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 In
the Name of Allah, Most
Gracious, Most Merciful
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What
Qur'an Says about Man's Actual Death |
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(Islamweb) By Harun
Yahya |
The Death of the Soul (The Actual
Death):
Have you ever thought about how you will die, what death
looks like and what will happen at the moment of death? So
far, nobody has appeared who died and was raised again and
who could share his actual experiences and feelings about
death. This being the case, it is, technically, impossible to
gather information regarding what death is like and what one
feels at the moment of death.
God, the One Who bestows life upon man and takes it back in
due course, informs us in the Qur'an about how death actually
occurs. Thus, the Qur'an is the only source from which we can
learn about how death really occurs and what someone who dies
actually experiences and feels.
Death, as referred to in the Qur'an, is quite unlike the
"medical death" people observe from outside. Primarily,
certain verses acquaint us with events as seen by the dying
person himself, which can never be perceived by others. This
is related in the Surat al-Waqi'ah:
"Why then, when death reaches his throat and you are at that
moment looking on. We are nearer him than you, but you cannot
see". (56:83-85)
Unlike the disbelievers' death, that of the believers is
blissful:
"…the angels reclaim the souls of the just, saying: (to
believers) 'Peace be upon you! Enter the Garden as a reward
for your labours." (16:32)
These verses disclose a very important and unchanging fact
about death: at the moment of death, what the dying person
goes through and what those nearby observe are dissimilar
experiences.
For instance, a person who spent his entire life as an
unyielding disbeliever may be perceived to experience a
"peaceful death" from outside. However, the soul, in a
totally different dimension now, tastes death in a very
painful way. Alternatively, the soul of a believer, despite
seemingly suffering great pain, leaves his body "in a
virtuous state".
In brief, the "medical death of the
body" and the death of the soul, which is referred to
in the Qur'an, are totally different events.
Being unaware of this truth with which the Qur'an acquaints
us, disbelievers, who assume death to be an eternal and
peaceful sleep, also seek ways to make the moment of death
painless and comfortable. The consequences of such a
misconception are clearly to be seen in the examples of those
who commit suicide by taking pills, inhaling natural gas or
resorting to a painless form of death to escape a painful
disease.
As mentioned earlier, the death 'tasted" by disbelievers is a
great source of torment for them, while it turns out to be
bliss for believers. The Qur'an gives a detailed account of
the difficulty the disbelievers undergo while their souls are
taken away, because of the way angels deal with the soul of a
disbeliever at the moment of death:
"How will it be when the angels take
them in death, beating their faces and their backs? That is
because they followed what angers God and hated what is
pleasing to Him. So He made their actions come to nothing."
(47:27-28)
In the Qur'an there is also reference to the "throes of
death," which are actually the result of the angels giving
the news of eternal torment at the moment of death:
"…If you could only see the
wrongdoers in the throes of death when the angels are
stretching out their hands, saying, 'Yield up your souls.
Today you will be repaid with the punishment of humiliation
for saying something other than the truth about God, and
being arrogant about His Signs." (6: 93)
"If only you could
see when the angels take back those who were disbelievers
when they died, beating their faces and their backs: 'Taste
the punishment of the Burning! That is for what you did. God
does not wrong His slaves." (8:50-51)
As the verses make it clear, just the death of a disbeliever
is an entire period of agony in itself. While people
surrounding him see a seemingly untroubled death in his bed a
great spiritual and physical torment begins for him. The
angels of death take his soul, inflicting pain end
humiliation on him. In the Qur'an, the angels who take the
souls of disbelievers are described as:
"those who pluck out harshly"
(79:1)
The last phase of how the soul is taken away is explained as
follows: "No indeed! When it (the soul)
reaches the gullet and he hears the words, 'Who can heal him
now?' he knows it is indeed the final parting."
(75:26-28)
At this moment, the disbeliever faces the truth he denied all
throughout his life. With death, he will start to suffer the
consequences of his great guilt, his denial. Angels "beating
their backs" and "plucking (the soul) out harshly" are only
the beginning and a minor indication of the grief awaiting
him.
On the contrary, death for the believer is the beginning of
eternal happiness and bliss. Unlike that of the disbeliever
who suffers bitterly, the soul of the believer is
"drawn out gently" (79:2) with
the angels saying:
"Peace be upon you! Enter the Garden as a reward for your
labours." (16:32)
This is similar to the state of sleep. In sleep, the soul
gently slips into another dimension, as the following verse
indicates: "God 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…." (39:42)
This is the ultimate truth about death. Externally, people
witness only the medical death: a body gradually losing its
corporeal functions. Those watching from the outside a person
on the brink of death see neither his face and back being
beaten, nor his soul reaching the gullet. Only the soul of
the person concerned experiences these feelings and sees
these images.
However, the actual death is "tasted" in all of its aspects
by the person dying in a dimension unfamiliar to those
witnessing death from the outside. In other words, what is
experienced during the course of death is a "change in
dimension".
We can outline the facts revealed in the verses we have
analysed so far as follows: be it a believer or a
disbeliever, the death of person is neither delayed nor
hastened for even an hour. Wherever human beings may be,
death overtakes them, if their time has come. In the process
of experiencing death, they individually receive quite
different treatments, although this is externally
undiscernible.
[From: Death, Resurrection, Hell]
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