Azrael

('Izra'il), the Islamic archangel of death. In Islam, Azrael is traditionally described as being of cosmic size with countless wings, eyes, tongues, and four faces.

One of the four archangels, he is said to stand with one foot on the fourth (or seventh) heaven, the other on the razor-sharp bridge that divides paradise from hell.

He is believed to keep the roll of mankind and, when Allah decides, to draw the soul from the human body within forty days.

Stories, often humorous, of Azrael confronting his victim, who had thought to avoid him by moving to a different place, are widespread in the Islamic world.