WHY IS SLEEP IMPORTANT ?

Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety. The way you feel while you're awake depends in part on what happens while you're sleeping. During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. In children and teens, sleep also helps support growth and development.
The damage from sleep deficiency can occur in an instant (such as a car crash), or it can harm you over time. For example, ongoing sleep deficiency can raise your risk for some chronic health problems. It also can affect how well you think, react, work, learn, and get along with others.

Healthy Brain Function and Emotional Well-Being

Sleep helps your brain work properly. While you're sleeping, your brain is preparing for the next day. It's forming new pathways to help you learn and remember information.
Studies show that a good night's sleep improves learning. Whether you're learning math, how to play the piano, how to perfect your golf swing, or how to drive a car, sleep helps enhance your learning and problem-solving skills. Sleep also helps you pay attention, make decisions, and be creative.
Studies also show that sleep deficiency alters activity in some parts of the brain. If you're sleep deficient, you may have trouble making decisions, solving problems, controlling your emotions and behavior, and coping with change. Sleep deficiency also has been linked to depression, suicide, and risk-taking behavior.
Children and teens who are sleep deficient may have problems getting along with others. They may feel angry and impulsive, have mood swings, feel sad or depressed, or lack motivation. They also may have problems paying attention, and they may get lower grades and feel stressed.

Physical Health

Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.
Sleep deficiency also increases the risk of obesity. For example, one study of teenagers showed that with each hour of sleep lost, the odds of becoming obese went up. Sleep deficiency increases the risk of obesity in other age groups as well.
Sleep helps maintain a healthy balance of the hormones that make you feel hungry (ghrelin) or full (leptin). When you don't get enough sleep, your level of ghrelin goes up and your level of leptin goes down. This makes you feel hungrier than when you're well-rested. Sleep also affects how your body reacts to insulin, the hormone that controls your blood glucose (sugar) level. Sleep deficiency results in a higher than normal blood sugar level, which may increase your risk for diabetes.
Sleep also supports healthy growth and development. Deep sleep triggers the body to release the hormone that promotes normal growth in children and teens. This hormone also boosts muscle mass and helps repair cells and tissues in children, teens, and adults. Sleep also plays a role in puberty and fertility.
Your immune system relies on sleep to stay healthy. This system defends your body against foreign or harmful substances. Ongoing sleep deficiency can change the way in which your immune system responds. For example, if you're sleep deficient, you may have trouble fighting common infections.
Daytime Performance and Safety Getting enough quality sleep at the right times helps you function well throughout the day. People who are sleep deficient are less productive at work and school. They take longer to finish tasks, have a slower reaction time, and make more mistakes.
After several nights of losing sleep—even a loss of just 1–2 hours per night—your ability to function suffers as if you haven't slept at all for a day or two. Lack of sleep also may lead to microsleep. Microsleep refers to brief moments of sleep that occur when you're normally awake.
You can't control microsleep, and you might not be aware of it. For example, have you ever driven somewhere and then not remembered part of the trip? If so, you may have experienced microsleep. Even if you're not driving, microsleep can affect how you function. If you're listening to a lecture, for example, you might miss some of the information or feel like you don't understand the point. In reality, though, you may have slept through part of the lecture and not been aware of it. Some people aren't aware of the risks of sleep deficiency. In fact, they may not even realize that they're sleep deficient. Even with limited or poor-quality sleep, they may still think that they can function well.
For example, drowsy drivers may feel capable of driving. Yet, studies show that sleep deficiency harms your driving ability as much as, or more than, being drunk. It's estimated that driver sleepiness is a factor in about 100,000 car accidents each year, resulting in about 1,500 deaths.
Drivers aren't the only ones affected by sleep deficiency. It can affect people in all lines of work, including health care workers, pilots, students, lawyers, mechanics, and assembly line workers. As a result, sleep deficiency is not only harmful on a personal level, but it also can cause large-scale damage. For example, sleep deficiency has played a role in human errors linked to tragic accidents, such as nuclear reactor meltdowns, grounding of large ships, and aviation accidents.
While the brain sleeps, it clears out harmful toxins, a process that may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's, researchers say.
During sleep, the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain increases dramatically, washing away harmful waste proteins that build up between brain cells during waking hours, a study of mice found. "It's like a dishwasher," says Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Rochester and an author of the study in Science. The process is important because what's getting washed away during sleep are waste proteins that are toxic to brain cells, Nedergaard says. This could explain why we don't think clearly after a sleepless night and why a prolonged lack of sleep can actually kill an animal or a person, she says.
"Beta amyloid concentrations continue to increase while a person is awake," Bateman a professor of neurology Washington University in St. Louis says. "And then after people go to sleep that concentration of beta amyloid decreases. This report provides a beautiful mechanism by which this may be happening."

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⦁ Why Do We Sleep?

The human need for sleep is a mystery.

Humans spend nearly a third of their lives asleep. Going without sleep will literally make you psychotic and, eventually, kill you. It's clear that shut-eye is crucial to the body's ability to function.
But no one knows what sleep actually does.
"It's sort of embarrassing," said Dr. Michael Halassa, a neuroscientist at New York University. "It's obvious why we need to eat, for example, and reproduce … but it's not clear why we need to sleep at all." [5 Surprising Sleep Discoveries]
We're vulnerable when we're asleep, so whatever sleep does, it must be worth the risk of the brain taking itself mostly offline. There are a few theories about why we sleep, and although none of them are totally solid, a few try to explain what happens each night, pulling in research on topics ranging from cellular processes to cognition. Researchers say it does seem clear that sleep is key to the brain's ability to reorganize itself — a feature called plasticity

Sleep stages

It's not hard to prove that sleep is important. Rats totally deprived of sleep die within two or three weeks, according to research by the pioneering University of Chicago sleep scientist Allan Rechtschaffen. No one has done similar experiments on humans, for obvious reasons, but a 2014 study published in The Journal of Neuroscience found that a mere 24 hours of sleep deprivation caused healthy people to have hallucinations and other schizophrenia-like symptoms.
One reason it is difficult to get a handle on why we sleep is that sleep is actually pretty difficult to isolate and study. Sleep-deprivation studies are the most common way to study sleep, said Marcos Frank, a neuroscientist at the University of Washington, but depriving an animal of sleep disrupts many of its biological systems. It's hard to tell which outcomes are directly attributable to sleep deprivation rather than, say, stress.
Another reason sleep is hard to understand is that the brain may be doing two different things during the two major stages of sleep. As the night wears on, sleepers cycle through non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. Non-REM sleep is marked by slow brain waves called theta and delta waves. In contrast, the brain's electrical activity during REM sleep looks much like it does when a person is awake, but the muscles of the body are paralyzed. (If you've ever experienced sleep paralysis, it's because you woke from REM sleep before this paralysis ended.)
Studies have found differences in the biology of the brain during these different stages. For example, during non-REM sleep, the body releases growth hormone, according to a 2006 review of the biology of sleep published by Frank in the journal Reviews in the Neurosciences. Also during non-REM sleep, the synthesis of some brain proteins increases, and some genes involved in protein synthesis become more active, the review found. During REM sleep, in contrast, there does not appear to be any increase in this sort of protein-producing activity.

What do we know about sleep?

One conclusion that has emerged from sleep research is that sleep does appear to be largely a brain-focused phenomenon, Frank said. Although sleep deprivation affects the immune system and alters hormone levels in the body, its most consistent impacts across animals are in the brain. [10 Things You Didn't Know About the Brain]
"The central nervous system is always impacted by sleep," Frank said. "There may have been other things that evolution added onto the primary function of sleep, but the primary function of sleep probably has something to do with the brain."
There is some evidence, in fact, that sleep is just something that neurons do when they're joined in a network. Even neuron networks grown in lab dishes show stages of activity and inactivity that sort of resemble waking and sleeping, Frank said. That could mean sleep arises naturally when single neurons begin to work together. This could explain why even the simplest organisms show sleep-like behaviors. Even Caenorhabditis elegans, a tiny worm with only 302 neurons, cycles through quiet, lethargic periods that look like sleep. Perhaps the first simple nervous systems to evolve exhibited these quiet periods, Frank said, and as brains got larger and more complex, the state of inactivity also had to get more complicated. "It would be very disadvantageous to have a complex brain like ours where different parts are falling in and out of sleep, so you need to have some way to orchestrate this," he said.

What happens during sleep?

But the idea that sleep is a natural property of neuron networks doesn't really explain what's going on during sleep. On that front, scientists have a number of theories. One is that sleep restores the brain's energy, according to a 2016 review in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews. During non-REM sleep, the brain consumes only about half the glucose as it does when a person is awake. (Glucose is the sugar that cells burn up to release energy.)
But if the idea that sleep restores brain energy is true, the relationship between sleep and the brain's energy usage is not straightforward. For example, during sleep deprivation, the brain's breakdown of an energy source called glycogen increases in some parts of the brain but decreases in others. More research is needed to understand this link. [The 7 Biggest Mysteries of the Human Body] Another idea is that sleep might enable the brain to clear out toxic products produced when we're awake. The brain is a huge consumer of energy, which means it also produces much waste. Some recent research suggests that sleep is a time when the brain sweeps itself clean, Frank said, but those results need to be replicated.
"It might be something that kind of happens with sleep," Frank said, "but it may not be the most important thing sleep is doing." Perhaps the most promising theory of sleep so far is that it plays a major role in the brain's connectivity and plasticity. Plasticity is involved in learning and memory. Although it's unclear exactly how, plenty of evidence suggests that losing sleep can cause problems with memory, particularly working memory, the process that allows people to hold information in an easily accessible way while working out a problem. People who are sleep-deprived also struggle with choosing what to pay attention to and regulating their emotions.
One way sleep may affect the brain's plasticity is through its effects on the synapses, or connections between neurons. Research has shown that when animals learn a new task, their neurons seem to strengthen the synaptic connections involved in learning that task during the next sleep cycle, according to the Sleep Medicine Reviews paper. In experiments where researchers put a patch over one of an animal's eyes, the brain circuits associated with visual information from that eye weakened within hours, according to research by the University of Surrey's Julie Seibt and colleagues. REM sleep, however, strengthened the circuits involving the other eye, suggesting that the brain uses sleep to adjust to changing inputs. [7 Weird Facts About Balance]
"It could still mean there is something really basic and central at the heart of [sleep], something basic that brain cells have to do, and one outcome is the plastic change," Frank said. In the future, a better understanding of sleep may come from research on cells called glia cells, Frank said. These brain cells, whose name literally means "glue," were once thought to be largely inert but have been recently discovered to have a range of functions. Glia cells outnumber neurons by up to three to one, Frank said. Glia cells may control the flow of cerebrospinal fluid throughout the brain, which could result in clearing out metabolic waste during sleep, for example.
"It could be that the mystery of sleep could be solved by understanding what these very specialized glia cells are doing," Frank said.

Reerence

Sleep from an Islamic perspective

Abstract

Sleep medicine is a relatively new scientific specialty. Sleep is an important topic in Islamic literature, and the Quran and Hadith discuss types of sleep, the importance of sleep, and good sleep practices. Islam considers sleep as one of the signs of the greatness of Allνh (God) and encourages followers to explore this important sign. The Quran describes different types of sleep, and these correspond with sleep stages identified by modern science. The Quran discusses the beneficial effects of sleep and emphasizes the importance of maintaining a pattern of light and darkness. A mid-day nap is an important practice for Muslims, and the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him (pbuh) promoted naps as beneficial. In accordance with the practice and instructions of Muhammad (pbuh), Muslims have certain sleep habits and these sleep habits correspond to some of the sleep hygiene rules identified by modern science. Details during sleep include sleep position, like encouraging sleep on the right side and discouraging sleep in the prone position. Dream interpretation is an established science in the Islamic literature and Islamic scholars have made significant contributions to theories of dream interpretation. We suggest that sleep scientists examine religious literature in general and Islamic literature in particular, to understand the views, behaviors, and practices of ancient people about the sleep and sleep disorders. Such studies may help to answer some unresolved questions in sleep science or lead to new areas of inquiry.
Keyword:Circadian rhythm, dreams, Islam, Quran, sleep
Sleep medicine is considered a relatively new field of medicine, but mankind has long been interested in sleep, and culture and religion influence attitudes and beliefs about sleep. In particular, religious literature has many references to sleep.[1,2] Islam emerged as a religion in the seventh century when the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him (pbuh) started receiving revelations from Allāh (God), known as the Holy Quran (610 C.E.). Most Muslims, with a worldwide population of about 1.6 billion, view Islam as a way of life and follow the instructions of Islam in all of their daily practices, including sleep.[3] The two sources of Islamic jurisprudence are the Quran and Hadith (Sunnah). Muslims believe that Allāh revealed the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) through the angel Gabriel from 610 to 632 C.E., the year of the Prophet's death [verse 17. 106]. The text of the Quran contains 114 chapters (Sūra). Hadith are a collection of narrations concerning the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). These were evaluated and gathered into a large collection, mostly during the eighth and ninth centuries.
Islam has great interest in sleep, and sleep is considered as one of the signs of the greatness of Allāh. Sleep is mentioned frequently in the Quran. For example, a well-known verse says, “And among his signs is your sleep by night and by day and your seeking of His bounty, verily in that are Signs for those who hearken” [verse 30.23]. Islam has clear instructions and guidance for followers about the nature of good sleep. In addition, Muslims have shown great interest in dreams and dream interpretation.[4]
In this article, for citation of the Quran, we refer to chapter (Sūra) and verse (Sūra.verse); for citation of Hadith, we refer to the book and Hadith number. For the Quran, we used an English translation that was approved by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in Saudi Arabia and the Islamic University in Madinah; for Hadith, we cite major books approved by the Ministry of Islamic affairs in Saudi Arabia.[5–7]
In this article, we discuss the Islamic views of sleep based on the Quran and Hadith and the impact of these views on sleep and sleep habits of modern Muslims.

Types of Sleep in the Quran

The Quran frequently mentions sleep. There is a general Arabic word for “sleep” (Noum) and other Arabic words for specific types of sleep. The word “sleep” and its derivatives appear nine times in the Quran. In addition, different Arabic words are used to describe sleep in the Quran, and these may correspond to the different sleep stages identified by modern sleep science:

⦁ “Sinah”:
This word has been defined as “slumber” or “dozing off for a very short period”, during which there is prompt arousal following environmental stimulation. This may correspond to stage 1 sleep identified by modern sleep scientists. A verse in the Quran uses the word “Sinah” when describing Allāh “No slumber (Sinah) can seize Him nor sleep” [verse 2.255]. In the Quran, sleep implies a manifestation of weakness and bodily need for rest. Therefore, while the Creator (Allāh) does not sleep or doze off, His creations, including mankind, need sleep every day.

Nu’ass”:
Two verses in the Quran use the word “Nu’ass”. One verse says “Remember when He covered you with a slumber (Nu’ass) as a security from him” [verse 8.11]. This describes the fear and stress of the believers during the battle of Badr, when slumber (Nu’ass) provided them with a feeling of security and relief from stress. Nu’ass in this verse implies a short nap, which may correspond to stage 1 and stage 2 sleep identified by modern sleep scientists. It was recently suggested that a short nap can reduce stress and blood pressure (BP), with the main changes in BP occurring between the time of lights off and the onset of stage 1.[⦁ 8–⦁ 10] A second verse of the Quran says “Then after the distress, He sent down security upon you. Slumber (Nu’ass) overtook a party of you, while, another party was thinking about themselves (as how to save their own selves)” [verse 3.154].

Ruqood”:"
This word has been given several interpretations. In our view, the most appropriate definition is “sleep for a long period”, as Allāh has described the People of the Cave with this term in the Quran[⦁ 2] “And you would have thought them awake, whereas they were asleep (Ruqood)” [verse 18. 18]. The Quran states that the People of the Cave stayed in their caves for 300 solar years, adding nine (for lunar years) [verse 18. 25], as discussed later[⦁ 11]

⦁ Hojoo”: “
This term describes pious believers who fear Allāh, “They used to sleep but little by night (Hojoo). And in the hours before dawn, they were (found) asking (Allāh) for forgiveness” [verse 51. 17-18]. This word indicates “sleep at night”.

⦁ “Subaat”:
The word “Subaat” is derived from the Arabic word “Sabt”, which means disconnecting.[⦁ 2] “Subaat” may indicate a disconnection from the surrounding environment during sleep. A verse in the Quran says, “And we made your sleep (Subaat) as a thing for rest” [verse 78.9]. Therefore, “Subaat” may be considered to be “deep sleep”, corresponding to the slow wave sleep identified by modern sleep scientists.
Based on the above, we suggest that the arrangement of sleep stages/states is Sinah and Nu’ass, followed by Hojoo, and Ruqood and then Subaat.

Importance of Sleep

Modern sleep scientists believe that sleep deprivation has deleterious effects on mental concentration, memory, mood, and quality of life. In addition, recent data indicate that sleep deprivation impairs endocrine and metabolic functions.[12,13] Islam also emphasizes the importance of getting enough sleep. One Hadith by the Prophet (pbuh) in Sahih Al-Bukhari (SB) says, “If anyone of you feels drowsy while praying he should go to bed (sleep) till his slumber is over” (SB 210). The Prophet (pbuh) told one of his companions (Ibn Amr) who was praying the whole night “Offer prayers and also sleep at night, as your body has a right on you” (SB 1874). Once the Prophet (pbuh) entered the Mosque and saw a rope hanging in between its two pillars. He said, “What is this rope?” The people said, “This rope is for Zainab, who, when she feels tired, holds it (to keep standing for the prayer.)” The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Don’t use it. Remove the rope. You should pray as long as you feel active, and when you get tired, sleep” (SB 1099). Another Hadith narrated by Aisha (wife of the Prophet [pbuh]) in Musnad Ahmed (MA) tells of a woman from the tribe of Bani Asad, who was sitting with Aisha when Allāh's Apostle (pbuh) came to my house and said, “Who is this?” Aisha replied, “She is so and so”. She does not sleep at night because she is engaged in prayer. The Prophet said disapprovingly, “Do (good) deeds which are within your capacity as Allāh never gets tired of giving rewards till you get tired of doing good deeds” [MA 25244].

There are numerous Muslim sleep traditions that Muslims try to follow in order to be in accordance with the practice of the Prophet (pbuh) (Sunnah). Early bedtime and early wake up time
Muhammad (pbuh) encouraged his companions not to be involved in any activity after Isha prayer (darkness prayer, which is around 1.5-2 hours after sunset). The Prophet (pbuh) said, “One should not sleep before the night prayer, nor have discussions after it” [SB 574]. Additionally, Muslims are required to wake up for Fajr prayer, which is about one hour before sunrise. The Prophet did not sleep after Fajr prayer.[2] In addition, the Prophet (pbuh) told his companions that early morning work is blessed by Allāh.
Perform ablution (wudoo) before going to bed and supplicate
It is reported in Sahih Muslim (SM) th, perform ablution like that for the prayer, and lie on your right side” [SM 2710]. And then he at one of the companions said that the Prophet (pbuh) told him, “Whenever you go to bedasked him to say the night prayers before sleep.
Dusting and cleaning the bed before sleeping It has been reported that the Prophet (pbuh) said, “When any one of you goes to bed, he should take hold of the hem of his lower garment and then should clean (his bed) with the help of that and then should recite the name of Allāh” [SM 271].
Sleep position
In Islamic culture, some sleep positions are encouraged while others are discouraged based on the practice (Sunnah) and recommendations of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Thus, many Muslims sleep on their right side, particularly, in the initial part of sleep. Muhammad (pbuh) said, “Whenever you go to bed, perform ablution like that for the prayer, and lie on your right side” [SM 2710). In description of the sleep of the Prophet (pbuh), a Hadith states, “When the Prophet (pbuh) wants to go to sleep, he puts his right hand under his cheek” [SM 2713]. Modern scientific studies have suggested a beneficial effect of right lateral decubitus position on the heart. In particular, one study assessed the autonomic effect of three sleep positions (supine, left lateral decubitus, and right lateral decubitus) in healthy subjects using spectral heart rate variability analysis.[14] The results indicated that cardiac vagal activity was greatest when subjects were in the right lateral decubitus position. In addition, an animal study indicated that vagal stimulation has an antiarrhythmic effect.[15] Several studies have demonstrated that the recumbent position affects autonomic nervous system activity in patients with congestive heart failure, and that there is attenuation of the sympathetic tone when subjects are in the right lateral decubitus position.[16–18] Muslims tend to dislike sleeping in the prone position, and this is discouraged in the Islamic literature, even for infants. The Prophet (pbuh) told a man who was lying on his stomach, “Allāh and his Prophet dislike this position” [Sunan Al-Tirmdhi 2768]. Modern medical studies have concluded that infants who sleep in the prone position have a seven-fold increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). This has led to “back to sleep” campaigns in Britain (1991) and in the United States (1994).[19]
Turning off light before sleep
It is narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) said, “Put out lamps when you go to bed, shut the doors, and cover water and food containers” [SB 5301]. This may correspond with current scientific understanding that it is important to maintain a dark environment during sleep so as not to disrupt the circadian rhythm.
Yawning Yawning is an unacceptable behavior for Muslims, especially in public places. If yawning occurs, the yawner is instructed to cover his mouth with his hand. The Prophet said, “Yawning is from Satan. If you are about to yawn, you should try to stop it as much as possible. If you yawn, Satan will laugh” [SB 3115].

Naps (Siestas)

Napping is a cross-cultural practice, and modern sleep scientists believe that napping provides benefits for all ages.[20] A short mid-day nap (called Qailulah in Islamic culture) is a deeply embedded practice in the Muslim culture, and it takes a religious dimension (Sunnah) for some Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “Take a short nap, for Devils do not take naps” [Sahih Aljamie. Alalbani 1647]. Another Hadith by Muhammad (pbuh) provided details about the timing of the nap, “Sleeping early in the day betrays ignorance, in the middle of the day is right, and at the end of the day is stupid.” (Fath Al-Bari, p.73). A third Hadith reported in Sahih Al-Bukhari (SB) says, “We used to offer the Jumua (Friday) prayer with the Prophet and then take the afternoon nap” [SB 5923]. Friday is the weekend for Muslims, so napping on Friday may compensate for sleep debt that has accumulated during weekdays.
Previous research has shown that short daytime naps improve vigilance and cognitive functions, and are beneficial for memory consolidation.[21] In particular, a nap as short as 10 min can improve alertness and performance for 2.5-4 hours.[21] A recent study assessed the health effects of napping in 23,681 healthy Greek adults for an average of about six years. After controlling for potential confounders, the researchers concluded that those who napped at least three times weekly for about half an hour had 37% lower coronary mortality than those who did not nap.[8]

Circadian Rhythm

The Quran frequently presents “day” and “night” as significant signs of the creator (Allāh). The Quranmentions the alternation of day and night in 37 places and in many places asks Muslims to observe the succession of night and day. For example, “And it is He who has made the night and the day in succession for whoever desires to remember or desires gratitude” [verse 25.62]. In the Quran, the word “night” always precedes the word “day”, “And We have appointed the night and the day as two signs. Then We have obliterated the sign of the night with darkness, while We made the sign of the day illuminating” [verse: 17.12]. It is clear that the Quran considers humans to be diurnal creatures who need light in the daytime and darkness at night, “And it is He Who makes the night a covering for you, and the sleep a repose, and makes the day Nushūr (i.e., getting up and going about here and there for daily work, after one's sleep at night)” [verse: 25.47]. The Quran stresses the importance of the daily pattern of light and darkness and considers the cycle of night and day as a mercy from Allāh, “Say: See ye? If Allāh were to make the Night perpetual over you to the Day of Judgment, what God is there other than Allāh, who can give you enlightenment? Will ye not then hearken? Say: See ye? If Allāh were to make the Day perpetual over you to the Day of Judgment, what God is there other than Allāh, who can give you a Night in which ye can rest? Will ye not then see? It is out of His Mercy that He has made for you Night and Day, - that ye may rest therein, and that ye may seek of His Grace - and in order that ye may be grateful” [verses 28.71-73].
Muslims have five obligatory prayers per day. The first prayer (Fajr) is at dawn (about one hour before sunrise), so Muslims are obliged to wake up early on weekdays and weekends; the last prayer (Isha) is in the evening, about 1.5-2 hours after sunset. Summer nights have earlier dawn and shorter nights, so Muslims may have less night sleep during the summer. Sleep scientists have not yet studied the physiological effects of this, although available evidence suggests a possible seasonality effect in bed times and wake times.[22,23] Honma et al. studied 10 healthy male volunteers from Japan and reported that wake-up time in the summer was 60 min earlier than in the winter and that bedtime was earlier in summer, resulting in a slightly longer total time in bed during the winter than summer.[24] They also reported that the acrophase (circadian maximum) for core body temperature and plasma melatonin changed with the seasons, with a 2 hour phase delay in winter, compared to summer.[24] Another study examined nine healthy males at the Antarctic zone for 15 months. The peak phase of melatonin rhythm was phase delayed by 4.1 hours in winter, compared to summer. In addition, the trough phase of rectal temperature rhythm in two of three subjects was phase delayed by approximately 2 hours in winter. However, in this study there was no change in total sleep time in winter, compared to summer.[23] Seasonal changes in the phase of circadian rhythms are normally due to seasonal changes in the intensity of light and in the times of sunset and sunrise.

Unique topics about sleep in Islamic culture

In this section, we will discuss sleep and death, the story of the Companions of the Cave, and dreams and dream interpretation in Islamic culture.

Sleep and death

The Quran indicates some resemblance between sleep and death. The Quran uses “Wafat” to describe death, and one of the verses states, “It is Allāh Who takes away the souls (Wafat) at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep. He keeps those (souls) for which He has ordained death and sends the rest for a term appointed. Verily, in this are signs for people who think deeply” [verse 39:42]. Another verse states, “It is He Who takes your souls (Wafat) by night (when you are asleep), and has knowledge of all that you have done by day, then He raises (wakes) you up again that a term appointed (your life period) be fulfilled, then (in the end) to Him will be your return. Then He will inform you of that which you used to do” [verse 6.60]. The Quran divides the “state of self” into two parts, a state of consciousness and a state of “Wafat”.[25]
The state of “Wafat” is divided into sleep (temporary death) and death (real death). Thus, the above verses indicate that Allāh takes and retains souls during real death, but releases souls after rest for an appointed term. The Hadith from the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) supports this view. It is reported that whenever the Prophet (pbuh) went to bed, he said, “O’ Allāh, it is with Thine Name that I live and it is with Thine Name that I die”, and when he awoke, he said, “Praise is due to Allāh, Who gave us life after our death (sleep) and unto Thee is resurrection” [SM 2711]. Muslims believe that people in Heaven do not sleep, because sleep is a form of death. The Prophet (pbuh) was asked, “Do people of Heaven sleep?” He answered: “Sleep is the brother of death. People of Heaven do not sleep”[26]
T The people (companions) of the cave
In Sūra Al-Kahf (the cave), the Quran describes the People or Companions of the Cave (as’hab al-Kahf), known in Christian literature as “the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus”.[27] The verses [18.9-26] describe young believers who found refuge from prosecution in a cave. When the boys asked Allāh for mercy, He put them into a sleep state that lasted for 300 solar years, adding nine (for lunar years). We present this story, because it provides information that corresponds with our current understanding of sleep and the effect of light and noise on sleep. The verses describe the regular turning of the boys from side to side during their long sleep, “We turned them on their right and on their left sides” [verse 18.18]. Modern science has documented that staying on one side for long periods can cause bed sores. In addition, prolonged immobility increases the risk of numerous conditions, including thrombosis. Therefore, in modern medical practice, patients who are bed-ridden are turned regularly.
The description of the Companions of the Cave portrays their conditions during sleep. One verse states that the boys appeared to those who saw them as if they were awake, when in fact they were asleep, “And you would have thought them awake, whereas they were asleep” [verse18.18]. This verse suggests that their eyes were open and blinking when they were asleep. In the context of modern sleep science, open eyes allow more light perception and are important for the regulation of circadian rhythms.
During their sleep, the Quran describes sunlight that comes with sunrise and leaves at sunset and to maintain the light-dark cycle, “And you might have seen the sun, when it rose, declining to the right from their Cave, and when it set, turning away from them to the left, while they lay in the midst of the Cave. That is one of the signs of Allāh” [verse 18.17]. New discoveries revealed that a regular light-dark cycle is essential for the calibration of circadian rhythms, and maintenance of the circadian pattern of body functions and hormonal secretion.[28] To create a suitable environment for sleep, the Quran mentions that the hearing of the boys was sealed up during their entire sleep period, “Therefore, We covered up their (sense of) hearing (causing them to go in deep sleep) in the Cave for a number of years” [verse 18.11]. Although sensitivity to noise decreases during sleep, modern scientists believe that the sleeping body still responds to noise stimulation.[29] Noise during sleep has a negative impact on the quality of sleep because it increases arousal, increases changes in sleep stages, decreases slow wave sleep, and disturbs the rhythmicity of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.[29,30] In addition, noise during sleep may disturb the autonomic and endocrine responses of the body. Although autonomic reactions that occur during sleep may be small, their accumulation over time may result in harmful effects, such as increased risk for cardiovascular disease.[31] Subjects do not become adapted to these changes following long exposure times.[29]
Dreams
Detailed discussion of dreams in the Muslim culture is beyond the scope of this article. Instead, we provide an overall summary of the importance of dreams in Muslim culture. Muslims in general have great interest in dreams and dream interpretation. In general, Muslims consider dream to be a kind of supernatural perception. One Hadith states that the Prophet (pbuh) said, “A good dream vision of a pious man is a forty-sixth part of prophecy” [SM 2263]. It has also been reported that the Prophet (pbuh) said, “A good vision (ru’ya) is from Allāh and a bad dream (hulm) is from Satan; so if one of you sees anything (in a dream which he dislikes), he should spit on his left side thrice and seek refuge with Allāh from its evil, and then it will never harm him” [SB 3118).
Oneiromancy is a traditional type of dream interpretation that is common in the Muslim world. In general, Muslims have much higher regard for dreams and dream interpretation than people from Western societies.[4] Muslim countries traditionally used the terms Tabir or Tafsir for “dream interpretation”, and dreams continue to play an important role in the lives of modern Muslims.[32,33] Muslim interest in dreams and dream interpretation has not been well documented in the English literature, and most Western dream researchers are not familiar with the rich traditions of dreams and dream interpretation in Islam.[4] The theories, insights, and observations of dreams proposed by Muslims over the past 1400 years correspond with many of the recent theories developed by Western psychologists during the past 150 years.[4] Traditionally, Muslims believe that dreams appearing in the last third of the night are more truthful. This correlates with the current scientific understanding that the longest periods of REM sleep occurs during the last third of the nocturnal sleep period, when dream imagination is most active.[4]
The Quran uses several terms to refer to dreams, such as ru’ya (vision) (verses 17.60, 37.105, 48.2), hulm(dream) (verses 21.5, 52.3), manam (sleep) [verse 37.10], and bushra (tidings) [verse 10.6]. Because of the central role of the Quran in the Muslim faith, discussions of dreams are fundamental to Islamic dream interpretation. Dream description plays a major role in three Sūras (chapters) of the Quran:
⦁ Sūra 12, Yussuf (Joseph): This Sūra provides a condensed version of the story of Joseph and some of the best known references to dream interpretation.
⦁ Sūra 37, As-Sāffāt (Ranks): This Sūra focuses on Allāh's command to the Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son.
⦁ Sūra 8, Al-Anfāl (Spoils): This Sūra describes a dream of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). “(And remember) when Allāh showed them to you as few in your (i.e., the Prophet's) dream; if He had shown them to you as many, you would surely have been discouraged, and you would surely have disputed making a decision. But Allāh saved you” [verse 8.43]. This verse describes the experience of the Prophet (pbuh) the night before a particular battle (Badr), when the Muslim army was across the valley from its enemy.
The night journey (Laylat al-Mi’raj) in Sūra 17 (Al-Isrā) says, “Glory be to Him (Allāh) Who took His slave (Muhammad) for a journey by night from Al-Msajid Al-Harām (in Mecca) to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsā (in Jerusalem) whose surroundings We have blessed, that We might show Him (Muhammad) some of Our signs” [verse 17.1]. Some Western scholars who have written about dreams in the Quran consider this journey as one of the dreams of Muhammad (pbuh).[4,34] However, although this journey occurred in a short period in one night, in the Muslim faith, this miraculous journey is considered to be a physical journey, not a dream. In particular, the body and soul of Muhammad (pbuh) travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem and then ascended to heaven. This led him to the wonders of heaven, where he met with many prophets and messengers who had gathered to meet him, and He led them in prayers. Therefore, we will not discuss this journey as a dream.
Some interpreters of the Quran have interpreted verse 39.42 (“It is Allāh who takes away the souls (Wafat) at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep. He keeps those (souls) for which He has ordained death and sends the rest for a term appointed. Verily, in this are signs for people who think deeply”) as Allāh seizing souls during death and sleep (dream). For instance, the Islamic scholar, Al-Qurtubī (1214-1273 C.E.), noted that true dreams are visions experienced while the soul is separated from the body during sleep, whereas nightmares and lying dreams occur when the soul has returned to the body, but before it has again taken firm root.[11]
Numerous Muslim philosophers have proposed theories of dream interpretation. Ibn Arabi (1164-1240 C.E.) proposed a metaphysical system that merged Islamic theology and Greek philosophy.[4,35] Ibn Sirin (653-728 C.E.) is the best-known dream interpreter in Islamic history,[4,36] and his method of dream interpretation reflects the fact that dream interpretation is important in the Quran and Hadith. He proposed that the interpretation of dreams depends on the personal characteristics and life circumstances of the individual.[4] Ibn Khaldūn, a great Muslim scholar and thinker (1332-1402 C.E.), considered dream interpretation to be a science.[37] In the monumental Muqaddimah (An Introduction to History), he classified three types of dreams: (i) dreams from Allāh (Allāh), which are clear and unmistakable in their meaning and content; (ii) dreams from Angels, which are received in the form of allegory and require interpretation; and (iii) dreams from Satan, which are confused dreams that are futile.[2,37]

Conclusion

In the past few decades, there has been a significant increase in our knowledge of sleep physiology, sleep disorders, and the importance of sleep. Islam and other ancient religions also provide significant information about the historical and cultural views of sleep, and these precede modern scientific studies by hundreds or thousands years.[1,2] The Quran describes different types of sleep, and these correspond with different sleep stages identified by modern sleep scientists. About 1400 years ago, Muhammad (pbuh) stressed the importance of sleep for good health and the Quran stresses the importance of the alteration of night and day. A nap (Qailulah) is a well-established cultural practice in the Islamic culture. For some Muslims, the nap has religious dimensions. Modern sleep scientists acknowledge the beneficial effect of short naps. Muslims have been following certain sleep habits for hundreds of years, following the instructions and practices of their Prophet (pbuh). Modern sleep scientists currently recommend many of these same practices. Dream interpretation is an established science in the Muslim literature and Islamic theories of dream interpretation correspond with many theories currently proposed by modern sleep scientists.[4],
We suggest that sleep scientists examine religious literature to understand the views, behaviors, and practices of ancient people in regard to sleep and sleep disorders. Such studies may help to answer unresolved questions in sleep science or lead to new areas of inquiry.

Acknowledgments

This paper was partially supported by a grant from the University Sleep Disorders Center, King Saud University and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.

Footnotes

Source of Support: University Sleep Disorders Center, King Saud University and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology

Reference Link

⦁ WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR BODY WHEN YOU SLEEP?

During the night, you cycle through five separate stages of sleep every 90 to 110 minutes, experiencing between three and five dream periods each night We spend around a third of our lives (around 25 years) sleeping; it is vital to our survival, but despite years of research, scientists still aren't entirely sure why we do it. The urge to sleep is all-consuming, and if we are deprived of it, we wwill eventually slip into slumber even if the situation is life threatening.
Sleep is common to mammals, birds and reptiles and has been conserved through evolution, even though it prevents us from performing other useful tasks, such as eating, reproducing and raising young. It is as important as food for keeping us alive; without it, rats will die within two or three weeks – the same amount of time that it takes to die from starvation.
Sleep can be divided into two broad stages, non-rapid eye movement (NREM), and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The vast majority of our sleep (around 75 to 80 per cent) is NREM, characterised by electrical patterns in the brain known as ‘sleep spindles’ and high, slow delta waves. This is the time we sleep the deepest.
Without NREM sleep, our ability to form declarative memories, like learning to associate pairs of words, is seriously impaired; deep sleep is important for transferring short-term memories into long-term storage. Deep sleep is also the time of peak growth hormone release in the body, which is important for cell reproduction and repair.
The purpose of REM sleep is unclear; the effects of REM sleep deprivation are less severe than NREM deprivation, and for the first two weeks humans report little in the way of ill effects.
REM sleep is the period during the night when we have our most vivid dreams, but people dream during both NREM and REM sleep. During NREM sleep, dreams tend to be more concept-based, whereas during REM sleep dreams are more vivid and emotional.
Some scientists argue that REM sleep allows our brains a safe place to practice dealing with situations or emotions that we might not encounter during our daily lives; during REM sleep our muscles are temporarily paralysed, preventing us acting out these emotions. Others think that it might be a way to unlearn memories, or to process unwanted feelings or emotions. Each of these ideas has its flaws, and no one knows the real answer.
During the night, you cycle through five separate stages of sleep every 90 to 110 minutes, experiencing between three and five dream periods each night.The five stages of sleep can be distinguished by changes in the electrical activity in your brain, measured by electroencephalogram (EEG). The first stage begins with drowsiness as you drift in and out of consciousness, and is followed by light sleep and then by two stages of deep sleep. Your brain activity starts to slow down, your breathing, heart rate and temperature drop, and you become progressively more difficult to wake up. Finally, your brain perks up again, resuming activity that looks much more like wakefulness, and you enter rapid eye movement (REM) sleep; the time that your most vivid dreams occur. This cycle happens several times throughout the night, and each time, the period of REM sleep grows longer.
Stage 1 (1-7 minutes)
During the first stage of sleep you are just drifting off; your eyelids are heavy and your head starts to drop. During this drowsy period, you are easily awoken and your brain is still quite active. The electrical activity on an electroencephalogram (EEG) monitor starts to slow down, and the cortical waves become taller and spikier. As the sleep cycle repeats during the night, you re-enter this drowsy half-awake, half-asleep stage.
Stage 2 (10-25 minutes)
After a few minutes, your brain activity slows further, and you descend into light sleep. On the EEG monitor, this stage is characterised by further slowing in the waves with an increase in their size, and short one or two-second bursts of activity known as ‘sleep spindles’. By the time you are in the second phase of sleep, your eyes stop moving, but you are still woken easily.
Stage 3 (20-40 minutes)
As you start to enter this stage, your sleep spindles stop, showing that your brain has entered moderate sleep. This is then followed by deep sleep. The trace on the EEG slows still further as your brain produces delta waves with occasional spikes of smaller faster waves in between. As you progress through stage-three sleep, you become much more difficult to wake up.
Stage 4 (20-40 minutes)
There is some debate as to whether sleep stages three and four are really separate, or whether they are part of the same phase of sleep. Stage four is the deepest stage, and during this time, you are extremely hard to wake. The EEG shows tall, slow waves known as delta waves, your muscles relax and your breathing becomes slow and rhythmic, which can lead to snoring.
Stage 5 (10-60 minutes)
After deep sleep, your brain starts to perk up, and its electrical activity starts to resemble the brain when it is awake. This is the period of the night when most dreams happen. Your muscles are temporarily paralysed, and your eyes dart back and forth, giving this stage its name, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Reference Link

⦁ It is permissible to sleep on one’s left side

QuestionCan I sleep on my left side sometimes ?
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to sleep on his right side, putting his right hand on his right cheek, and this is what the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) recommended others to do. According to a saheeh hadeeth narrated from al-Baraa’ ibn ‘Aazib, the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When you go to bed, do wudoo’ as if for prayer, then lie down on your right side…” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, al-Wudoo’, 239). The Sunnah is to put one’s right hand under one’s cheek. It was narrated that Hudhayfah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said, “When the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) went to bed at night, he would put his hand under his cheek, then say, ‘Allaahumma bismika amootu wa ahyaa (O Allaah, in Your name I die and I live).’ Then when he woke up he would say, ‘Al-hamdu Lillaah alladhi ahyaanaa ba’da ma amaatanaa wa ilayhi al-nushoor (Praise be to Allaah who has brought us back to life after causing us to die, and to Him is the resurrection).’” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6314).
Ibn Hajar said: The right side is singled out for a number of reasons, such as: this lets a person wake up more quickly; it also allows the heart to lean towards the right hand side. Ibn al-Jawzi said: the doctors have stated that this position is more beneficial to the body. They said to start by lying on the right for a while, then turn over to the left, because the former aids peristalsis and sleeping on one’s left side facilitates digestion. Al-Nawawi said: this hadeeth mentions three acts that are Sunnah, the first of which is doing wudoo’ before going to sleep. If one already has wudoo’, there is no need to repeat it, because the aim is to go to sleep in a state of tahaarah (purity). The second is to sleep on one’s right side… This indicates that sleeping on one’s right side is Sunnah, and if a person does that to follow the example of the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), he will be rewarded for that. Sleeping on one’s left side is permitted, but one misses out on the reward for following the Sunnah. And Allaah knows best. Reference Link

⦁ If a person sleeps and is not sure whether this sleep was deep or not

QuestionIf a person sleeps and is not sure whether this sleep was deep or not, is his wudoo’ invalidated by that?.
Answer
Praise be to Allaah.
If a person sleeps and is not sure whether this sleep invalidates wudoo’ or not, then wudoo’ is not invalidated by that. Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in al-Majmoo’ (2/17):
If a person is not sure whether he fell asleep or dozed off, but one of the two happened, his wudoo’ is not invalidated. Al-Shaafa’i said in al-Umm: To be on the safe side, he should do wudoo’… then he said: If he is certain that he slept, but he is not sure whether he was sitting firmly on his backside or not, he does not have to do wudoo’. This was clearly stated by the author of al-Bayaan and others, and it is the correct view. End quote.
The words of al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) – “whether it he was sitting firmly on his backside or not” – mean: whether he was sitting firmly on his backside on the ground, on the basis that he will not invalidate his wudoo’ if he is sitting firmly on his backside on the ground. In the answer to question no 36889 , we have stated that the correct view concerning the invalidation of wudoo’ by sleep is that if the sleep is deep, it invalidates wudoo’, and if it is light it does not do so.
The evidence that sleep does not invalidate wudoo’ in the case of uncertainty as to whether anything that invalidates it has happened is the report narrated by al-Bukhaari (137) and Muslim (361) from ‘Abbaad ibn Tameem from his paternal uncle, who said: A complaint was made to the Prophet (S) about when one thinks that something has happened whilst he praying. He said: “Do not stop until you hear a sound or notice a smell. And Muslim (362) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (S) said: “If one of you feels something in his stomach and is not sure whether something came out of him or not, let him not leave the mosque unless he hears a sound or notices a smell.”
Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Sharh Muslim:
The words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “unless he hears a sound or notices a smell” mean: unless he is certain that one of them has happened. It is not essential that he both hear and smell it, according to the consensus of the Muslims.
This hadeeth is one of the basic principles of Islam and one of the most important principles of fiqh, which is that things are assumed to remain as they originally were, unless there is proof to the contrary, and mere doubt does not change anything.
An example of that is the issue which is mentioned in the hadeeth: which is that a person who is certain that he has purified himself and is not sure whether that purity had been broken is ruled to still be in a state of purity, and it makes no difference whether this doubt occurs during the prayer or outside of prayer. This is our view and the view of the majority of scholars of the earlier and later generations. Our companions said: It makes no difference whether the probability of the wudoo’ being broken and the probability of it not being broken are equal, or one of them is more likely, or he thinks that one of them is more likely. He does not have to do wudoo’ in any case.
And our companions said: But it is mustahabb for him to do wudoo’, in order to be on the safe side. End quote.
Reference Link

⦁ Does the soul come out of the body during sleep?

Question:Does the soul come out of the person when he is asleep, because sometimes just before I go to sleep, I feel that my soul is coming out of my body; I do not hear anything or see anything or feel anything at all for a few seconds, then it comes back and I wake up and am aware of everything.>
Answer
Praise be to Allah.
There is clear evidence in the Qur’an and Sunnah which indicates that the soul is taken when one falls asleep, and that sleep is a kind of death. This evidence includes the following:
1. Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “It is Allah Who takes away the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep. He keeps those (souls) for which He has ordained death and sends the rest for a term appointed. Verily, in this are signs for a people who think deeply” [az-Zumar 39:42].
2. And He, may He be glorified, says (interpretation of the meaning): “It is He, Who takes your souls by night (when you are asleep), and has knowledge of all that you have done by day” [al-An‘aam 6:60].
3. It was narrated from Abu Qataadah (may Allah be pleased with him) that when they slept and missed the prayer, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Verily Allah took your souls when He willed, and He returned them when He willed.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 7474
4. It was narrated that Abu Juhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was on a journey during which they slept until the sun rose. He said: “Verily you were dead and Allah returned your souls to you; whoever sleeps and misses a prayer, let him offer it when he wakes up, and whoever forgets a prayer, let him offer it when he remembers.” Narrated by Abu Ya‘la in al-Musnad, 2/192; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Irwa’ al-Ghaleel, 1/293
5. It was narrated from Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) that when the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) woke up, he would say: “Al-hamdu Lillahi alladhi ahyaana ba‘da ma amaatanaa wa ilayhi an-nushoor (Praise be to Allah Who has given us life after He caused us to die, and to Him will be the resurrection).” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6312. It was also narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh, 2711, from al-Bara’ (may Allah be pleased with him).
This evidence was quoted by al-Haafiz Ibn Rajab (may Allah have mercy on him), who then said:
The verse indicates that sleep is a death, and the hadeeth indicates when a person sleeps his soul is taken. They both indicate that the soul that is taken in death is the soul that is taken during sleep. End quote from Fath al-Baari by Ibn Rajab, 3/325
But the taking of the soul in sleep does not necessarily mean that it is completely separated from the body, as happens in death; rather the fact that the life remains in the body during sleep indicates that the soul is still connected to the body during sleep, but the connection is less than the connection when it is awake. Not every departure of the soul from the body implies death; rather what happens to the body differs according to the type of separation.
Ibn Rajab (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The taking of the soul from the body does not necessarily mean that it has departed from the body altogether; rather it may be taken whilst some kind of connection is still present, as in the case of one who is sleeping.
End quote from Fath al-Baari, by Ibn Rajab, 3/326
For other scholarly opinions on this issue, please see al-Jaami‘ li Ahkaam al-Qur’an, by al-Qurtubi, 15/261; Fath al-Baari by Ibn Hajar, 11/114
However what appears to us to be the case is that what you mentioned in your question does not have anything to do with this issue at all; the departure of the soul during sleep only happens when one is actually sleeping, and it does not happen before sleeping as you mention.
Perhaps what is happening to you is a psychological matter or excessive preoccupation with death and the like. We ask Allah to keep you safe and sound and to put your affairs straight. And Allah knows best. Reference Link