Death are you ready for it?

Aslalmualiakum…..hope you are all well inshallah….today we seem to forget this thing called ‘death’ which is bound to happen to each one of us, the thing that our prophet s.a.w told us to always keep in mind as it will inevitably help you to prepare for it has simply slipped out of our minds… we usually don’t think about something when we are scared of it…but don’t you realise the more you think about a certain thing the less terrified you are of it…however the state of the ummah is such that the word ‘death’ freaks us out why is this? It is because we don’t think about it as much as we should do …

Suppose you learn today that you have only one day to live you’ll die tomorrow. How will you spend your last day? Will you be busy meeting people close to you and telling them what you have left them in your will or will you treasure these last moments and turn towards your rabb? Moreover this question was posed long before the age of mass media, the interviewer approached prominent scholars and well known virtuous people he decided he would compile their answers in a book …a book which would inspire readers. The most inspiring response came from the person who didn’t provide a wish list of good deeds. He was the great muhaddith Abdur rahman ibn abi Na’um and he replied ‘there is nothing that I could change in my daily schedule learning that it is my last day. I already spend everyday in my life as if it is going to be my last’ now think about yourselves, do you ever pray and think this may be my last salaat? Such were the muhaddith of that time.

Death is the most certain aspect of life. According to the latest statistics 6,178 people die in the world every hour! Shocked? There’s more… these are people of all ages, dying of all causes some of these deaths will even make headlines, the majority will die quietly, yet everyone will enter the grave in the same way. Alone. …..do you wish you never came across this post because if you are then it still seems you think you’re too young to die..

Science and technology can neither prevent nor predict death; it is solely in the hands of Allah subhanawatallah

O mankind! If you are in doubt concerning the resurrection, then lo! We have created you from dust, then from a drop of seed, then from a clot, then from a little lump of flesh shapely and shapeless, that we make it clear for you. And we cause what will to remain in the wombs for an appointed time, and afterwards we bring you fourth as infants, and then give you growth so you attain full strength. And among you there is he who is bought back to the most abject time of life, so that after knowledge he knows naught! [Al-Hajj, 22:55]

We see it happening all the time, but it is weird how we feel it won’t happen to us, at least not anytime soon. We bury our friends and family but think that we will live forever, so we keep on living turning a blind eye on death although soon our friends and family will be praying our janazah namaz.

Our attitudes to death is realistic and we acknowledge it and also prepare for it, some of us take out life insurance policy’s, estate planning’s ….is this what we should really be doing when preparing for our death isn’t the real preparation to do with our creator and not with wealth?

A central teaching of Islam is that it is our recognition and preparation for that eternity that must separate those who are smart from those who are not as the prophet s.a.w said

Truly smart is the person who controlled his desires and prepared for life after death. [Tirmidhi, Hadith 2383]

This post is getting fairly long, and I know how some people hate to read such long posts, but as death is such a vast subject I will have to extend this post…inshallh in the future my posts won’t be as long…..I am telling you, you won’t get bored so read on….. J

This is a moving story about Bahlool, who is in the opposite end of the scale of worldly smartness due to his innocence. Khalifah Haroon Rashid had given him access to his court most probably because his immaturity was a source of entertainment for him. Once the Khalifah gave him a walking stick saying “it is meant for the most foolish person in the world. If you find someone more deserving of it than yourself, pass it on”

Several years passed Haroon Rashid became seriously ill and no medical treatment seemed to work. Bahlool visited him the convo went something like this:

Haroon: “no treatment is working; I see my final journey ahead of me”

Bahlool: “where are you going?”

Haroon: “iam going to the other world”

Bahlool: “how long will you stay there? When will you come back?”

Haroon: “no one ever comes back from that world”

Bahlool: “then you must have made special preparations for this journey. Did you send an advance group to take care of you once you arrive?

Haroon: “Bahlool you have to go there alone and no I did not make any preparations”

Bahlool : “Ameer-ul-Momineen! You used to send troops to make extensive preparations even for small journeys of only a few days. Now you are going to a place where you are going to live forever but you have made no preparations! I think I have found the person more deserving of the stick you had given me some years ago”

The story speaks for all of us, when going on even a short journey we plan our trips very carefully, not forgetting the things we need, but how about preparing for the journey into eternity?

Remember a person who remembers that he will have to stand before his creator and be accountable for his actions cannot defy god!

Indeed a wise person is he who spends everyday of his life as if it is his last; this is how all of us should be spending our life.

May Allah give us the ability to make preparations for our death ameen.