Hawzah News Agency – In the Qur’an we read:

اللَّـهُ يَتَوَفَّى الْأَنفُسَ حِينَ مَوْتِهَا وَالَّتِي لَمْ تَمُتْ فِي مَنَامِهَا.

God takes the souls at the time of their death, and that which has not died, in its sleep.1

Sometimes a driver parks the car in the garage and goes home. Sometimes, they drive off to the shops and leave the car on while they go inside for a moment. In both instances, the driver is not in the car, but in the first, neither driver is in the car nor is the car on, while in the second, the cars motors continue to run while the driver is away.

The human body is also like that, during sleep, the body continues to work, pumping blood, repairing muscle and exchanging carbon monoxide for oxygen, while the soul goes off to different places, but when death comes, the body stalls and turns off and the soul completely disconnects itself from the body.

1. Zumr, 39:42

Taken from "Parables: Important questions & Simple answers" written by Muhsin Qara'ati