With Love to Muhammad (sa) - The Khatam-un-Nabiyyin — Page 188
188 With Love to Muhammad sa the Kh ā tam-un-Nabiyy ī n interpreted the expression tawaffaitan ī as meaning death. 195 Again, he writes: In the idiom of the Holy Qur’ ā n, the word tawaff ī has always been used in the connotation of death and taking possession of the soul. A minute study of Arabic prose and poetry—both ancient and modern—shows that wherever the expression tawaff ī is used for a human-being and the action is attributed to All ā h the Glorious, tawaff ī invariably means death and taking possession of the soul. In this context, there is not a single instance, where this expression means anything other than taking possession of the soul. Those who are wont to refer to lexicons like Q ā m ū s, Sih ā h, Sar ā h, etc. , have not found a single instance where, in the context that we have mentioned, any other connotation has been attributed to the expression tawaff ī. There is not the slightest indication of the possibility of any other connotation. Then I studied the books of had ī th to discover whether the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of All ā h be upon him) or his companions had on any occasion applied the expression tawaff ī to a human being in any other connotation than that of death and taking possession of the soul. I had to labor hard in this search. What I discovered on checking every page of the compilations of Sah ī h Bukh ā r ī , Sah ī h Muslim, Tirmidh ī , Ibn-e-M ā jah, Ab ū 195 Iz ā la-e-Auh ā m , R ū h ā n ī Khaz ā ’in, Volume 3, Pages 585-586, trans. in The Essence of Isl ā m, Volume 3, Page 194-195