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Moses and Pharaoh. The notes on the earlier passage should be read, as explanations already given need not now
be repeated. (28.29)
3360 Note how the transition is effected from the happy life of Moses to the new prophetic mission. (28.29)
29:5 - For those whose hopes are in the meeting with Allah (in the Hereafter let them strive); for the
Term (appointed) by Allah is surely coming: and He hears and knows (all things). 34263427
3426 The men of Faith look forward to Allah. Their quest is Allah, and the object of their hopes is the meeting with Allah.
They should strive with might and main to serve Him in this life, for this life is short, and the Term appointed for their
probation will soon be over. (29.5)
3427 The Term (ajal) may signify: (1) the time appointed for death, which ends the probation of this life; (2) the time
appointed for this life, so that we can prepare for the Hereafter; the limit will soon expire. In either case the ultimate
meaning is the same. We must strive now and not postpone anything for the future. And we must realize and
remember that every prayer we make to Allah is heard by Him, and that every unspoken wish or motive of our heart,
good or bad, is known to Him, and goes to swell our spiritual account. (29.5)
30:8 - Do they not reflect in their own minds? Not but for just ends and for a term appointed did
Allah create the heavens and the earth and all between them: yet are there truly many among
men who deny the meeting with their Lord (at the Resurrection)! 35133514
3513 f xv. 85. Here the argument is about the ebb and flow of worldly power, and the next clause is appropriately added,
"and for a term appointed". Let not any one who is granted worldly power or advantage run away with the notion that it
is permanent. It is definitely limited in the high Purpose of Allah, which is just and true. And an account will have to be
given of it afterwards on basis of strict personal responsibility. (30.8)
3514 It is therefore all the more strange that there should be men who not only forget themselves but even deny that there
is a return to Allah or an End or Hereafter, when a full reckoning will be due for this period of probation. They are
asked to study past history, as in the next verse. (30.8)
39:42 - It is Allah that takes the souls (of men) at death: and those that die not (He takes) during
their sleep: those on whom He has passed the decree of death He keeps back (from returning
to life) but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed. Verily in this are Signs for
those who reflect. 4306430743084309
4306 The mystery of life and death, sleep and dreams, is a fascinating enigma, of which the solution is perhaps beyond the
ken of man. A vast mass of superstition as well as imaginative and psychological literature has grown up about it. But
the simplest and truest religious doctrine is laid down here in a few words. In death we surrender our physical life, but
our soul does not die; it goes back to a plane of existence in which it is more conscious of the realities of the spiritual
world: "Allah takes the soul". (39.42)
4307 Cf. vi. 60. What is sleep? As far as animal life is concerned, it is the cessation of the working of the nervous system,
though other animal functions, such as digestion, growth, and the circulation of the blood, continue, possibly at a
different pace. It is the repose of the nervous system, and in this respect it is common to man and animals, and
perhaps even to plants, if, as is probable, plants have a nervous system. The mental processes (and certainly volition)
are also suspended in sleep, except that in ordinary dreams there is a medley of recollections, which often present
vividly to our consciousness things that do not or cannot happen in nature as we know it in our coordinated minds. But
there is another kind of dream which is rarer-one in which the dreamer sees things as they actually happen,
backwards or forwards in time, or in which gifted individuals see spiritual truths otherwise imperceptible to them. How
can we explain this? It is suggested that our soul or personality,-that something which is above our animal life-is then
in a plane of spiritual existence akin to physical death (see last note), when we are nearer to Allah. In poetic imagery,
Sleep is "twin-brother to Death". (39.42)
4308 Sleep being twin-brother to Death, our souls are for the time being released from the bondage of the flesh. Allah takes
them for the time being. If, as some do, we are to die peacefully in sleep, our soul does not come back to the physical
body, and the latterdecays and die. If we have still some period of life to fulfil according to Allah's decree, our soul
comes back to the body, and we resume our functions in this life. (39.42)
4309 If we contemplate these things, we can see more clearly many spiritual truths: e.g. (1) that our bodily life and death
are not the whole story of our existence; (2) that in our bodily life we may be dead to the spiritual world, and in our
bodily death, may be our awakening to the spiritual world; (3) that our nightly Sleep, besides performing the function of
rest to our physical life, gives us a foretaste of what we call death, which does not end our personality; and (4) that the
Resurrection is not more wonderful than our daily rising from Sleep, "twin-brother to Death". (39.42)
46:3 - We created not the heavens and the earth and all between them but for just ends and for a
term appointed: but those who reject Faith turn away from that whereof they are warned. 4776
4776 Cf. xlv. 22. Many things may appear to us in the present world as strange and inexplicable. But everything made by
Allah has a just purpose which must be fulfilled. Nothing in this world is permanent: everything is for an appointed
term. The Word of Allah alone abides. All else will pass away after it has fulfilled its purpose. But Unbelievers refuse to
face the danger of which they are warned. (46.3)
65:2 - Thus when they fulfil their term appointed either take them back on equitable terms or part
with them on equitable terms; and take for witness two persons from among you endued with
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