(… وَهُوَ الْقَاهِرُ ) (And He is the subjugator …): He is the One who rules with superior power.

(… فَوْقَ عِبَادِهِ… ) (…over His servants …): The word ‘over’ does not mean being above in terms of location. However, it means superiority of power and highness. All praise be to Allah Who reigns supreme over His creation. As such, when a human being subdues another human being, the latter can seek refuge in The God who subdues His servants. Since Allah is The Subjugator, everything other than Him is subdued and forced. How is this so?

The answer: Allah (swt) created all creation and made them subjugated to Him. For example, He subdued wealth and it changed to poverty, He subdued poverty and it changed to wealth, he subdued health and it changed to illness, and He subdued illness and it changed to health. Everything which exists is subjugated to Allah (swt). Even the soul is subdued, and it will leave the body, thus the person dies.

(… حَتَّىٰ إِذَا جَاءَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ تَوَفَّتْهُ رُسُلُنَا وَهُمْ لَا يُفَرِّطُونَ) (until, when death comes to one of you, Our messengers take him, and they do not fail [in their duties]…): In this verse, it is described as if death is the one which comes on its own to a person. As such, Allah (swt) says in another verse:

 قُلْ إِنَّ الْمَوْتَ الَّذِي تَفِرُّونَ مِنْهُ فَإِنَّهُ مُلَاقِيكُمْ

(Say, “The death you are running away from will inevitably come to you.”) (Al-Jum’a: 8)

If you try to escape from it to the front, it will come to meet you from the front. Allah (swt) has made the time and place of a person’s death unclear, as these lines state:

Suppose you have owned the whole world without exception,

And the countries have all submitted to you, so then what?!

Isn’t your place of return tomorrow the pit of the grave,

And dust overtakes you, from this side and then that!

 

This is a reality that no one can deny, nor is anyone able to say to Angel of Death: ‘Delay me for a short while, so that I can give in charity…’, as Allah (swt) has said:

 حَتَّى إِذَا جَاء أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ رَبِّ ارْجِعُونِ (99) لَعَلِّي أَعْمَلُ صَالِحًا فِيمَا تَرَكْتُ كَلَّا إِنَّهَا كَلِمَةٌ هُوَ قَائِلُهَا وَمِن وَرَائِهِم بَرْزَخٌ إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ (100) فَإِذَا نُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ فَلَا أَنسَابَ بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَلَا يَتَسَاءلُونَ (101) فَمَن ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ (102) وَمَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ فَأُوْلَئِكَ الَّذِينَ خَسِرُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ فِي جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدُونَ (103) تَلْفَحُ وُجُوهَهُمُ النَّارُ وَهُمْ فِيهَا كَالِحُونَ

(When death approaches any of them, they cry, “My Lord! Let me go back, (99) so I may do good in what I left behind.” Never! It is only a (useless) appeal they make. And there is a barrier behind them until the Day they are resurrected. (100) Then, when the Trumpet will be blown, there will be no kinship between them on that Day, nor will they (even care to) ask about one another. (101) As for those whose scale is heavy (with good deeds), it is they who will be successful. (102) But those whose scale is light, they will have doomed themselves, staying in Hell forever. (103) The Fire will burn their faces, leaving them deformed.) (Al-Muminun: 99-104)

So, death is an arrow which was shot when you were born, and your life is as long as the time the arrow takes to reach you. However, Allah (swt) has made the time and place of death obscure. This obscurity is in fact the greatest manifestation of it, as it will make a person wait for it at every moment and thus, carry out good deeds to protect himself in the hereafter.

(  وَهُمْ لَا يُفَرِّطُونَ… ) (…and they do not fail [in their duties]): They do not abandon nor overlook anything. They are the Angels who have been tasked with the matters of death.