In Muslim and Islam theology, Azrael is the Angel of Death who is "forever writing in a large book and forever erasing what he writes: what he writes is the birth of man, what he erases is the name of the man at death."

Other faiths name the Angel of Death as a different angel:

In Judeo-Christian lore, Michael, Gabriel, Sammael, and Sariel all all named as the angel of death.

In Zoroastrianism the angel of death is Mairya.

In Babylon it is Mot.

In Rabbinical lore there are 14 angels of death: Yetzerhara, Adriel, Yehudiam, Abaddon, Sammael, Azrael, Metatron, Gabriel, Mashhit, Hemah, Malach ha-Mavet, Kafziel, Kesef, and Leviathan.

In Falasha lore it is Suriel.

The Arabic angel is Azrael.

Jewish lore says this angel is Rahab, who, lore goes on to say, was destroyed by God for refusing to part the waters of the red sea. The new angel of death then became Yama (Malach ha-Mavet).

The Talmud says the angel of death was equated with Satan, and thus became the legend that the angel of death was evil, rather than the good angel he is.

Azrael, also known as Izra'il, one of the four Archangels of Islam (Mikhail, Djibril, and Israfil), is pictured as having gigantic proportions: one foot rests in either the forth or the seventh heaven, while the other is on the bridge between hell and paradise. Supposedly Azrael brought God a handful of earth from which to create Adam and therefore earned his title as the Angel of Death. Izra'il keeps a roll of humanity, on which the names of the damned are circle in black and the names of the blessed, in light. When a person's day of death approaches, a leaf with the person's name on it falls from the tree beneath God's throne. After forty days have passed, Izra'il must sever the individual's soul from his or her body.

Azrael will be the last to die, but will do so at the second trump of the Archangel. He is the angel who accompanies your soul to Heaven.

The phrase 'the Wings of Azrael' refers to the approach of death; the signs of death coming on the dying.