وَأَنتُم حينَئِذٍ تَنظُرونَ

And at that moment you are looking on [at his bedside].

EXPOSITION

These few verses depict the scene of death in front of the reader’s eye in a vivid way, as if it is happening to him or in front of his eyes right now. In several places in Nahj al-Balāghah, Imam Ali (a) has described the stages and the process of death in the most graphic and moving way and with such detail that suffices from any other exposition on these verses (see Insights from Hadith). In short, the body rests motionless as the soul is dragged out from bottom to top and the limbs become faint and inactive. Heartbeats and breathing slow down and fail the person. The tongue, the ears, and the eyes are locked and blocked one after another, and finally the soul is fully separated from the body and captured, whereby the body becomes a corpse among its beloved ones.

The soul reaching the throat might be a reference to the termination of breathing, after which the brain cannot survive for more than a few minutes. It could also be just an expressive way of describing the soul’s departure and separation from the body, without corresponding to any medical or physiological stage of death in particular. At any rate, it does suggest some connection between the soul and the body, implying that the soul is not totally immaterial (at least in this world).^{‎[1]Furqan, 28/111.}

And at that moment you are looking on [at his bedside]. This verse pictures how the family and friends of a dying person may be sitting around his bedside and witnessing his struggle with an adversary that has never been defeated by any living being. Just as he is overcome by death, you are overcome by Our decree, because We are nearer to him than you are, except that you do not perceive (verse 85). Furthermore, not only are We nearer to him than you, but We are nearer to him than his jugular vein (50:16). Yet further, Know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart and that toward Him you will be mustered (8:24). Thus, God is in complete charge of every affair: There is no living being but He holds it by its forelock (11:56).

[1] Furqan, 28/111.