that is dry and unaffected by the tread of feet, unlike verdant earth. This is why a living person is visibly affected by what is shameful and has a will that prevents him from doing it, unlike the shameless person who is not alive and has neither modesty nor faith to deter him.

Thus, if the heart is alive and a person dies through his spirit’s departure from his body, the soul’s death consists in its separation from the body; the soul itself is not dead in the sense of having lost its life. This is why Allah Most High says:

“Do not say of those killed in the cause of Allah, ‘They are dead.’ Rather, they are alive.”

And He says:

“Never think of those killed in the cause of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive.”

Yet they are dead and are included in His words:

“Every soul will taste death,”

and His words:

“You will surely die, and they too will surely die,”

and His words:

“He is the One who gave you life, then will cause you to die, then will bring you back to life.”

The death affirmed here is therefore different from the death denied. What is affirmed is the spirit’s separation from the body; what is denied is the complete cessation of life in the spirit and the body. Similarly, sleep is the brother of death: it is called a taking of the soul and is also called death, although life remains in both.

Allah Most High says:

“Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die during their sleep. He then retains those for whom He has decreed death and releases the others until an appointed time.”

When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, awoke from sleep, he would say:

“Praise be to Allah, who has brought us to life after causing us to die, and to Him is the resurrection.”

And in another hadith: