Death: The Destroyer of Pleasures

A friend’s father died a few days ago and everything happened within the blink of an eye. One second, I was offering my condolences to a Twitter mutual, the next, people were calling me to offer their condolences. He (the mutual) called it “Transience” and that’s just, perfect.

“سمعنا. متى نطيع؟” (We hear, when will we obey?) - A phrase that has stuck with me ever since I read it on Love, S. We come across reminders very often but when do we pay heed? People around us die every single day yet we still find it difficult to give things up for the Sake of Allah. Do we think that we would somehow be exempted from the trials of the grave? Or that we won’t die at all? Do we think that when the time comes we would be miraculously informed? Or do we think we have a say?

Everything, every breath we take; every political and social development; the cosmic harmony in the universe; the atom, is a sign of Allah, and they all operate under His control and knowledge, abiding by His laws. Isn’t that enough to get us to obey? Isn’t that enough to get us to do better?

It has been almost a week, a week since my friend’s dad passed. A week since he has had to answer to His Creator, a week in the grave. Do you know how scary that is? How difficult it is to fathom?

One second you’re in your 20’s, 30’s or 50’s, living your ‘best life’ with your family, and the next minute you’re 6 feet under, answering questions. While life flies by so fast, death comes when you’re not expecting it and leaves you all alone, having left all your friends and family behind. You could be the richest person in the world or the most famous but all that wouldn’t matter, all your assets could never alter the reality that awaits. When it’s your time, you’re leaving, whether you’re prepared to or not.

“You have come to Us all alone just as We created you at first, leaving behind everything We bestowed on you. We do not see your intercessors accompanying you, those you claimed were your partners with Allah. The link between you is cut. Those you made such claims for have forsaken you.” (Surat Al-An’am, 94)

Your worldy accomplices (‘friends’) in disobeying Allah will be laid to rest in separate graves. Perhaps their awakening will result from your death. Your death could very well be the only thing that motivates them to change. And guess what? They could ultimately be rewarded for their penance, while you face a completely different reality.

The body you value, that which you’re using to disobey Allah with, will lose all its beauty, and it would be squeezed into a cramped grave. All that trouble for the sake of amassing possessions in this world, all the efforts to please other people for that purpose, all the concessions and all the rewards would be in vain. Is it worth it? Is it really?

Before you disobey Allah, remember the moment of death, the moment when the soul leaves your body, while it is severely pulled.

Before you disobey Allah, remember the grave, its torment, and its darkness. It is either a garden from the gardens of Paradise, or a pit from the pits of Hellfire. There, there is no fearful father or a merciful mother.

Before you disobey Allah, remember that you will cross the sirât. According to your actions, you will either be saved or the clutches of Hellfire will get a hold of you.

Before you disobey Allah, remember when the sinner, on the Day of Resurrection, will say, {“Alas, my grief that I was undutiful to Allâh (i.e. I have not done what Allâh has ordered me to do),} [Surat Az-Zumar 39:56]  

Before you disobey Allah, remember Hellfire, the remoteness of its deeps, the severity of its heat, and the torment of its people when they are pulled on their faces.

May Allah forgive us and grant us the ability to change and do better before the inevitable happens.

The time is now. Death waits for no one.

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Please include my friend’s dad (Abu Bakr Sanusi) in your prayers, especially in the last ten days of Ramadan. May Allah accept his Shahada. May Allah Safeguard him from the trial of the grave and the punishment of Hell. May Allah forgive him and be merciful to him. Indeed, He is Al Ghafur, Ar-Rahim.