When The Angel of Death Arrives
When the Almighty God takes back the soul from man, the worldly eyes and ears cease to function and spiritual eyes and ears become active. When Azrael, the angel of death, comes to take souls, he speaks to humans in two ways; he either says “Your Lord sends greetings to you” or “O sinner! Enough; Bring back the soul" and yet it captures the soul in a way that is hard to imagine.
The angel of death takes the souls of some people with fiery rods. According to what Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, there are groups of people whose souls will be taken by fiery rods because of carrying out bad deeds in the world.
The first group of these people are those who violate the rights of orphans and take away their assets. The second group is people who give false testimony and the third group is oppressive rulers.
Another tool that Azrael uses to take the soul from a person is a stone called Sijjil. They are small stones that are taken from hell. When Azrael comes to take the souls of wicked people, he takes their lives with such stones.
After the soul leaves the body, it becomes aware of its place in the afterlife. A believer will see good and beautiful signs that reflect their good behavior in the world.
These are some of the states that a person will experience while dying and after death. If remembering these moments creates a feeling of fear in a person, it can help create peace in a person because a person who is afraid of them will seek to repent and return to God.
Another approach that calms the hearts of these people is the act of praying. A prayer is a tool that a person can use to ask God for peace on the day when he spends the loneliest moments of his life. Part of the supplication of Abu Hamza al-Thumali reads: “Have mercy on my misery in this world, on my grief at the time of death, on my loneliness in the grave, on my lonesomeness in the underground hole, and on my humiliating situation when I shall be resurrected for an account before You. Forgive my deeds that have been concealed from the other human beings, make permanent for me that on account of which You have covered my faults.”
