:
‘Now you will be taken to join the army of the dead.’”
