Babies fear sleep, adults fear death. Is there a relation?

اللَّهُ يَتَوَفَّى الْأَنْفُسَ حِينَ مَوْتِهَا وَالَّتِي لَمْ تَمُتْ فِي مَنَامِهَا فَيُمْسِكُ الَّتِي قَضَى عَلَيْهَا الْمَوْتَ وَيُرْسِلُ الْأُخْرَى إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآَيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

"It is Allah that takes the souls (of humans) at death; and those that do not die (He still takes) during their sleep: those on whom He has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (souls from returning to life), but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed verily in this are Signs for those who reflect." [Quran, 39:42]

It is through working in a childcare facility for a few weeks that I realized just how adamant young children are against going to sleep. They fight nap-time with tooth and nail -- truly with all they have -- anything to escape being set in their cribs and left, alone.

I began to ponder on a reason why this may happen; then I came upon the above ayah while reading and I thought it might hold an answer. Allah, ta'ala, states that when we sleep, our souls are indeed taken from our bodies. Essentially, sleep is the mini-death.

Do babies sense this?

Upon deeper reflection, I realized that young children seem to fight and fear sleep to the same degree that grownups tend to fight and fear death. Babies hate the idea of sleep because they don't want to be left alone, they don't want to miss anything, and they don't know if everything will be OK when they wake up. And adults, why do adults hate the thought of death? Because they don't want to die alone, they don't want to miss out on any of the happenings, and they don't know what will happen to them after they die. The analogy here is apparent.

To help children sleep, lullabies are often played to soothe their demeanours and ease their passage into unconsciousness. Soft and melodic, a pleasure for their ears and minds.

And adults have something similar to help them get through their fear of death...The Quran.

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