2الَّذي خَلَقَ المَوتَ وَالحَياةَ لِيَبلُوَكُم أَيُّكُم أَحسَنُ عَمَلًا ۚ وَهُوَ العَزيزُ الغَفورُMuhammad AsadHe who has created death as well as life,1 so that He might put you to a test [and thus show] which of you is best in conduct, and [make you realize that] He alone is almighty, truly forgiving.Since what is termed "death" is stated here to have been created, it cannot be identical with "non-existence", but obviously must have a positive reality of its own. To my mind, it connotes, firstly, the inanimate state of existence preceding the emergence of life in plants or animated beings; and, secondly, the state of transition from life as we know it in this world to the - as yet to us unimaginable - condition off existence referred to in the Qur'an as "the hereafter" or "the life to come" (al-akhirah).