asking. Who is this, Gabriel?” He replied, “This is Isrāfīl. When Allah, Mighty and Majestic, created him, He created him standing before Him with his feet aligned, never raising his gaze. Between him and the Lord, Blessed and Exalted, are seventy lights; he could not draw near any one of them without being burned. Before him is a tablet. Whenever Allah authorizes something in heaven or on earth, that tablet rises until it strikes his forehead, and he looks at it. If it concerns one of my duties, he informs me of it; if it concerns one of Michael’s duties, he informs him of it; and if it concerns one of the Angel of Death’s duties, he commands him to carry it out.”

I then asked, “Gabriel, what are you entrusted with?” He replied, “The wind and the armies.” I asked, “What is Michael entrusted with?” He replied, “Vegetation and rain.” I asked, “And what is the Angel of Death entrusted with?” He replied, “Taking souls. Isrāfīl has never descended to earth from the day Allah, Mighty and Majestic, created him until this day. I thought he could only have descended for the onset of the Hour. What you saw of my condition was nothing but fear of the onset of the Hour.”