As we know,
The Death is
a very well-known fact. It has always been indisputable. No one has
ever doubted death. Although human beings rarely agree on anything, they have
never disagree on their mortality.
The Death is
mentioned in the Quran
almost everywhere. The word "Death" and its derivatives
"die, dying, dead" is found more than 160 times in The Quran. The Quran has
put a lot of emphasis on death. Why is it that the Quran is consistently
reminding the believers about their own mortality while they already known this
fact for centuries ?? To understand why we have to take a close look on the
verses which mention death in the Quran and reflect upon them. Let us explore
some of these verses:
"Every soul shall have a
taste of death" [QS.Al-Imran
3:185]
The verse is clear and emphatic.
The massage it conveys to us is: Make no mistake about death, it is
foregone conclusion. Every soul shall taste it no matter what. Listen
now to full verse:
"Every soul shall have a
taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgement shall you be paid your full
recompense. Only he who is saved from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will
have succeeded. For the life of this world is but goods of chattels of
deception." [QS. Al-Imran
3:185]
This verse represents one of the
important Tenets of Islam which is the fact that there is another life after
death. Thus, for us death is not the end of the world it is just the start
of an ever-lasting life.
The other fact in this verse also
states with no uncertainty is that the true measure of success is not in this
life. Success is not having a huge sum of money, or a large family, or a
prestigious job, or an impressive title, or a degree from a respected
university, or a big house, or a nice car, all these are nothing but goods of
decepty. The real success is to be saved from the hell fire and be
admitted to paradise. Anything short of this is a mere deception.
In another verse which conveys a
similar meaning is:
"Every soul shall taste death.
And We test you by evil and by good by way of trial. To Us must you
return." [QS.Al-Anbiyaa
21:36]
The message is clear, everyone
will die and this life is just a probation on this earth, our faith will be
tested by many things. Some are tested by calamities and some are tested by
good things of this life and at the end we will return to Allah so that we be
appraised according to our test results.
The whole story of each and
everyones of us is
best summarized in these verses:
"We did create man from a quintessence
of clay; Then We placed him as a drop of sperm in a place of rest firmly fixed
then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; Then of that clot We
made a lump; Then We made out of the lump bones and clothed the bones with
flesh then We developed out of it another creature. So blessed be Allah the
best to create after that, you will die. On the day of judgement you will be
raised up again." [QS.Al-Muuminun
23:12-16]
This is the history of each one
of us, CREATION, LIFE, DEATH, and the RESURRECTION. So we
have to understand that our life on this earth is just a past, actually a
very small past, of the whole picture. Also we should not overestimate
the value of this tiny fraction compared to our whole existence.
There is no escape from death.
Allaah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'alaa) says:
"Wherever you are, death
will find you out. Even if you are in towers built up strong and high." [QS.An-Nisaa 4:78]
No matter how long, one lives
nothing will save him/her from death. Strong towers won't save him. Progress of
science will never overcome death. Advanced health care systems will
never overcome death. Family, friends, money, power, prestige, all are no
avail.
Listen to the following verse
which describes our helplessness when death comes:
"Why don't you intervene
when the soul of the dying man reaches the throat and you sit looking on but We
are nearer to him than you are but you do not see. Then why don't you, if you
are exempt from future account, call back the soul if you are true in your
claim of independence? If the dying man be of those nearest to Allah, there is
for him rest and satisfaction and a garden of delight. And if he be of the
companions of the right hand for him is the salutation `Peace be unto you from
the companions of the right hand' And if he be of those who treat truth as
falsehood, those who go wrong, for him is entertainment with boiling water, and
burning in hell fire. Verily this is the truth and certainty. So celebrate with
praises the name of Thy Lord, The Supreme." [QS.Al-Waqia 56:83-96]
One also finds in the Quran many
verses which adnominish the believers about their obligations in this life
before they die. Allaah says: "O you who believe fear Allah as He
should be feared and die not except in the state of Islam" [QS.Al-Imran 3:102]
Allaah is commanding us not to
die except as Muslims. But we are never sure when death will come to us.
Thus, we have to be Muslims all the time. Therefore, the message is a
muslim today, tomorrow and forever, be a Muslim in faith and in your behaviour,
be a Muslim in private and in public. Be a Muslim with others and with
your own self,
be a Muslim when at ease and be a Muslim when in hardship. Always
be in a state of Islam, in a state of submission to your Allaah, so that when
death comes to you will be ready.
In the same meaning is very
eloquently put in the following verse:
"O you who believe let not
your riches or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah and
whoever do this the loss is their own. And spend in charity out of the substance
which we have bestowed on you before death should come to any of you and he
would say `O my Lord why don't You give me a respite for a little while? I
should then have given largely in charity and I will be one of the doers of
good. But to no soul will Allaah grant respite when the time appointed for it
has come and Allaah is well-acquainted with all that you do." [QS.Al-Munafiqun 63:9-11]
This verse is extremely important
to us. It states with no uncertain terms that there is no second chance
when death comes it is over. If you want to do good, do it now before you
are dead. If you fail to be a good Muslim in this life, you will be the eternal
loser because you will not be granted a second chance. You will not be given
some extra time and there are no exemptions.
The same meaning is emphasized in
another verse:
"When death comes to one of
them, he would say `O my Lord send me back to life in order that I may work
righteousness in the things I neglected.' - `By no means! it is just a word he
says.' - Before them is a partition till the day they are raised up"[QS.Al-Muuminun 23:99-100]
It is the same warning again, Allah
is reminding us watch out, whatever good you might do it now, don't delay it,
don't postpone it. If you fail to do good now it is your mistake, you are
already been warned and all the loss will be yours.
There are numerous references to
death in the Quran. The scenes of death and the scenes of the day of judgement
are plenty in the Quran. They are almost every where. If we support
that we read the Quran everyday, which is the sunnah of the Prophet
(SallAllaahu 'alaihi wa salam), then it is very likely that we will read about
death everyday. If we follow the Quranic guidance by reflecting upon
everything we read, then we will end up reflecting upon death everyday.
The we have to ask ourselves
- Why is that Allaah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'alaa) wants us to reflect upon
death everyday ? What is the value of such constant reminder ?
The fact is, remembering death
has far-reaching implications in the life of the believer. Remembering death
daily can and does transform the whole life of a believer to the better. Death
awareness helps the believer to set his/her priorities right.
Imagine a believer who reads the
Quran everyday, read and reflect upon death and the Day of Reckoning and then
act accordingly. This believer will certainly be more altruistic, less greedy,
more careful to the needs of the poor and the needy, more helpful to weak and
the helpless, more giving in charity, more generous because simply this
believer asks himself/herself everyday the same question "Will this
money I have saved me from death?" Will the money deliver me from
hell-fire ?" "Will greed or saving the money for myself
guarantee me the pleasure of my Lord?" Actually, it is quite the
opposite. The more you spend for the sake of your Lord (Allah), the more
you become closer to Him. Death remembrance is the best way to become one of
those whom Allah has praised in the Quran by saying:
"And those in whose wealth
there is a recognized right for the needy and the destitute and those who
believe in the truth of the Day of Judgement and those who fear the displeasure
of their Lord. For their Lord's displeasure is one against which there is no
security."[QS.Al-Maarij
70:24-28]
* Death
awareness does create a caring, helpful, generous believer, in short a truly
wonderful person. If death awareness is spread among a whole community of
believers, that community will be truly wonderful.
* Death
remembrance also does give the believer a huge spiritual boost. The
believer who is always aware of his/her own mortality will always be in need t
seek refuge with the Almighty. This kind of believer will be very careful not
to displease his Lord and if it happens that he does something wrong he will be
quick to ask for forgiveness. repentance will become his daily practice since
he remembers that death might come to him at any time, so he is taking
precautions by being always repentant.
This mortality awareness will
improve the spiritual quality of the believer's prayers. If in your prayer you
remember very well that someday you will be a dead man, then you will truly
humble yourself in this prayer. That's why the Prophet (SallAllaahu 'alaihi wa
salam) once advised us that at the start of every prayer we should consider
that, this prayer as our last prayer in this life. Repentance, prayer,
humbleness, self-restraint, patience, charity, Fear of Allah, and hope, all of
these are the immediate outcomes of death remembrance.
One of the most important
ramifications of continuous death remembrance is that it emboldens the believer
to do JIHAD, to struggle for the sake of Allah. For the believer he/she is
always aware that he/she will be die sooner or later. Thus he/she will be
certainly prefer an honourable death to ordinary death and the most honourable
death is to die for the cause of Islam, to be a martyr of faith. Listen how Allah
praises those who sacrifices their lives for His sake:
"Allah has purchased of the
believers their souls and their wealth in return for the paradise. They fight
in His cause and kill or get killed. A promise binding on him in truth through
the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran and who is more faithful to his covenant
than Allah ? Then rejoice in the deal which you have concluded. That is the
supreme achievement." [QS.Al-Touba
9:111]
This attitude of continuous death
awareness and preferring an honourable death to any other kind of death was the
root cause of all the glories of early Islam. Those fearless companions of the
Prophet (SallAllaahu 'alaihi wa salam) spread Islam to the shores of the
Atlantic and to the borders of China in less than one century. They led the
most impressive military campaigns in history and their incentive was very
simple: The search of martyrdom, the most honourable death for a Muslim.
Today, it is the fear of death honourable or otherwise that is making us by far
the most humiliated nation on earth. Last Friday's massacre of the Palestinians
(February 25th, 1994) is the reminder of the humiliation. At the core of all
the ills of the Muslim World today lies this simple fact, We, Muslims, fear
death. Martyrdom is not as appealing to us as it was to the early Muslims. We
are not willing to sacrifice our wealth and our standard of living either. The
evidence to this fact is abundant. The Muslim World has betrayed Bosnia.
Muslims in the East were not willing to sacrifice their standard of living and
threaten an oil and economic embargo against all those who help the Serbs and
those who prevent the Bosnia Muslims from defending themselves. Muslims in the
West didn't .... better, the amount of help we provided to our Brothers and
Sisters in Bosnia was just peanuts compared to the wealth that Muslims in the
West enjoy. Muslims are not willing to sacrifice, we consider donating $ 20
"a sacrifice." Why are we not willing to sacrifice ? The same reason,
fear of death, we love life so much, we think we will live forever. We have to
understand that fear of poverty and fear of honourable death makes cowards out
of men. One of the casualties of our fear of honourable death is that we become
afraid of saying the truth. We are now in the month of fasting. This is the
truth, but when a Muslim ruler of a Muslim country said that fasting is an
obstacle to economic development and it should be abolished, very few objected.
When a Muslim ruler described the hijab of the women as a "filthy
rug" no one objected. When another muslim ruler said that hijab ...., an
act of satan because Eve had no clothes at all, no one objected. Actually, the
only reaction to this particular comment was a wave of applause from the
audience who happened to be members of parliament of another Muslim country !
In Islam, keeping silence when one should protest is a sin, but why no one
protested ? because life is so dear to Muslims. Muslims assume they will live
for too long. The irony is that Muslims countries, by and large, have the
lowest life expectance rates on earth !
To sum up, I would remind myself
and my dear brothers and sisters that death is a reality and we have to always
be prepared for it. Please, don't assume that we will live for too long. we
usually think that we will live for too long especially if we are young and
healthy. This is not true. Young people die everyday and for a variety of
reasons. I myself have 2 friends who died in their twenties. One was about 24
the other was 27 and this one was very healthy indeed. i graduated in the class
of 1986, so far I have been told of 2 the graduates of my 1986 class who
already died. No one has immunity against death. No one is too heathy to die,
or too young to die or too wealthy to die or too powerful to die or too famous
to die.
The question that we should
always ask ourselves is not whether we are going to die, it is what
preparations are we making to die as good Muslims ? We should always be ready,
we should always struggle to improve ourselves until we become the best persons
we can be. We should humble ourselves in our progress. Read the Quran more and
reflect upon what we read more, we should help others, we should pay more in
charity we have to get rid of our greed and selfishness. We have to love to
others what we love to ourselves. And also we have to sacrifice for the sake of
allah by spending from our wealth, our time, our efforts and if the need arises
by our lives. We have to remember to repent everyday and if possible during and
after every prayer.
Finally, the best way to
remember death is to read the Quran. We have to read Quran everyday. This
is major source of spiritual power in Islam. - Syuqranopedia -
