Was Isa Asleep?

Muslims will argue that Isa didn't die when he went up to have tea with Allah. He was merely asleep. Tawaffa in his case supposedly doesn't mean that he died. There are two passages that speak of sleep and tawaffa.

S 6:60 And he is the one who causes you to die at night and he knows what you have offended in the day. Then he raises you therein that a designated term may be completed. Then to him is your return then he informs you of what you used to do.

S 39:42 Allah causes souls to die at the time of their death and the one that has not died in its sleep. Then he withholds the one that he has decided death for and sends the other for a designated term. In that there are signs for people who ponder.

Sleep is evidently a form of death, the difference between it and death proper being that the sleeper is revived. But in passages such as the following there is no suggestion of sleep:

S 3:55 When Allah said: Isa, I am causing you to die and am raising you to me and purifying you of those who disbelieved and I am putting those who followed you above those who disbelieved to the day of resurrection. Then to me is your return and I judge between you concerning what you were differing in.

Had the author wished to convey the idea that Isa did not die but was only asleep, he might have made the clear passages clear.

Further reading:

Isa's Death

Tawaffa (Cause To Die)

Some Thoughts On S 4:159

Whom Should the Muslim Follow?