Does God take the soul of the drowned directly or does Azrael, and how sound is the saying that the drowned is the only one whose soul God takes directly?
The hadith that mentions the specificity of the sea martyr, stating that Allah Almighty takes charge of seizing his soul, which is: "The sea martyr is like the land martyrs, and one who is tossed by the waves in the sea is like one who is writhing in his own blood on land. What is between two waves is like traversing the world in obedience to Allah. Indeed, Allah Almighty has appointed the Angel of Death to seize souls, except for the sea martyrs, for He Himself takes charge of seizing their souls. And Allah forgives the land martyr all sins except debt, and He forgives the sea martyr all sins and debt," is very weak and cannot be used to establish a ruling. The original principle remains that the Angel of Death seizes the souls of all people, including the sea martyr, as stated in Allah Almighty's words: "Say, 'The Angel of Death, who has been entrusted with you, will take your souls.'"
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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