His body and his spirit part company, and
this time, during which he thinks he is
sleeping, is actually a kind of death.
Allah reveals in the Qur'an that human
selves are taken while they are asleep.
Allah takes back people's selves when their
death arrives and those who have not yet
died, while they are asleep. He keeps hold
of those whose death has been decreed
and sends the others back for a specified
term… (Surat az-Zumar: 42)
It is He Who takes you back to Himself
at night, while knowing the things you
perpetrate by day, and then wakes you
up again, so that a specified term may
be fulfilled. (Surat al-An'am: 60)
In these verses, Allah says that
human selves are taken during sleep, but are
given back again until the determined hour of
death comes. While asleep, a person partly loses consciousness of the
outside world. To awake from the "death" of sleep to consciousness
and the same condition as the day before, and to be able to see, hear
and feel perfectly well is a miracle that we should consider. A person
who goes to bed at night cannot be certain that these incomparable
blessings will be given to him again in the morning. And we can never
be sure if we will meet with some kind of disaster or wake up in a
healthy state.
A believer starting a new day thinks about these facts and
thanks Allah for covering him with His great mercy and protection. He
16
24 Hours in the Life of a Muslim
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