Allaah takes souls at the time of their death and [the souls]
of those that do not die during their sleep. He retains those
souls for which He has ordained death, whereas He releases the
rest for an appointed term. [39:42]
Ibnul-Qayyim identifies over 90 supporting statements from
the Quran, the Sunnah and sayings of the companions, which
altogether give a complete picture of the nature of the human
soul and the conditions which surround it.
If you could see when the worngdoers taste the pangs of
death and the angels stretch their hands out, [saying],
'Deliver up your souls. This day you will be awarded a
degrading punishment.' [6:93]
Here it is stated that death is painful for the
disbelievers. Although they are ordered to surrender their
souls to the angels, they are unwilling; therefore, the soul
must be forced out as it does not wish to meet its punishment.
[Qurtubi]
According to hadeeth: The Angel of Death... [says], 'O you
foul soul, come out to the anger and wrath of your Lord.' The
soul inside the disbeliever's body is overcome by terrible fear
[and does not want to deliver itself up], whereupon the Angel
of Death violently pulls it out like multi-pronged skewers
being yanked out of wet wool - tearing with them the ateries
and nerves.
Umm Salamah (radhiAllaahu 'anha) reported: Allaah's
messenger (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) entered upon Abu
Salamah [i.e., his corpse], whose eyes were wide open. The
prophet closed the lids and then said, 'When the ruh is taken
out, the eyesight follows it [i.e., watches it ascend].'
[Muslim & Ahmed]
The Angel of Death comes to the [dying] believer, sits at
his head and says, 'O you good soul, come out and receive your
Lord's forgiveness and pleasure.' Then the soul flows out
effortlessly just as water flows from the mouth of a waterskin.
Abu Hurairah (radhiAllaahu 'anhu) narrated that the
messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said: When
the soul of a believer comes out [of its body], two angels
receive it and rise with it towards the heavens, whereupon the
inhabitants of the heavens say, "A good soul has come from the
earth. Allaah has blessed you and the body which you used to
occupy." [Muslim]
The nafs and the ruh: The correct view, as maintained by the
vast majority of Muslim theologians and endorsed by the
scholars of ahl-us-Sunnah, is that the terms nafs and ruh are
interchangeable. However, the term nafs is usually applied when
the soul is inside the body, and the word ruh is used when the
soul is aprt from the body. However, each one has clearly
distinct and restricted applications in certain contexts. E.g.,
nafs may represent self as in 24:61, or revelation as in 42:52,
or Jibreel as in 26:192-193, or in an even more restricted
sense e.g., spirit of faith as in 58:22.
Hadeeths which prove that both are the same thing:
Umm Salamah (radhiAllaahu 'anha) reported that the messenger
of Allaah (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said: When the ruh is
taken out, the eyesight follows it.
Abu Hurairah (radhiAllaahu 'anhu) reported that the
messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said: Do
you not see that when a person dies his gaze is fixed intently;
that occurs when his eyesight follows his nafs [as it comes
out] [Both in Muslim & Qurtubi's at-Tadhkirah] Also see Siddeeq
Hasan Khan's Fath-ul-Bayaan.
The experience of death: Every soul will taste death [3:185]
Hardships and agonies:
And the agony of death comes, in truth; that is what you
wished to avoid. [50:19] In this verse the phrase "sakratul
mawt" is used to indicate the swoon of death. This verse
implies that every dying person must experience some pain and
torment. [See al-Alusi's Ruh-ul-Ma'ani and Qurtubi's tafseer]
Aishah (radhiAllaahu 'anha) related: [On the occasion of his
approaching death], Allaah's messenger (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa
sallam) had a small vessel of water placed before him. He began
to dip his hands in the water,a nd wiping his face with them.
He said: There is none worthy of worship except Allaah. Indeed
death brings with it agonies! Then he raised his hand up and
kept repeating, 'In the most exalted company' until his soul
was taken and his hand fell limp. [Bukhari]
Aishah (radhiAllaahu 'anha) reported: Truly, I saw the
messenger of Allaah when death approached him. He had a
container with some water in it into which he dipped his hand
and then wiped his face. Then he said: O Allaah help me to
overcome the agonies of death.
Appearance of Satan:
Hadeeth: Verily Satan comes to you at all circumstances and
affairs of your life, even at the time of eating. [Muslim]
Al-Qurtubi mentions that a great number of pious and
dependable scholars are known to have witnessed the presence of
Satan at death. He relates that he heard one of his own
respected teachers, Imam Abul-'Abbaas Ahmad bin 'Umar
al-Qurtubi, say, "I visited the brother of our teacher, shaikh
Abu Jafar Muhammad al-Qurtubi at Cordova and found him near
death. It was said to him, 'Repeat Laa ilaaha illallaah,', to
which he replied, 'No! No!' When he came to, we mentioned what
had occurred. He said, 'Tow devils came to me , one on my left
and the other on my right. One of them said, "Die as a Jew, for
verily it is the best of religions," while the other said, "Die
as a Christian, for truly it is the best of religions." So I
answered them saying, "No! No! How dare you say such a thing to
me!"
Repentance before death:
Hadeeth: When any of you completes the last tashahhud of his
prayer, let him seek refuge in Allaah from four things, saying,
'O Allaah, verily I seek refuge in you from the punishment of
the Hellfire and the torment of the grave; from the fitnah of
life and of death; and from the evil fitnah of the false
messiah.[Muslim, Nasai & others]
Allaah accepts the repentance of the servant so long as his
spirit has not arrived at his throat. [Tirmidhi, al-Haakim, Ibn
Hibbaan]
Their faith was of no use to themonce they saw Our doom.
[40:85]
Forgiveness is not for those who continue to do evil deeds
up until when death comes to one of them [and] he says, 'Truly,
I repent now!' [4:18]