Bismil
Laahir Rahmaanir Raheem!
Assalaamu
alaykum wa rahmatul Laahi wa barkaatuh brothers and sisters in Islam. Alhamdu
lil Laah for everything that He puts in our way.
So,
recently, I see lots of facebook statuses talking about the death of one person
or the other. Most of them young when you see their photos. In my vicinity too,
I see and hear the same; so many people dying one after the other.
Some
few days ago, a man who had gone to help prepare his friend’s body for burial
had suddenly collapsed in the room where the dead body was and then the next
dawn, he died in the hospital. A woman came to express her condolence to the
bereaved family and the next day, she also died. All these three people were in
the same area.
So
Allah, Al-Hayy, Al-Qayyum, tells us explicitly that;
‘Every soul will taste death, and you
will only be given your [full] compensation on the Day of Resurrection. So he
who is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained [his
desire]. And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion.’
Surah Al-‘Imraan, the Family of ‘Imraan,
Chapter 3 ayah 185
And
from the beginning of time, Allah azza wa jal has shown us a prove of this. At
the end of the day, we all die. What I have come to realize is that one can
never tell how death feels like until someone real close leaves. Then you understand
what exactly it means to lose someone helplessly. And I say this out of
experience.
My Experience
I
was kneeling by my dying dad in a hospital with my hands in his and on his
stomach. I had never seen anyone die before but I could tell that it was close to
the end for him. The pain was such that I cannot not describe. I only wished
for one thing; that I could help make him well as he used to be. Then the ayah
came running through my mind; How great Allah azza wa jal is! He says;
‘Then why do you not intervene when
the soul of a dying person reaches the throat? And you at the moment are
looking on. But We are nearer to him than you but you see not. Then why do you
not if you are exempt from the reckoning and recompense bring back the soul to
its body if you are truthful?’
Surah Al-Waqi’ah, the Event, Chapter
56 ayah 83-87
Lo
and behold! It hit me hard how pitiful I was as a human being. The more reason
that I should take advantage of now to worship him before I am suddenly put in
the position I had seen my father in. May Allah azza wa jal engulf him with His
abundant Rahma and all others. May Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aalaa grant them the
best of His Jannah and all of us who will follow them as well. Aameen.
Grief of losing a loved one
We
see how much grief the Prophet Muhammad suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam felt
when he lost his uncle, Abi Talib and then his beloved wife Khadija radiyal
Laahu anhaa. That was the Prophet of Allah who understood the concept of death
more than any human being. How much more us? I see the grief of Asmaa Hussein
(check her out on facebook) in each letter in her status on facebook. A good
Muslimah who lost her husband three years into their marriage.
My friend’s latest yearning
Ok;
a friend of mine tells me for some time now that she wishes to die and leave
this Dunya that is full of fitaan (temptation, trials, affliction, distress,
etc). Allah azza wa jal tells us of the beauty and serenity of what the
afterlife contains for the one who dedicates his or her life to His true
worship. My friend thinks about this afterlife which Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aalaa
assures us that none of us could ever imagine its nature and then she feels
like having that life instead of this one now.
That
is quite interesting to me. Alhamdu lil Laah, we talked about it in detail and
I was able to convince her on my thoughts. I felt the need to write this
article afterwards for her and others who have this thinking to read and
perhaps I might win them over with what I think.
Contemplating suicide
So,
my friend’s situation reminded me of a Muslimah I had been introduced to by a
Muslim brother of mine; a young wonderful lady who was contemplating suicide.
The first time I heard, I shook all over. She had made quite a number of
attempts and they all failed. Being a doctor, he tried to help her but to no
avail so I became her friend. Her reasons for wanting to die were quiet sad.
She had lost a very close friend and so mostly she felt like she was going to
die to follow her due to how close they were. This made her extremely moody
making it uncomfortable for her other friends and any other person to be around
her. Soon she started thinking that no one wants to be around her so the
feeling of suicide became a lot more intense. Alhamdu lil Laah! She is
forgotten suicide now and enjoying her life to the maximum. Alhamdu lil Laah!
After
this lady, I have come across a number of others who seem to contemplate
suicide. I haven’t really come to terms with what the suicide lovers are
expecting to have when they are finally out of this Dunya; are they expecting
relieve and bliss? Or what?
Dr
Muhammad A’rifi tells a story in his book; Enjoy Your Life (I recommend you to
read that book). He tells the story of a young man who had sent him a message
asking whether it was Islamically allowed for a Muslim to commit suicide. Being
the person that the Sheikh is; he decided to call the person up. The moment the
young man picked the Sheikh’s call, he wanted to know the answer and his tone
of voice seemed like he was in distress over something. Dr A’rifi just told him
that it is allowed to do so and the guy couldn’t believe it. He asked the
Sheikh whether that was really true and he said yes and that he wanted to meet
up with him so that they could discuss how he could go about the suicide.
That
is how interesting it sometimes is. Mostly, these suicide thinkers do not want to
really die. In the case of the young man above, he wanted to excuse himself
from dying by finding out that Islam forbids it but the Sheikh decided to play
a smart one on him. To understand the Sheikh’s strategy, you have to read the
book. You wouldn’t regret it in shaa Allah.
I
have ever thought of dying as well. Those days when my understanding of the
essence of life was not as broad as it is now. I had wished to die due to some serious
problems I was facing which I could not afford to share with anyone on earth
for fear of causing pain to them. I had thought that if I died, then it will be
over and then I could have some peace whiles I was with Allah (not to commit
suicide, but die naturally). Interesting huh! And I thought of my parents; my
mum especially and what my death will mean to her and I was hanging between two
desires; life and death. Alhamdu lil Laah! Today, all that is over. Alhamdu lil
Laah!
‘And no person can ever die except by
Allah’s leave and at an appointed term. And whoever desires a reward in this
world, We shall give him of it; and whoever desires reward in the Hereafter, We
shall give him thereof. And We shall reward the grateful.’
Surah Al-Baqarah, the Cow, Chapter 2
ayah 145
My friend’s wish for death
As
the ayah above states; one’s death does not depend on whether he or she wishes
for it or not; it would not come if Allah has not decreed it and it will come if
He decrees it. I remember once when I had gotten seriously sick as it usually
happens to me and then my mum was almost going off; I prayed for life just
because of my mum. By then I hoped that even if it was my time to go, Allah
should spare me for my mum. Funny, isn’t it? And the last time I had gotten
seriously sick again, a few years ago; my mum had finally come to terms with it
that it was going to be the end but here I am. This affirms the fact that we
could never tell when we were dying or not.
As
I said above, my friend believes that the life of the Hereafter was better and
she wanted to have that life now. Indeed, each one of us should wish to have
the better life of the Hereafter than the one here. But does that mean that we
should wish for death? No. Narrated Anas bin Malik: The Prophet suallal Laahu
alayhi wa sallam said;
‘None of you should wish for death
because of a calamity befalling him; but if he has to wish for death, he should
say: ‘O Allah! Keep me alive as long as life is better for me, and let me die if
death is better for me.’’
Sahih Al-Bukhari
So the Prophet warns us
against the wish for death and he teaches us a proper way to go about it.
The Hereafter is mind-blowingly sweet but...
How
much confidence do you and I have about our Islam? Have we worshipped Allah,
Ar-Raheem, enough to believe that we are good to go? Are we sure of Allah’s
forgiveness for all of our sins? Are we sure that we would be blessed with the
Rahma of Allah in order to obtain this pleasure which He describes to us? Narrated
Jabir ibn Abdullah: Allah’s Messenger suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam said;
‘Do not wish for death, for the terror
of the place whence one looks down is severe. It is part of a man’s happiness
that his life should be long and Allah Who is Great and Glorious, should supply
him with repentance.’
Al-Tirmidhi
We
see that the issue of the Hereafter is not just the endless enjoyment part but
it includes an endless pain as well. Each of us is either going to have the
enjoyment part or the pain part. Now which one are you going to have? Do you
know? Did Allah, Ar-Rahman, tell you which one you are getting? Obviously it is
a no. So then, why the hurry to go into bliss? What if you went and it wasn’t
the bliss you wanted but pain that is worse than the one from which you were
running from in this life.
With
the little I know of the seerah of the companions of the Prophet Suallal Laahu
alayhi wa sallam, even though most of them were given the glad tidings of Paradise,
they still strove with every inch of their lives to worship Allah azza wa jal
with the least opportunity. And their desire for death was in such a way that
they wanted so badly to die whiles Allah azza wa jal was pleased with them
whether it was now or later.
So
then why would we who have not been given the glad tidings of Jannah ever think
of wishing for death now? It doesn’t make that much sense to me. As the Prophet
suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam advised us; if we were going to wish for death
then we should rather say;
‘O Allah! Keep me alive as long as
life is better for me, and let me die if death is better for me.’’
So
why not put the burden of when to die aside since you have no say in it anyway
and just really work hard so that Allah, Al-Gaffuur, may take you when your
ihsaan reaches its peak? There is so much to do especially in our era. We
cannot afford to run away from the fitaan which are there to test our faith in
Allah, Al-Aziz, and our rewards increase with the increment of our level of
resistance to these fitaan.
The Parable
Imagine
that a man has lots of children around him in a very luxurious and comfortable
house. One day, he sends these children away into a garden with a bowl to pick
some fruits. He lets them know that he would call each one of them back and
give them something special based on the passion with which they pick the
fruits. The children are then put in the uncomfortable garden with dark soil,
thorns and insects. Then some of them begin to get distressed with the farm and
their objective for being in that farm and they want to go back even though the
man had not called them yet meanwhile they do not know how much longer he was
going to make them stay there. Others however take their time to deal with the
uncomfortable situation and try hard not to make those things in the farm that
will have a negative impact on their passion to pick the fruits to get in their
way. They do so knowing very well that if they tried hard to be very passionate
about doing the man this service, they were soon going to get something better
in return even though they had no idea how soon. They don’t know exactly when
but that isn’t their problem. Their problem is their mood at all points in
time.
I
believe you have gotten what I am driving at? It is the same thing I see with
us. We have a purpose in life. It is better we concentrate on this purpose and
strive as much as we can with Allah’s help to fight all the temptations,
trials, distress, etc that Allah azza wa jal puts in our way in order to test
our faith. Not forgetting the fact that, we will soon go to give accounts to
Him.
There
is also the fear of dying which isn’t also healthy. Some people fear dying but
they do not concentrate on trying their best to please Allah due to this fear.
This would not help at all. It is not a wise thing to do. Fear the state in
which you die rather than your death.
I
pray I have been able to say something useful to you. So instead of putting
yourself in the distress of wishing for death which you might not get if it isn’t
your time, why don’t you do du’a that the Prophet suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam
taught us and just live our lives with hope that Allah, Ar-Razzak, answers?
That
was long and I am grateful to you for taking time to read this. You can contact
me about any concerns in shaa Allah. May Allah azza wa jal take us when we
finally obtain ihsaan and when that ihsaan is at its highest peak. Aameen.
Remember always that I love you for the sake of Allah and may He be a witness
to this love and may He love us even more. Aameen
Jazaakumul Laahu khair!
Islam Forever In shaa Allah!
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatul Laah!
Rubaba Mmahajia Rahma Sabtiu
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