And when the agent in a matter cannot be suitable for agency in it except if he is able to do so by one of the ways; and their preservation is upon guidance; and from misguidance; it can only be for one who is present and does not become absent; nor is he affected by sleep; nor does death come to him; the agency of anyone from the creation in it is not valid; and it is as if it was said: because if the matter were entrusted to you, they would be lost during your sleep; and your death. So he indicated this by what conveys its meaning; and he added to it from the benefits that are known by reflection; from the comparison of guidance to life and wakefulness; and misguidance to death and sleep; just as no one can cause death or bring to life except Allah; likewise, no one can guide or misguide except Allah; so whoever knows this subtlety knows the secret of Allah in power; and whoever knows the secret in it, calamities become easy for him; for they are a consolation for him, blessings and peace be upon him; he directed the saying to the expression with the greatest name; due to the necessity of the situation for him; and he attributed the taking of souls to Him - glorified and exalted is He - because it is in stating that no one else is suitable for agency in it at all; so he said: "Allah"; meaning: the One who has the totality of perfection; and there is no way for any trace of deficiency to reach Him; "He takes the souls"; which died at the end of their terms; meaning He acts in their death as one who strives in that; by taking them completely; leaving nothing of them in any part of the body; and he expressed the gathering of the multitude by the gathering of the few; indicating that they; even if they exceed the limitation, are like one soul; and perhaps he did not unify it so that it would not be thought that the unity is in its reality; "when it dies"; meaning: preventing it from acting in its bodies; in this worldly life; existing in its death; confined in it; designated for Him; and he added to "the souls" his saying: "and those"; meaning: and He takes the souls that "did not die"; because their terms have not expired; at the time of their sleep, existing "in their sleep"; by preventing them from acting with the senses; and perception; as long as sleep exists; designated for Him; nothing of them in the body in the state of wakefulness; so the commonality between them is the lack of perception; and feeling; and acting; and if it were said: by their death; and by their sleep; it would not indicate that each of death; and taking of souls; is a sign differing from the other.

And when sleep is coming to an end; it indicates to us; by its connection to death; that death is also an end; and there is no doubt; because the doer of each of them is one; so this caused his saying: ﴿So He holds﴾; meaning: it results from the two deaths that He holds at that time ﴿the one that has been decreed﴾; meaning: He has sealed; and judged; and decisively determined; a matter that is concluded; and the reading of the passive form clarifies this meaning; with the addition of ease; and simplicity; ﴿upon it is death﴾; being a condition for its demise; it cannot manage its body; as long as death surrounds it; just as the sleeper likewise; as long as sleep surrounds her; ﴿and He sends the other﴾; meaning: the one whose death He has delayed; and made it a condition for sleep; because her term has not yet ended (p-519) which He has set for her; by having sleep come to an end; so He awakens her to manage her body; and makes that holding for the deceased; and the sending for the sleeper; ﴿to a specified term﴾; for the resurrection of the deceased; and for the death of the sleeper; none knows it except Him; so when that term comes, He causes the sleeper to die; and resurrects the deceased; and it has become clear from the estimation that the context has led to that the soul which sleeps is the one that dies; and it is the spirit; Ibn al-Salah said; in his fatwas: and this is more akin to the apparent meaning of the Book; and the Sunnah; it has ended.

Al-Tabarani narrated in Al-Awsat - Al-Haythami said: and its men are the men of the Sahih - from Ibn Abbas - may Allah be pleased with both of them - who said: "The souls of the living and the dead meet; and they ask each other; so Allah holds the souls of the dead; and sends the souls of the living to their bodies"; and Al-Bukhari narrated from Abu Huraira - may Allah be pleased with him - that the Prophet ﷺ said: "When one of you lies down on his bed, let him say: 'In Your name, my Lord, I lay my side; O Allah, if You hold my soul, have mercy on it; and if You send it, protect it with that by which You protect Your righteous servants'"; and it has also become clear that the verse is from the intertwining: it mentioned the time first; as evidence for estimating something similar in sleep secondly; and sleep secondly; as evidence for omitting death first.

And when this was completed in the lofty style and the strong structure, it pointed out its greatness and what is in it of secrets by His saying - affirming; as a warning to those who accuse it of myths and other falsehoods -: "Indeed, in that"; meaning: the great matter of death and sleep in this manner; and the expression about it in this way; "are signs"; meaning: that no one is capable of reviving and preserving except Him; and that He is capable of resurrection and other than that, of all that He wills; "for a people"; meaning: those who have strength in engaging in matters; and since this matter does not require anything other than the purification of the soul from distractions and contemplation, He said: "they reflect"; meaning: on the greatness of this arrangement; so that the greatness of Allah may be known by it; and that is because the soul is a spiritual essence; it has three states in its attachment to the body; one of them is that the light of the soul falls upon the body, outwardly and inwardly; and that is life with wakefulness; and the second is the cessation of the light of the soul from the body, outwardly but not inwardly; and that is in sleep; and the third is the complete cessation of that, outwardly and inwardly; and that is in death; so death and sleep are of the same kind; except that death is a complete cessation, while sleep is an incomplete cessation; for it cannot bring forth a single thing in two kinds; then He makes them into one thing in succession; and separates each of them from the other; except He - glorified and exalted is He -; and whenever He is able to end the minor death with a limit, He has made it for it; then He is capable of ending the major death in a similar manner.