Page 64 - Death Resurrection Hell

DEATH, RESURRECTION, HELL

Allah takes back people's selves when their death arrives and
those who have not yet died, while they are asleep. He keeps
hold of those whose death has been decreed and sends the
others back for a specified term. There are certainly signs in
that for people who reflect. (Surat az-Zumar: 42)

It is He Who causes you to be (like) dead at night, while
knowing the things you perpetrate by day, and then brings
you back to life (wakes you up) again, so that a specified term

may be fulfilled. Then you will return to Him. Then He will
inform you about what you did. (Surat al-An'am: 60)
In the verses above, the state of sleeping is referred to as
"death". No significant distinction is made between "death" and
sleep. Sleep is the departure of the human soul from the body that it
occupies while it is awake. In dreaming, on the other hand, the soul
acquires a totally different body and starts to perceive a totally dif-
ferent setting. Most of the time we cannot discern that this is a
dream. We feel fear, regret, and pain, we become excited, or experi-
ence pleasure. In our dreams, we feel very assured that what befalls
us is real and we often give the similar responses as we give when
we are awake.

If it were technically possible to intervene from outside and tell
the dreamer that what he saw were mere illusions, he would simply
ignore this warning or even would not believe. However, in reality,
these perceptions have no material correlates in the external world
and what we experience in our dreams is the sum of the images and
perceptions which Allah projects to our souls.
The most important point we need to keep in mind is the fact
that the same Divine law still applies when we wake up. Allah, in the

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