The taste of death.
With the name of Allah,the Most Gracious, the ever Merciful.
Ah, the spectacle of death, this is one scene that we would all feature in sooner or later. The scene will be the same; but the actors different;…… one day me, the next day you. You may say, we are born to die.
Is it painful, is it terrible, is it difficult? Certainly it is because our physical bodies are designed to fight till the very last moment and every nerve will be sending signals of pain to our brains. Apart from this, when some people die they see more than what we see and judging from their behavior, it is seems terrifying.
There are plenty of ‘Hadith’ that teach that death is painful but we want to explore what possibilities there are of making the best out of this scary eventuality.
“(O people!) how can you deny Allah? When you were without life He gave you life, then He will cause you to die and again raise you to life and you shall be made to return to Him.” AL Quran 2:28.
There are quite a few verses in the Holy Quran which state that we will return to Allah. In other words, death is going to bring us into the presence of our Creator or death is the door through which we must go through in order to meet our Lord. Reflect: this is a great thing – we are finally going to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
Then Islam teaches that when we die we would be shown the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and asked who is this? Now if we have grown to love Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and the Holy Prophet (SAW) then we would look forward to this day.
Any lover would eagerly anticipate the day he is to be reunited with his beloved and this day would be a day of rejoicing for him. This moment is so special to such people that they would want to do it again and again although it is so painful.
“The Holy Prophet (Saw) said: The souls, of the martyrs live in the bodies of green birds who have their nests in chandeliers hung from the throne of the Almighty. They eat the fruits of Paradise from wherever they like and then nestle in these chandeliers. Once their Lord cast a glance at them and said: Do ye want anything? They said: What more shall we desire? We eat the fruit of Paradise from wherever we like. Their Lord asked them the same question thrice. When they saw that they will continue to be asked and not left (without answering the question), they said: O Lord, we wish that Thou may return our souls to our bodies so that we may be slain in Thy way once again. When He (Allah) saw that they had no need, they were left (to their joy in heaven).” Muslim Ch.33, Bk. 20, No 4651.
The occasion of death must have been extraordinary for them to want to do it again. Death can be a million times more painful, a beloved will eagerly plunge into it to be reunited with Him or even just to make his beloved happy.
However if we have not grown to love Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala or if we have not follow His injunctions at the least then this would be the most terrible day. It would be a day of great sorrow and regret.
“And (O reader!) do not think that Allah is unaware of all that these wrongdoers do. He only defers their punishment to the day when the eyes (of the people) will fixedly stare (in horror).” Al Quran 14:42
It is related in the traditions of the Holy Prophet PBUH that he said,
“Upon entering his grave, every unjust person will meet a man with an ugly face, dark skin, awful odour, wearing dirty clothes, who will enter his grave with him. When the unjust person sees him, he will say, `How ugly is your face! ‘He will reply, `So was your work, it was ugly. ‘The unjust person will say, `How foul is the odour coming from you! ‘He will reply, `Such was the case with your work, it stunk. ‘The unjust person will say, `How dirty are your clothes! ‘He will reply, `And your work too was dirty. ‘The unjust person will ask, `Who are you?’ He will reply, `I am your deeds. ‘So he will remain with the unjust person in his grave, and when he is resurrected on the Day of Resurrection, his companion (his deeds) will say to him, `In the life of the world, I used to carry you because you followed desire and lust. Today, you carry me. ‘So he will ride on the unjust person’s back and lead him until he enters the Fire.” Ibn Khatir 1480
Being stuck with an ugly, dirty, unpleasant smelling person for ever. Think about it. It’s horrible.
And from the Holy Quran.
“…while they will bear their burdens on their backs; and evil indeed are the burdens that they will bear! Al Quran 6:31.
There will be no second chance. The choice is ours. We could make death an occasion to rejoice or we could let it be the start of an endless torment.
Our Pir O Murshid said: “die before your death”. The type of death he is talking about is the killing of our ‘nafs’ which is our carnal desires or passions. In the Tradition above, concerning martyrs, one type of martyr’s achievement is that – they died before death. If we achieve this, then we too, would be martyr witnesses and dying would be a pleasure.
This tread is continued in the chapter about knowing ourselves
Peace and salutations be upon the Holy Prophet Muhammad PBUH
Published by Anjuman e Waris e Mohammedi.
Anjuman e Waris e Mohammedi was founded by Dr Hakim Hazrath Khwaja Sayed Shareef Ahmed Ali Shah RA (lovingly known as Hazrath Poona Wale Shah Saab RA)
Author: Mohamed Hassan Gaffoor WhatsApp +27849101486.