6. [al-Anam, Cattle, Mecca 55]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَهُوَ
الَّذِي
يَتَوَفَّاكُم
بِاللَّيْلِ
وَيَعْلَمُ
مَا
جَرَحْتُم
بِالنَّهَارِ...
6: 60. It is He Who doth take your souls by night, and hath knowledge of all that ye have done by day.
...ثُمَّ يَبْعَثُكُمْ فِيهِ لِيُقْضَى أَجَلٌ مُّسَمًّى...
By day doth He raise you up again; that a term appointed be fulfilled;
...ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ﴿٦٠﴾
in the end unto Him will be your return, then will He show you the truth of all that ye did.
C881. As the rest of His Creation is subject to His Law and Plan, so is man's life in every particular and at every moment, awake or asleep.
The mystery of Sleep -"the twin brother of death"- is called the taking of our soul by Him, with the record of all we have done in our waking moments, and this record sometimes appears to us in confused glimpses in dreams. By day we awaken again to our activities, and so it goes on until we fulfil the term of our life appointed for this earth.
Then comes the other Sleep (death), with the longer record of our Day (Life); and then, in the end comes the Resurrection and Judgment, at which we see everything clearly and not as in dreams, for that is the final Reality.
6: 60
Asad And He it is who causes you to be [like] dead [note 50] at night, and knows what you work in daytime; and He brings you back to life each day [note 51] in order that a term set [by Him] be fulfilled. In the end, unto Him you must return; and then He will make you understand all that you were doing [in life].
Pickthall He it is Who gathereth you at night and knoweth that which ye commit by day. Then He raiseth you again to life therein, that the term appointed (for you) may be accomplished. And afterward unto Him is your return. Then He will proclaim unto you what ye used to do.
Transliteration Wa huwal lazi yatawaffa_kum bil laili wa ya'lamu ma_ jarahtum bin naha_ri summa yab'asukum fihi liyuqda_ ajalum musamma_(n), summa ilaihi marji'ukum summa yunabbi'ukum bima_ kuntum ta'malu_n(a).
[[ Asad’s note 50 – For a full explanation of the verb ‘tawaffa’ – lit., “he took [something] in full” – see note 44 on 39:42, which is the earliest instance of its use in the Quran.
note 51 – Lit., “therein” – referring to the daytime. The polarity of sleep and wakefulness contains an allusion to life and death (cf. 78:9 – 11). ]]
[[ Ali’s note - 881 As the rest of His Creation is subject to His Law and Plan, so is man's life in every particular and at every moment, awake or asleep. The mystery of Sleep-" the twin brother of death" - is called the taking of our soul by Him, with the record of all we have done in our waking moments, and this record sometimes appears to us in confused glimpses in dreams. By day we awaken again to our activities, and so it goes on until we fulfill the term of our life appointed for this earth. Then comes the other Sleep (death), with the longer record of our Day (Life); and then, in the end comes the Resurrection and Judgment, at which we see everything clearly and not as in dreams, for that is the final Reality. (6.60)]]
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39. Az-Zumar (The Throngs)
Mecca Period 59 [75 verses]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
اللَّهُ
يَتَوَفَّى
الْأَنفُسَ
حِينَ
مَوْتِهَا
...
39:42. It is Allah that takes the souls (of men) at death:
C4306. The mystery of life and death, sleep and dreams, is a fascinating enigma, of which the solution is perhaps beyond the ken of man. A vast mass of superstition as well as imaginative and psychological literature has grown up about it. But the simplest and truest religious doctrine is laid down here in a few words.
In death we surrender our physical life, but our soul does not die; it goes back to a plane of existence in which it is more conscious of the realities of the spiritual world: "Allah takes the soul".
... وَالَّتِي لَمْ تَمُتْ فِي مَنَامِهَا...
and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep:
C4307. Cf. 6:60.
What is sleep?
As far as animal life is concerned, it is the cessation of the working of the nervous system, though other animal functions, such as digestion, growth, and the circulation of the blood, continue, possibly at a different pace.
It is the repose of the nervous system, and in this respect it is common to man and animals, and perhaps even to plants, if, as is probable, plants have a nervous system. The mental processes (and certainly volition) are also suspended in sleep, except that in ordinary dreams there is a medley of recollections, which often present vividly to our consciousness things that do not or cannot happen in nature as we know it in our coordinated minds.
But there is another kind of dream which is rarer-one in which the dreamer sees things as they actually happen, backwards or forwards in time, or in which gifted individuals see spiritual truths otherwise imperceptible to them. How can we explain this?
It is suggested that our soul or personality,-that something which is above our animal life-is then in a plane of spiritual existence akin to physical death (see last note), when we are nearer to Allah.
In poetic imagery, Sleep is "twin-brother to Death".
... فَيُمْسِكُ الَّتِي قَضَى عَلَيْهَا الْمَوْتَ وَيُرْسِلُ الْأُخْرَى إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى...
those on whom He has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life), but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed.
C4308. Sleep being twin-brother to Death, our souls are for the time being released from the bondage of the flesh. Allah takes them for the time being.
If, as some do, we are to die peacefully in sleep, our soul does not come back to the physical body, and the latter decays and die.
If we have still some period of life to fulfil according to Allah's decree, our soul comes back to the body, and we resume our functions in this life.
... إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ﴿٤٢﴾
Verily in this are Signs for those who reflect.
C4309. If we contemplate these things, we can see more clearly many spiritual truths: e.g.
1. that our bodily life and death are not the whole story of our existence;
2. that in our bodily life we may be dead to the spiritual world, and in our bodily death, may be our awakening to the spiritual world;
3. that our nightly Sleep, besides performing the function of rest to our physical life, gives us a foretaste of what we call death, which does not end our personality; and
4. that the Resurrection is not more wonderful than our daily rising from Sleep, "twin-brother to Death".
Asad’s Version:
39:42. It is God [alone that has this power - He] who causes all human beings to die at the time of their [bodily] death, and [causes to be as dead], during their sleep, those that have not yet died: 44 thus, He withholds [from life] those upon whom He has decreed death, and lets the others go free for a term set [by Him).
In [all] this, behold, there are messages indeed for people who think!