Living to Die or Dying to Live!

Death is a harsh and fearful reality faced by everyone who lives. No one has the power to avoid it, nor does anyone around a dying person have the ability to prevent it. It is something that happens every moment and is something encountered by the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak. They are all the same in that they have no plan, nor any means of escaping it, no means of intercession, no way to prevent it, nor to delay it. Allah – the Most High – says:

“Say: “The Death from which ye flee will truly overtake you: then will ye be sent back to the Knower of things secret and open: and He will tell you (the truth of) the things that ye did!”” [Surah Al Jumu’ah 62:8]

“We granted not to any man before thee permanent life (here): if then thou shouldst die, would they live permanently? Every soul shall have a taste of death: and We test you by evil and by good by way of trial. to Us must ye return.” [Surah Al Anbiya 21:34-35]

Indeed it is death which causes fear in the souls, and with it one’s actions are sealed, and what comes after is even more fearful and fear-inducing. For is there a place one can flee to in order to escape from the constrictions suffered in the grave? What will our reply be when we are questioned in the grave? Indeed, not a single one of us knows where we will end up. Will it be Paradise whose width is like the heavens and the earth, or shall it be the Fire whose fuel is of men and stones?

Ibrahim ibn Adham (d.160H) – rahimahullah – said, when he was asked about the verse: “Call on Me; I will answer your (Prayer)…” [Surah Ghafir 40:60] They said: We call upon Allah, but He does nor respond to us. So he said:

“You know Allah; yet you do not obey Him. You recite the Quran; yet you do not act according to it. You know Shaytan; yet you continue agreeing with him. You claim to love Allah’s Messenger ‘alayhis-salam; yet you abandon his Sunnah (guidance and way). You claim to love Paradise, yet you do not work for it. You claim to fear the Fire; yet you do not stop sinning. You say, Indeed death is true; yet you have not prepared for it. You busy yourselves with the faults of others; yet you do not look at your own faults. You eat the sustenance that Allah provides for you; yet you are not grateful to Him. And you bury your dead; yet you have not heeded its lesson.”

So this – O noble reader – is the reality which must be firmly established in one’s heart; the reality that life in this world is limited and has an appointed end, and that this end will surely come…

The righteous will die; And the wicked will die. The warriors who fight jihad will die; And those who sit at home will die. Those who busy themselves with correct beliefs will die; And those who treat people as their slaves will die. The brave who reject injustice will die; And the cowards who seek to cling to this vile life will die. The people of lofty-goals and ambitions will die; And the wretched who live for cheap enjoyment will die.

“Every soul shall have a taste of death:…” [Surah Ali ‘Imran 3:185]

So keep in mind the point of death, and of one’s passing on to the next life, and the number of sins that one has committed and the small amount of good that one has done. Think of the good that you would earnestly like to do at that time – then bring that forward and do it today. And think of all those things which you would desire to clear yourself of- then clear yourself from them now.

Inna lillaahi wa inna ilayhi Raaji’oon
To Allah we belong and to Him is our return.

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References:
1. Al-Mawt (p.9) of Shaykh ‘Ali Hasan al-Halabi.
2. As-Salat wa Atharahu fi Ziyadatil-iman (p.10) of Shaykh Husayn al-Awaishah.
3. Al-Hafidh Ibn Rajab related it in al-Khushu’ fis-Salah (p.62).
4. Al-Mawt (p.10).
5. Al-Mawt (p.16).

Source: http://iloveallaah.blogspot.com/2009/12/living-to-die-or-dying-to-live.html