The souls are as they are. And to take them: is to cause their death, which is to strip away what makes them alive, sensitive, and perceptive: from the health of their parts and their safety. Because when health is stripped away, it is as if their essence has been taken away. And He means by saying: 'And He takes the souls that have not died in their sleep,' that is: He takes them when they sleep, likening the sleepers to the dead. And from it is His saying, 'And He is the One who takes you at night,' where they do not distinguish or act, just as the dead do. So He holds the souls for which death has been decreed, meaning: He does not return them alive at their time, and He sends the other sleeping ones to a specified term until the time He has appointed for their death. And it is said: He takes the souls, He fulfills them and completes them, and they are the souls that have life and movement with them. And He takes the souls that have not died in their sleep, which are the souls of discernment. They said: The one that is taken in sleep is the soul of discernment, not the soul of life, because when the soul of life departs, the soul also departs with it, while the sleeper continues to breathe. And it was narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, regarding Adam's son: 'The soul and the spirit' are like the rays of the sun. The soul is that by which there is intellect and discernment, and the spirit is that by which there is life and movement. So when a servant sleeps, Allah takes his soul but does not take his spirit. The correct view is what I mentioned first, because Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has linked taking, death, and sleep all to the souls. And what they meant by the soul of life and movement and the soul of intellect and discernment is not characterized by death and sleep. Rather, it is the body that dies and it is the one that sleeps. Indeed, in that, in taking the souls, there are dead and sleeping ones, and holding them and sending them to a term, are signs of Allah's power and knowledge, for a people who reflect and consider. And it was read: 'Death has been decreed upon it,' in the passive form.