The Prophets — Verse 35
21:35 · al-Anbiya`
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كُلُّ نَفۡسࣲ ذَاۤىِٕقَةُ ٱلۡمَوۡتِۗ وَنَبۡلُوكُم بِٱلشَّرِّ وَٱلۡخَیۡرِ فِتۡنَةࣰۖ وَإِلَیۡنَا تُرۡجَعُونَ ٣٥
kullu nafsin dhāiqatu l-mawti wanablūkum bil-shari wal-khayri fit'natan wa-ilaynā tur'jaʿūn
The Prophets / al-Anbiya` (21:35)
Connections 2 single-source 1 commentator
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No verses on this ayah are cited by 2 or more commentators using numeric S:A notation. All extracted references come from a single source's commentary.
Single-source mentions (2) cited by only one commentator
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Tafsir Ibn Kathir (abridged) 2 verses
Note: these connections are extracted from numeric S:A references inside the commentary text and are therefore biased toward mufassirun who use that notation. Prose-style references (e.g. "Surat al-Baqarah verse 30") will be added later, which should surface additional multi-source consensus.
Every soul is certain to taste death: We test you all through the bad and the good, and to Us you will all return
kullu nafsin dhāiqatu l-mawti wanablūkum bil-shari wal-khayri fit'natan wa-ilaynā tur'jaʿūn
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Tafsir Commentary
No One has been granted Immortality in this World
وَمَا جَعَلْنَا لِبَشَرٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ
(And We granted not to any human being immortality before you;) means, O Muhammad.
الْخُلْدَ
(immortality) means, in this world. On the contrary,
كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ - وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلْـلِ وَالإِكْرَامِ
(Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will perish. And the Face of your Lord full of majesty and honor will remain forever.) 55:26-27.
أَفَإِيْن مِّتَّ
(then if you die) means, O Muhammad,
فَهُمُ الْخَـلِدُونَ
(would they live forever) means, they hope that they will live forever after you, but that will not happen; everything will pass away. So Allah says:
كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَآئِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ
(Everyone is going to taste death,)
وَنَبْلُوكُم بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً
(and We shall test you with evil and with good by way of trial. ) Meaning, "We shall test you, sometimes with difficulties and sometimes with ease, to see who will give thanks and who will be ungrateful, who will have patience and who will despair." `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported from Ibn `Abbas:
وَنَبْلُوكُم
(and We shall test you) means, We will test you,
بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً
(with evil and with good by way of trial.) means, with difficulties and with times of prosperity, with health and sickness, with richness and poverty, with lawful and unlawful, obedience and sin, with guidance and misguidance.
وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ
(And to Us you will be returned.) means, and We will requite you according to your deeds.
Every soul shall taste death in this world and We will try you We will test you with ill and good such as poverty and wealth sickness and health as an ordeal fitnatan an object denoting reason in other words for the purpose of seeing whether you will be patient and give thanks or not. And then unto Us you shall be brought back that We may requite you.
We have not assigned everlastingness to any mortal before thee. If thou diest, will they be everlasting? Every soul shall taste death. When a speck of truthfulness appears in someone's heart, the reality of passion for death will show its head from his spirit, for the promise of encounter is there. What sort of spirit would forget the promise of encounter? What sort of heart would seek from someplace else the repose that comes only from contemplating the Real? “The person of faith has no ease without encoun- tering his Lord.” O dervish, no good fortune is more precious than death. Those who have the religion place the crown of magnificence and generosity on their heads at the gate of death. Those who reap the fruit of the Shariah will find the sigil of good fortune at the door of death. Death is the sanctuary of “There is no god but God.” Death is the doorstep of the kingdom of the resurrection and the passageway to the visitors of the Real. Death is the center of the exaltation of the recognizers, the place anticipated by the spirits of the proximate. Death is the vanguard of solicitude and the prelude to endless kind favor. In the two worlds no one has the ease that the tawḤīd-voicer has in the grave with the One. He took along with him into the dust the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith in the resurrection. At the resurrection he will come out of the dust with the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith, just as kings enter into their own city. Dāwūd ṬāÌī was one of the great jurists in outward knowledge. His truthfulness was such that on the night he left this world a call came from the middle of heaven: “O folk of the earth! Surely Dāwūd ṬāÌī has stepped forth to his Lord, and He approves of him.” One of his disciples said that he saw Dāwūd in the throes of death in a ruined house, intense heat, fallen flat on the earth with his head on a piece of brick, reciting the Qur'an. He said to him, “O Dāwūd, what if you were to go out into the open air?” What would happen if you were kind to yourself for an hour and go out into the open air, so this heat would have less effect on you? Dāwūd said, “My friend, I want to do that, but I am ashamed before my Lord-that I should move my feet in that in which my soul is at ease.
We have not assigned everlastingness to any mortal before thee. If thou diest, will they be everlasting? Every soul shall taste death. When a speck of truthfulness appears in someone's heart, the reality of passion for death will show its head from his spirit, for the promise of encounter is there. What sort of spirit would forget the promise of encounter? What sort of heart would seek from someplace else the repose that comes only from contemplating the Real? “The person of faith has no ease without encoun- tering his Lord.” O dervish, no good fortune is more precious than death. Those who have the religion place the crown of magnificence and generosity on their heads at the gate of death. Those who reap the fruit of the Shariah will find the sigil of good fortune at the door of death. Death is the sanctuary of “There is no god but God.” Death is the doorstep of the kingdom of the resurrection and the passageway to the visitors of the Real. Death is the center of the exaltation of the recognizers, the place anticipated by the spirits of the proximate. Death is the vanguard of solicitude and the prelude to endless kind favor. In the two worlds no one has the ease that the tawḤīd-voicer has in the grave with the One. He took along with him into the dust the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith in the resurrection. At the resurrection he will come out of the dust with the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith, just as kings enter into their own city. Dāwūd ṬāÌī was one of the great jurists in outward knowledge. His truthfulness was such that on the night he left this world a call came from the middle of heaven: “O folk of the earth! Surely Dāwūd ṬāÌī has stepped forth to his Lord, and He approves of him.” One of his disciples said that he saw Dāwūd in the throes of death in a ruined house, intense heat, fallen flat on the earth with his head on a piece of brick, reciting the Qur'an. He said to him, “O Dāwūd, what if you were to go out into the open air?” What would happen if you were kind to yourself for an hour and go out into the open air, so this heat would have less effect on you? Dāwūd said, “My friend, I want to do that, but I am ashamed before my Lord-that I should move my feet in that in which my soul is at ease.
We have not assigned everlastingness to any mortal before thee. If thou diest, will they be everlasting? Every soul shall taste death. When a speck of truthfulness appears in someone's heart, the reality of passion for death will show its head from his spirit, for the promise of encounter is there. What sort of spirit would forget the promise of encounter? What sort of heart would seek from someplace else the repose that comes only from contemplating the Real? “The person of faith has no ease without encoun- tering his Lord.” O dervish, no good fortune is more precious than death. Those who have the religion place the crown of magnificence and generosity on their heads at the gate of death. Those who reap the fruit of the Shariah will find the sigil of good fortune at the door of death. Death is the sanctuary of “There is no god but God.” Death is the doorstep of the kingdom of the resurrection and the passageway to the visitors of the Real. Death is the center of the exaltation of the recognizers, the place anticipated by the spirits of the proximate. Death is the vanguard of solicitude and the prelude to endless kind favor. In the two worlds no one has the ease that the tawḤīd-voicer has in the grave with the One. He took along with him into the dust the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith in the resurrection. At the resurrection he will come out of the dust with the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith, just as kings enter into their own city. Dāwūd ṬāÌī was one of the great jurists in outward knowledge. His truthfulness was such that on the night he left this world a call came from the middle of heaven: “O folk of the earth! Surely Dāwūd ṬāÌī has stepped forth to his Lord, and He approves of him.” One of his disciples said that he saw Dāwūd in the throes of death in a ruined house, intense heat, fallen flat on the earth with his head on a piece of brick, reciting the Qur'an. He said to him, “O Dāwūd, what if you were to go out into the open air?” What would happen if you were kind to yourself for an hour and go out into the open air, so this heat would have less effect on you? Dāwūd said, “My friend, I want to do that, but I am ashamed before my Lord-that I should move my feet in that in which my soul is at ease.
We have not assigned everlastingness to any mortal before thee. If thou diest, will they be everlasting? Every soul shall taste death. When a speck of truthfulness appears in someone's heart, the reality of passion for death will show its head from his spirit, for the promise of encounter is there. What sort of spirit would forget the promise of encounter? What sort of heart would seek from someplace else the repose that comes only from contemplating the Real? “The person of faith has no ease without encoun- tering his Lord.” O dervish, no good fortune is more precious than death. Those who have the religion place the crown of magnificence and generosity on their heads at the gate of death. Those who reap the fruit of the Shariah will find the sigil of good fortune at the door of death. Death is the sanctuary of “There is no god but God.” Death is the doorstep of the kingdom of the resurrection and the passageway to the visitors of the Real. Death is the center of the exaltation of the recognizers, the place anticipated by the spirits of the proximate. Death is the vanguard of solicitude and the prelude to endless kind favor. In the two worlds no one has the ease that the tawḤīd-voicer has in the grave with the One. He took along with him into the dust the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith in the resurrection. At the resurrection he will come out of the dust with the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith, just as kings enter into their own city. Dāwūd ṬāÌī was one of the great jurists in outward knowledge. His truthfulness was such that on the night he left this world a call came from the middle of heaven: “O folk of the earth! Surely Dāwūd ṬāÌī has stepped forth to his Lord, and He approves of him.” One of his disciples said that he saw Dāwūd in the throes of death in a ruined house, intense heat, fallen flat on the earth with his head on a piece of brick, reciting the Qur'an. He said to him, “O Dāwūd, what if you were to go out into the open air?” What would happen if you were kind to yourself for an hour and go out into the open air, so this heat would have less effect on you? Dāwūd said, “My friend, I want to do that, but I am ashamed before my Lord-that I should move my feet in that in which my soul is at ease.
We have not assigned everlastingness to any mortal before thee. If thou diest, will they be everlasting? Every soul shall taste death.When a speck of truthfulness appears in someone's heart, the reality of passion for death will show its head from his spirit, for the promise of encounter is there. What sort of spirit would forget the promise of encounter? What sort of heart would seek from someplace else the repose that comes only from contemplating the Real? �The person of faith has no ease without encoun- tering his Lord.�O dervish, no good fortune is more precious than death. Those who have the religion place the crown of magnificence and generosity on their heads at the gate of death. Those who reap the fruit of the Shariah will find the sigil of good fortune at the door of death. Death is the sanctuary of �There is no god but God.� Death is the doorstep of the kingdom of the resurrection and the passageway to the visitors of the Real. Death is the center of the exaltation of the recognizers, the place anticipated by the spirits of the proximate. Death is the vanguard of solicitude and the prelude to endless kind favor. In the two worlds no one has the ease that the tawḤīd-voicer has in the grave with the One. He took along with him into the dust the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith in the resurrection. At the resurrection he will come out of the dust with the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith, just as kings enter into their own city.Dāwūd ṬāÌī was one of the great jurists in outward knowledge. His truthfulness was such that on the night he left this world a call came from the middle of heaven: �O folk of the earth! Surely Dāwūd ṬāÌī has stepped forth to his Lord, and He approves of him.�One of his disciples said that he saw Dāwūd in the throes of death in a ruined house, intense heat, fallen flat on the earth with his head on a piece of brick, reciting the Qur'an. He said to him, �O Dāwūd, what if you were to go out into the open air?� What would happen if you were kind to yourself for an hour and go out into the open air, so this heat would have less effect on you?Dāwūd said, �My friend, I want to do that, but I am ashamed before my Lord-that I should move my feet in that in which my soul is at ease.
كل نفس ذائقة الموت لا محالة مهما عُمِّرت في الدنيا. وما وجودها في الحياة إلا ابتلاء بالتكاليف أمرًا ونهيًا، وبتقلب الأحوال خيرًا وشرًا، ثم المآل والمرجع بعد ذلك إلى الله - وحده - للحساب والجزاء.
ولهذا قال تعالى " كل نفس ذائقة الموت " وقد روي عن الشافعي - رحمه الله- أنه أنشد واستشهد بهذين البيتين: تمنى رجــــــال أن أمـوت وإن أمت فتلك سبيل لست فيها بأوحد فقل للذي يبغي خلاف الذي مضـى تهيأ لأخــرى مثلها فكأن قـد وقوله " ونبلوكم بالشر والخير فتنة " أي نختبركم بالمصائب تارة وبالنعم أخرى فننظر من يشكر ومن يكفر ومن يصبر ومن يقنط كما قال علي بن أبي طلحة عن ابن عباس " ونبلوكم " يقول نبتليكم " بالشر والخير فتنة " بالشدة والرخاء والصحة والسقم والغنى والفقر والحلال والحرام والطاعة والمعصية والهدى والضلال وقوله " وإلينا ترجعون " أي فنجازيكم بأعمالكم.
ثم أكد - سبحانه - عدم خلود بشر فى هذه الحياة فقال : ( كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَآئِقَةُ الموت ) .أى : كل نفس أوجدها الله - تعالى - فى هذه الحياة ، ستذوق مرارة نزول الموت بها . ومفارقة روحها لجسدها .قال الآلوسى ما ملخصه : والموت عند الأشعرى ، كيفية وجودية تضاد الحياة ، وعند كثيرين غيره : أنه عدم الحياة عما من شأنه الحياة بالفعل .وقال بعضهم : المراد بالنفس هنا : النفس الإنسانية لأن الكلام مسوق لنفى خلود البشر .واختير عمومها لتشمل نفوس البشر والجن وسائر نفوس الحيوان .وقوله - تعالى - : ( وَنَبْلُوكُم بالشر والخير فِتْنَةً وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ ) بيان لسنة من سننه - تعالى - فى معاملة عباده .وقوله - سبحانه - : ( وَنَبْلُوكُم ) من البَلْوِ بمعنى الاختبار والامتحان . يقال : فلان بلاه الله بخير أو شر يبلوه بَلْواً ، وأبلاه وابتلاه ابتلاء ، بمعنى امتحنه .وقوله : ( فِتْنَةً ) مصدر مؤكد لنبلوكم من غير لفظه .أى : كل نفس ذائقة الموت ، ونختبركم فى هذه الحياة بألوان من النعم وبألوان من المحن ، لنرى أتشكرون عند النعمة ، وتصبرون عند المحنة ، أم يكون حالكم ليس كذلك؟ وفى جميع الأحوال فإن مرجعكم إلينا لا محالة ، وسنجازيكم بما تستحقون من ثواب على شكركم وصبركم ، وسنجازى غير الشاكرين وغير الصابرين بما يستحقون من عقاب ، ولا يظلم ربك أحدا .قال بعض العلماء : " والابتلاء بالشر مفهوم أمره ليتكشف مدى احتمال المبتلى ، ومدى صبره على الضر ، ومدى ثقته فى ربه ، ورجائه فى رحمته .. . فأما الابتلاء بالخير فهو فى حاجة إلى بيان .إن الابتلاء بالخير أشد وطأة . فكثيرون يصمدون أمام الابتلاء بالشر ولكن القلة القليلة هى التى تصمد للابتلاء بالخير .كثيرون يصبرون على الابتلاء بالمرض والضعف ، وقليلون هم الذين يصبرون على الابتلاء بالصحة والقدرة .كثيرون يصبرون على الفقر والحرمان ، فلا تتهاوى نفوسهم ولا تذل . وقليلون هم الذين يصبرون على الثراء ومغرياته وما يثيره من أطماع .كثيرون يصبرون على الكفاح و الجراح ، وقليلون هم الذين يصبرون على الدعة ، ولا يصابون بالحرص الذى يذل أعناق الرجال .إن الابتلاء بالشر قد يثير الكبرياء ، ويستحث المقاومة ويجند الأعصاب لاستقبال الشدة . . . أما الرخاء فقد يرخى الأعصاب ويفقدها المقاومة . . . إلا من عصم الله ، وصدق رسوله الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم - حيث يقول : " عجبا لأمر المؤمن ، إن أمره كله خير ، وليس ذلك لأحد إلا للمؤمن ، إن أصابته سراء شكر فكان خيرا له ، وإن أصابته ضراء صبر فكان خيرا له " .وشيبه بهذه الآية قوله - تعالى - : ( وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلنَآ إلى أُمَمٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ فَأَخَذْنَاهُمْ بالبأسآء والضرآء لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَضَرَّعُونَ ) وقوله - سبحانه - : ( وَبَلَوْنَاهُمْ بالحسنات والسيئات لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ ).
وقوله ( كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ ) يقول تعالى ذكره: كل نفس منفوسة من خلقه، معالجة غصص الموت ومتجرّعة كأسها.وقوله ( وَنَبْلُوكُمْ بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً ) يقول تعالى ذكره: ونختبركم أيها الناس بالشر وهو الشدة نبتليكم بها، وبالخير وهو الرخاء والسعة العافية فنفتنكم به.وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل.* ذكر من قال ذلك:حدثنا القاسم، قال: ثنا الحسين: قال: ثني حجاج، عن ابن جُرَيج، قال: قال ابن عباس، قوله ( وَنَبْلُوكُمْ بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً ) قال: بالرخاء والشدة، وكلاهما بلاء.حدثنا بشر، قال: ثنا يزيد، قال: ثنا سعيد، عن قتادة، قوله ( وَنَبْلُوكُمْ بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً ) يقول: نبلوكم بالشر بلاء، والخير فتنة، ( وإلينا ترجعون).حدثنا يونس، قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال: قال ابن زيد، في قوله ( وَنَبْلُوكُمْ بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ ) قال: نبلوهم بما يحبون وبما يكرهون، نختبرهم بذلك لننظر كيف شكرهم فيما يحبون، وكيف صبرهم فيما يكرهون.حدثني عليّ، قال: ثنا أبو صالح، قال: ثني معاوية، عن عليّ، عن ابن عباس، قوله ( وَنَبْلُوكُمْ بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ ) يقول: نبتليكم بالشدة والرخاء، والصحة والسقم، والغنى والفقر، والحلال والحرام، والطاعة والمعصية، والهدى والضلالة، وقوله ( وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ ) يقول: وإلينا يردّون فيجازون بأعمالهم، حسنها وسيئها.
( كل نفس ذائقة الموت ونبلوكم ) نختبركم ( بالشر والخير ) بالشدة والرخاء ، والصحة والسقم ، والغنى والفقر ، وقيل : بما تحبون وما تكرهون ، ( فتنة ) ابتلاء لننظر كيف شكركم فيما تحبون ، وصبركم فيما تكرهون ، ( وإلينا ترجعون )
كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ وَنَبْلُوكُمْ بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ (35)جمل معترضات بين الجملتين المتعاطفتين .ومضمون الجملة الأولى مؤكد لمضمون الجملة المعطوف عليها ، وهي { وما جعلنا لبشر من قبلك الخلد } [ الأنبياء : 34 ]. ووجه إعادتها اختلاف القصد فإن الأولى للرد على المشركين وهذه لتعليم المؤمنين .واستعير الذوق لمطلق الإحساس الباطني لأن الذوق إحساس باللسان يقارنه ازدراد إلى بالباطن .وذوقُ الموت ذوق آلاممِ مقدماته وأما بعد حصوله فلا إحساس للجسد .والمراد بالنفس النفوس الحالّة في الأجساد كالإنسان والحيوان . ولا يدخل فيه الملائكة لأن إطلاق النفوس عليهم غير متعارف في العربية بل هو اصطلاح الحكماء وهو لا يطلق عندهم إلا مقيّداً بوصف المجرداتتِ ، أي التي لا تحل في الأجساد ولا تلابس المادة . وأما إطلاق النفس على الله تعالى فمشاكلة : إما لفظية كما في قوله تعالى { تَعْلم ما في نفسي ولا أعلم ما في نفسك } في سورة المائدة ( 116 ). وإما تقديرية كما في قوله تعالى { ويحذركم الله نفسه } في آل عمران ( 28 ).وجملة { ونبلوكم بالشر والخير فتنة } عطف على الجملة المعترضة بمناسبة أن ذوق الموت يقتضي سبق الحياة ، والحياة مدة يعتري فيها الخير والشرّ جميع الأحياء ، فعلّم الله تعالى المسلمين أن الموت مكتوب على كل نفس حتى لا يحسبوا أن الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم مخلد . وقد عرض لبعض المسلمين عارض من ذلك ، ومنهم عمر بن الخطاب رضي الله عنه فقد قال يوم انتقال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم إلى الرفيق الأعلى : «ليرجعَنّ رسولُ الله فيُقطِّع أيدي قوم وأرجلَهم» حتى حضر أبو بكر رضي الله عنه وثبته الله في ذلك الهول فكشف عن وجه النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم وقبّله وقال : «طبت حياً وميتاً والله لا يجمع الله عليك موتتين» . وقد قال عبد بني الحسحاس وأجاد :رأيت المنايا لمَ يدَعْنَ مُحمداً ... ولا باقياً إلاّ لَه الموتُ مرصداوأعقب الله ذلك بتعليمهم أن الحياة مشتملة على خير وشرّ وأن الدنيا دار ابتلاء .والبلوى : الاختبار . وتقدم غير مرة . وإطلاق البلوى على ما يبدو من الناس من تجلد ووهن وشكر وكفر ، على ما ينالهم من اللذات والآلام مما بنى الله تعالى عليه نظام الحياة ، إطلاقٌ مجازي ، لأن ابتناء النظام عليه دَل على اختلاف أحوال الناس في تصرفهم فيه وتلقيهم إياه . أشبَه اختبارَ المختبِر ليعلم أحوال من يختبرهم .و { فتنةً } منصوب على المفعولية المطلقة توكيداً لفعل { نبْلوكم } لأن الفتنة ترادف البَلْوَى .وجملة { وإلينا تُرجعون } إثبات للبعث ، فجمعت الآية الموت والحياة والنشر .وتقديم المجرور للرعاية على الفاصلة وإفادة تقوي الخبر . وأمّا احتمال القصر فلا يقوم هنا إذ ليس ذلك باعتقاد للمخاطبين كيفما افترضتَهم .
قوله تعالى : كل نفس ذائقة الموت تقدم في ( آل عمران ) ونبلوكم بالشر والخير فتنة مصدر على غير اللفظ . أي نختبركم بالشدة والرخاء والحلال والحرام ، فننظر كيف شكركم وصبركم . وإلينا ترجعون أي للجزاء بالأعمال .
Those who were opponents of the Prophet Muhammad in Makkah were more affluent and powerful in terms of material resources. They enjoyed respect and positions of superiority in the society of those days. According to them, this difference meant that they were on the right path and the Prophet Muhammad on the wrong path. But an excess or paucity of worldly effects bears no relation to superiority or inferiority, being purely for the purpose of trial. It is a trial imposed at the behest of God. If, after acquiring worldly resources, a man thinks highly of himself, he is as if proving himself unworthy of this blessing. The result will be that after death, in the life hereafter, he will be totally deprived of his riches. The people of Makkah were engaged in strenuous efforts to defeat the Prophet Muhammad, to the extent that they wanted to eliminate him somehow in order to nip his mission in the bud. God says that those who conspired against the Prophet had forgotten the fact that those who dug a grave for others, have ultimately to enter the grave themselves. Then, after death, when they faced their Real Lord, what would they do?
What is death?
Allah has said كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ 'Every soul has to taste death'. Here the word soul refers to the living things of the earth, who must all face death, but does not include the angels. There is a difference of opinion about whether the angels will also die or not on the Day of Judgment. Some say that every living thing will die, though momentarily, irrespective of whether they are of the earth or the skies. But others maintain that angels and hurs and ghilman of Paradise are excluded from this general rule. (Only God knows best) (Ruh ul-Ma` ani) Majority of the scholars believe that death is the departure of soul from the mortal human frame, while soul itself is a subtle ethereal living thing which is made of light and resides in human body just as fragrance resides in the rose. Ibn al-Qayyim has convincingly proved this point in his book. (Ruh ul-Ma` ani)
The term ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ means that every individual will feel the pain of death - 21:35, because considering the manner in which body and soul are conjoined together their separation should obviously entail some pain. There are some saintly persons who regard death as a deliverance from the trials and tribulations of the worldly life and a means of bringing them closer to their Supreme love, that is Allah. This pleasure does not negate the agony of death, because where the reward is high, a little pain is easily tolerated.
Worldly comforts and discomforts are a test
وَنَبْلُوكُم بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً
And We test you all through bad and good (situations) with a trial. - 21:35
It means that man is tested both by good things and by bad things. شَر (bad) includes unpleasant things such as illness, grief, pain, poverty etc. while خَیر (good) means desirable things, like good health, happiness, comfort and abundance. Man is subjected to these conditions in this world for test and the test is that he should show patience and endurance in the face of adversity and should offer thanks to Allah when his life is peaceful and comfortable. Wise men have said that, it is more difficult to be steadfast and consistent in offering thanks to Allah for His gifts than to persevere and show patience in difficult circumstances. Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ is reported to have said:
بُلینا بالضّراء فصبرنا و بلینا بالسّراء فلم نصبر (روح المعانی)
"We were tested by discomforts and We bore it with patience, but when we were tested by pleasures, we could not observe patience (i.e. we could not offer gratitude to Allah as was due) ". (Ruh ul-Ma'ani)
(Every soul) that is possessed of breath (must taste of death, and We try you) We test you (with evil and with good) with hardship and comfort, (for ordeal) both are a test from Allah. (And unto Us ye will be returned) after you die and then He will requite you for your works.
�We test you with ill and good by way of a trial�He said:Ill (sharr) is the following of the lower self and desire (hawā), without guidance. Good (khayr) is [being granted] protection (ʿiṣma) from disobedience, and assistance (maʿūna) in obedience.His words, Exalted is He: