Muslim also narrated in his Sahīh that Abū Hurayrah said:

“When the believer’s soul departs, two angels receive it and ascend with it.” He mentioned its pleasant fragrance and musk, then said: “The inhabitants of heaven say, ‘A good soul has come from the earth. May Allah bless you and the body you used to inhabit.’ It is then taken to its Lord, and it is said, ‘Take him away until the end of the appointed term.’”

He said: “When the disbeliever’s soul departs”—he mentioned its stench and a curse—“the inhabitants of heaven say, ‘An evil soul has come from the earth.’” He said: “Then it is said, ‘Take him away until the end of the appointed term.’” Abū Hurayrah said: “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then drew the cloth he was wearing over his nose like this.”

It is also established in the Sahīh that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say when going to sleep:

“In Your name, my Lord, I lay down my side, and by You I raise it. If You retain my soul, forgive it; and if You release it, protect it as You protect Your righteous servants.”

It is likewise reported in the Sahīh that he used to say:

“O Allah, You created my soul, and You take it at death. Its death and life belong to You. If You retain it, have mercy on it; and if You release it, protect it as You protect Your righteous servants.”

These hadiths, in describing the soul’s ascent to heaven and its return to the body, make clear that its ascent is of a different kind, unlike the body’s ascent and descent.

We have also transmitted from the hadith scholar Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muhammad ibn Mandah, in his book al-Rūh wa-al-Nafs (The Spirit and the Soul): “Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to us: ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Hasan al-Harrānī narrated to us: Ahmad