العروة الوثقى الزيدية - موقع إسلامي يهدف لتعريف الزائر بفكر وتراث المسلمين الزيدية

The Question

Question: Allah, exalted is He, said: “And He is the One who takes you in death by night and knows what you earn by day; then He raises you up therein.” [al-An‘am:60] Is the “taking in death” (wafah) here a complete taking like the death of one who has died, in the sense of the soul leaving? And how do you explain the movements of the sleeping servant if there is no soul in him? And dreams – such as desire, for example – to whom are they ascribed: to Allah, to the servant, or to Satan? And does Satan have any connection to the dead person?

The Answer

Answer: The “taking in death” mentioned in the verse is not exactly like the death of one who has died; rather, it resembles it in that the sleeper loses the perception of hearing, sight, intellect, smell, taste, and touch; strength and ability depart from him; and he himself is absent from the world and what it contains of worry, grief, joy, and delight. In all of that he is like the dead person – except that his limbs are still alive, fit for the return of consciousness, sensation, and the soul. The movements of the sleeper are non-voluntary movements that arise from the nature of the living body.
As for dreams, when they are good dreams, they are from Allah; and when they are ugly dreams, they are from Satan – this is what has come in the narration from the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace). And the sleeper is not completely dead, but he resembles the dead person in many of his states.

Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.3