Tafsir of Al-`Ankabut 29:57

Surah Al-'Ankabut (The Spider): Verse 57

كل نفس ذائقة الموت ثم إلينا ترجعون (Every soul will taste death. Then to Us you will be returned.)

When Allah Almighty commanded the believers to perform Hijra (migration), it was difficult for them to leave their homelands and separate from their brethren.

He told them that what they disliked (death and separation) was inevitable, as "Every soul will taste death." Death is the separator of loved ones. Therefore, it is better that this separation occurs in the path of Allah, for which He will reward them.

"Then to Us you will be returned."

There is a more subtle and refined interpretation here:

1. Allah states that every soul, if it is not attached to anything else, is destined to taste death.
2. Then, it returns to Allah, and in that return, it does not truly die, as stated in the verse: {They will not taste death therein} (Ad-Dukhan: 56).

If this is established, then whoever wishes not to taste death must not remain attached to their own self (nafs), because the self tastes death. Rather, they must attach themselves to something else.

• If that attachment is to anything other than Allah, it will taste death and meet ruin, based on the verse: "Every soul will taste death," and "And everything will perish except His Face" (Al-Qasas: 88).
• Therefore, attachment to Allah brings relief from death.

This explains the subsequent command: "So worship Me alone." This means: Attach yourselves to Me, and do not follow the self (nafs), for the self tastes death.

"Then to Us you will be returned." This means: If you attach yourselves to Me, your death becomes a return to Me, and it is not a death in the true sense, just as Allah says: "And never think of those who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive..." (Al 'Imran: 169). The Prophet (peace be upon him) also said: "The believers do not die; rather, they are transferred from one abode to another."

Based on this refined interpretation, the wisdom behind the command to worship Allah alone becomes clear.

{والذين ءامنوا وعملوا الصالحات لنبوئنهم من الجنة غرفا تجرى من تحتها الانهار خالدين فيها نعم أجر العاملين} (And those who believe and do righteous deeds, We will surely settle them in lofty chambers [of Paradise] beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide eternally. Excellent is the reward of the workers.)