When Your Soul Leaves Each Night

DAILYREFLECTION

The Prophet ﷺ taught that there are three kinds of dreams.
The first is a true vision from Allah, a gift that carries light.
The second is a distressing dream from Shaytan, meant to disturb and confuse.
And the third is hadith an-nafs, the whisperings of the mind replaying its thoughts and worries.

He said that when someone sees something they dislike, they should not seek its interpretation. Instead, they should rise and pray, seek refuge in Allah, and not speak of it to others. In another narration, he explained that the interpretation of a bad dream is tied to the leg of a bird, meaning it only comes to pass if we chase after it. By speaking about it or fearing it, we pull it down upon ourselves. But if we leave it, it flies away.

So we turn to Allah for protection and let it go. But beyond these categories lies something deeper: the mystery of what happens to the soul when we sleep. When someone told the Prophet ﷺ about a dream involving him, he replied, “Indeed, the souls meet.” What does that mean?

Do our souls actually meet in sleep, or is it a figure of speech?

The scholars said that Allah allows souls to connect in ways unseen, across distance and across dimensions. The companions themselves witnessed this while still alive.

During the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab, as he stood delivering the Friday sermon in Madinah, his army was far away in Persia under the command of Sariah. Suddenly, in the middle of the khutbah, Umar’s tone changed. He called out, “O Sariah, the mountain! O Sariah, the mountain!”

Those in the masjid were puzzled. They could not understand who he was speaking to. But thousands of miles away, Sariah and his soldiers were on the battlefield. They were being ambushed from behind a mountain. In that very moment, they heard the voice of Umar calling out to them. They moved toward the mountain for protection, turned their ranks, and by Allah’s mercy were able to defeat the enemy.

When news reached Madinah, the timing matched exactly. It had happened at the same hour that Umar called out. Ibn al-Qayyim wrote that living souls can meet whether awake or asleep, in ways that only Allah knows. If that can happen in this world, then surely Allah can allow souls to meet between this world and the next.

Because every night, we die a small death.

Every time you close your eyes, your soul leaves. Not completely, but enough to remind you that you are never in full control. It drifts into the unseen, still tethered to your body. Your chest rises and falls, but your awareness fades.

The deeper your sleep, the weaker your attachment to this world, and the closer your soul may come to the realm of Barzakh, the world between life and death. And the closer you are to Allah in conviction, in sincerity, and in truthfulness, the more your soul is drawn toward that unseen world.

Truthfulness opens the way between the seen and the unseen. When your heart believes fully in what it cannot see, Allah lets it taste what lies beyond the veil. But when your sleep is shallow, your heart preoccupied with the dunya and your mind filled with noise, you remain anchored here, dreaming only fragments of your own thoughts.

Every night, you live between two worlds.
And every morning, Allah returns your soul.

Sleep is not just rest. It is mercy and proof. Proof that the unseen is closer than we think, that our souls are never really silent, and that every breath we wake with is a new permission from Allah to begin again.

REFLECT ON THIS:

When you wake each morning, do you feel the weight of that divine permission that your soul has been returned to you for one more day to seek Allah?

^{Share your reflections in the poll at the end of the email.}

WATERMELONWATCH

• Palestinian factions announced they’ve agreed to install an independent technocrat committee to run the Gaza Strip’s daily services, signalling a possible shift in governance amid hopes for rebuilding and renewed stability.

• The United States is coordinating from southern Israel to form an international security force for Gaza, aiming to monitor a fragile ceasefire and support humanitarian access, though commitments from potential troop-contributing nations remain uncertain.

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified that any future security force for Gaza must consist of countries that Israel finds “comfortable” with, and that the Palestinian Authority’s role remains under negotiation, indicating significant hurdles ahead.

• Despite the ceasefire, basic services in Gaza are still in crisis: only 14 of 36 hospitals are partially working, more than a million people need mental-health support, and aid shortages persist, but local volunteers continue to organise makeshift clinics and community kitchens in defiance of the destruction.

• In the occupied West Bank, settler-violence linked to the olive harvest has surpassed 150 recorded incidents, reflecting how conflict reverberates beyond Gaza; yet Palestinian farmers continue harvesting olives by hand, sustaining livelihoods and affirming hope through perseverance.

QURANCORNER

Each day, you’ll be introduced to one of the 300 most common Qur’anic words. The Qur’an has about 77,430 words in total, all built on just 2,000 root words. By learning these frequently recurring ones, you’ll recognize 70–80% of the Qur’an’s vocabulary and begin connecting more deeply as you read.

Man (مَن) - Who

Man is the seeker’s question and the speaker’s call. It means “who”, used to ask, to challenge, or to invite reflection. Who will believe? Who will be grateful? Who is your Lord? In every use, Man turns the spotlight not just on others, but on us. It asks not for information, but for transformation.