Wednesday 1 September 2010

Malak ul-Maut (Alayhis Salaam) - The Angel of Death

The Angel of Death is responsible for collecting the souls of mankind at the time of their death.
Allah (s.w.t.) says in the Holy Qur'an:

Say, ''The angel of death, who has been given your charge, shall take your souls, then you shall be returned to your lord.''  (32:11)

Ja'far ibn Muhammad narrated on the authority of his father that Allah's Messenger (s.a.w.) saw the Angel of Death at the head of an Ansari sahabi (at the time of his death).

The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: ''Oh Angel of Death, be mild to my companion. He is a believer.''

Malak ul-Maut said: ''Oh Muhammad! do not worry! I am the friend of every believer. There is not an unbuilt or a built home on land or sea that I do not visit five times a day and watch its inmates carefully. In fact, I know their young and old better than they do. By Allah, O Muhammad! I cannot extract the soul of even a mosquito unless Allah commands me to take away its soul.''

(Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tabarani 4/261, Al-Jama, Haythami 2/32, Ibn Abu Hatim)

So lets stop and ask ourselves....

                       Are we ready to go with our visitor ?


Are we preparing for our meeting with this angel by doing good deeds? Or are we passing the time away, wasting our time and storing up sins for ourselves? (i'm asking this question to myself) The Angel of Death may take us at any time.


Here is a video which makes this point very well.