Israfil Angel
Israfil is the angel that blows the trumpet to proclaim Qiyamah; he is one of the four archangels in Islamic tradition, along with Mk’l, Jibr’l, and Malak-al-Mawt, despite being unidentified in the Quran. Israfil was the eldest of all archangels in the “Book of Dead.” The Day of Resurrection is expected to be announced by Israfil blowing the trumpet from a sacred rock in Jerusalem.
He is frequently seen as the antithesis of the Judeo-Christian archangel Raphael.
In his translation of the Quran, George Sale (1697–1736) defines Israfil as the archangel of music in Islamic tradition.
Mission
According to Saudi scholar Salih bin Abdullah al Humaid, the Quranic interpretation (tafsir) states that Israfil would blast the trumpet twice. Except for Israfil, the first blow will kill all animals and creations. Israfil will then sound the trumpet a second time, after which all creatures will be resurrected and await judgment.
Israfil is referenced in non-canonical hadith as one of the archangels who carry the Throne of God on their backs and his role of blowing the Armageddon trumpet (Hamalat al-Arsh). Meanwhile, Israfil’s role, according to a Tabi’un legend attributed to Abdurrahman ibn Sabith, was to transfer tasks from God to other archangels such as Gabriel, Mikail, and Azrael.
Israfil is also claimed to have been despatched with the other three Islamic archangels to collect dust from the world’s four corners, albeit only Azrael was successful. Adam, the first man and Prophet was created out of this dust.
According to another tradition, Israfil is said to have significantly aided Muhammad in defeating his foes during the Battle of Badr, where scholars and clerics of Islam claim that Gabriel, Israfil, and Michael, along with thousands of other best angels from the third level of the sky, all came to the battle of Badr by impersonating the appearance of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, a Companion of the Prophet and bodyguard, all went to the fight.