but his soul has not left his body in a complete separation. Allah the Exalted says: “Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die during their sleep. He holds back the ones for which He has decreed death and releases the others until a stated term” (39:42). This is the greater taking of the soul: He seizes the soul of the sleeper; if death has been decreed for him He keeps it, and if not He releases it until the appointed time. Everything with Allah is precisely measured; everything has a fixed term. All His acts, glorious and exalted is He, are carried out with perfect wisdom.

Sleep, then, is one of Allah’s signs. You might come upon people in a room, on a rooftop, or out in the open desert. They are asleep, lying like lifeless corpses, completely unaware. Then Allah brings them back to life and they rise. Allah, the Exalted, says: “He is the One who takes you by night and knows what you have earned by day; then He raises you up again so that a specified term may be fulfilled. Then to Him will be your return” (6:60).

A further lesson drawn from sleep is the resurrection of the dead. The One who is able to restore the soul so that a person awakens, stands up, and resumes his worldly tasks is certainly able to raise the dead from their graves—and He has power over all things.

Among the etiquettes of sleep is that a person should lie down on his right side, for this was both the practice and the instruction of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet