Page 44 - The Prophet Jesus (as) will Return

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THE PROPHET JESUS (AS) WILL RETURN
of the selves" for the word in question. From the Qur'an again, we
understand that "taking the self back" does not necessarily mean
death. For instance in a verse in which the word tawaffa is used, it is
not the death of a human being that is meant but "taking back his
self in his sleep":

It is He Who takes you back to Himself (yatawaffakum)
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)
The word used for "take back" in this verse is the same as
the one used in Surah Al 'Imran 55. In other words, in the verse
above, the word tawaffa is used and it is obvious that one does
not die in one's sleep. Therefore, what is meant here is, again,
"taking the self back."
The same word is used again in the verse below:
Allah takes back people's selves (yatawaffa) when
their death (mawtiha) arrives and those who have not
yet died, while they are asleep (lam tamut). He keeps
hold of those whose death (mawt) has been decreed
and sends the others back for a specified term... (Surat
az-Zumar: 42)

As these verses suggest, Allah takes back the self of the one
who is asleep, yet He sends back the selves of those whose
deaths have not yet been decreed. In this context, in one's sleep
one does not die, in the sense in which we perceive death. Only
for a temporary period, the self leaves the body and remains in
another dimension. Upon waking up, the self returns to the
body.
Another instance in which sleep is regarded as a kind of
death, but which does not refer to biological death, is the follow-