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ٱللَّهُ يَتَوَفَّى ٱلأَنفُسَ حِينَ مَوْتِـهَا وَٱلَّتِي لَمْ تَمُتْ فِي مَنَامِـهَا فَيُمْسِكُ ٱلَّتِي قَضَىٰ عَلَيْهَا ٱلْمَوْتَ وَيُرْسِلُ ٱلأُخْرَىٰ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
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-Az-Zumar ( الزمر )

Tafsir al-Tustari

God takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that have not died, in their sleep…He said:When God takes the souls (anfus) to Himself, He extracts the luminous spirit (rūḥ nūrī) from the subtle substance (laṭīf) of the dense natural self (nafs al-ṭabʿ al-kathīf). The taking up [of souls] (al-tawaffī) in God’s Book is of three kinds: the first is death (mawt), the second, sleep (nawm), and the third, ascension (rafʿ). Death is as we have just mentioned. Sleep is as [described] in His words: and those that have not died, in their sleep, which means that He also takes unto Himself (yatawaffā) those who have not died, in their sleep (manām). [God also] said, It is He who takes you at night [6:60] meaning, in sleep. Ascension (rafʿ) is mentioned in relation to Jesus , to whom God said, ‘O Jesus, I am gathering you and raising you to Me’ [3:55]. Thus when a person dies, He [God] removes (yanziʿu) from him the subtle substance (laṭīf) of the luminous spiritual self (nafs al-rūḥ al-nūrī) [separating it] from the subtle substance (laṭīf) of the dense natural self (nafs al-ṭabʿ al-kathīf), and by this [luminous spiritual self] he comprehends things (yaʿqilu al-ashyāʾ), and is given the vision (rūʾyā) in the heavenly kingdom (malakūt). However, when a person sleeps, He extracts from him the subtle substance of the dense natural self, not the subtle substance of the luminous spiritual self. Therefore, when the sleeping person awakens, he recovers a subtle breath (nafas laṭīf) from the subtle substance of the spiritual self, for if this were to part from him, it would leave him without motion (ḥaraka), and lifeless (mayyit). Thus, the dense natural self has a subtle substance (laṭīfa) and likewise the spiritual self has a subtle substance (laṭīfa). The life of the subtle substance of the natural self is by virtue of the light of the subtle substance of the spiritual self (nūr laṭīf nafs al-rūḥ). The spiritual life of the subtle substance of the spiritual self (ḥayāt rūḥ laṭīf nafs al-rūḥ) is by virtue of remembrance [of God] (dhikr), just as He has said: rather they are living with their Lord, provided for [by Him] [3:169], that is, they are sustained by remembrance, due to what they attained through the subtle luminous self. The life of the dense nature (ṭabʿ kathīf) isthrough eating, drinking and [physical] enjoyment (tamattuʿ).Whoever cannot reconcile these two opposites, by which I mean, the natural self and the spiritualself, so that the two together are sustained by remembrance (dhikr) and by the endeavour [to accomplish] remembrance, is not a mystic (ʿārif) in reality.ʿUmar b. Wāṣil said, ‘The grammarian al-Mubarrad used to say that the spirit (rūḥ) and the soul [or self, nafs] are two interconnected things; the one cannot subsist without the other.’ He continued, ‘I mentioned this to Sahl and he said’:He is mistaken. The spirit subsists by His grace (bi-luṭfihi) within its own essence (bi-dhātihi), independent from the dense natural self. Do you not see that God, Exalted is He, addressed everyone while still in a molecular form, by virtue of the existence of the spiritual self, the understanding of the intellect, the intuition of the heart, and the presence of a subtle kind of knowledge, without the presence of [man’s] dense nature (ṭabʿ kathīf).His words:

Tafsīr al-Tustarī, trans. Annabel Keeler and Ali Keeler
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