and cured him; and how many a person has found himself on the brink of death in a barren wasteland with neither water nor food, yet Allah, exalted be He, delivered him. Among the clearest proofs of this is the Prophet’s saying ﷺ: “Allah is more joyful over the repentance of His servant than one of you would be over his mount when he loses it.” In other words, a man misplaces his camel, on which are all his food and drink; he searches for it but cannot find it. He then lies down beneath a tree awaiting death—he has utterly despaired, convinced that nothing remains for him but to die. While he is in that state, suddenly the halter of his camel becomes entangled in that very tree: Allah restores his lost property to him. The camel had wandered to the tree to graze, its rope struck the trunk, and the man seizes it and cries out, “O Allah, You are my slave and I am Your Lord!”—he had meant to say, “You are my Lord and I am Your slave,” but in the overwhelming rush of joy he misspoke.

From the perspective of worldly circumstances this man had indeed despaired of his life, for he had lost the food and drink on which it depended. True despair, however, occurs only when death itself arrives and a person enters the throes of departing—at that point there is no possibility of returning to life. Allah the Exalted says: “Then why, when the soul reaches the throat, while you look on—We are nearer to him than you, yet you do not see—” (Q 56:83–85). “The soul” here means the spirit, and “the throat” means the gullet. At the moment of death the angels are closer to a person than his own throat: “So why then, if you…”