Death is an unavoidable end. Like all the other people who lived in the past, the ones who will live in the future will also die. Nobody, without exception, can escape it. That is why this is one of the issues human beings avoid thinking and talking about. Some people insistently avoid the thought that one day they will lose everything to which they are attached with desire, and they will stand be fore Allah to give an account of the deeds they did in this life.
Since, so far, not a single soul has escaped death, how can these people behave so heedlessly? How can they lead their lives as if they will never face death one day?
People often invent scenarios in their minds. The want to believe, for instance, that they will die in the later years of their lives and that hence they still have years ahead. Contrary to what they believe however, they hear almost everyday news of young people who lose their lives. Hearses which they see on television, or which they come across on the streets or cemeteries they pass by every day remind them of death. Yet, they pretend not to understand the fact of death.
However, death is always on the watch for man. It is possible that anyone could breathe his last in the blink of an eye. Any time, he may face angels assigned to take his soul. From then on, he loses all his chances to save himself from an everlasting grievous punishment. Nothing surely compensates for a life spent in heedlessness.
Never abandon yourself to this heedlessness, which seizes many a people, and never plead ignorance of the fact that death is but a mo mentary transition and that it is very close to every soul.
People assume they can take precautions against death. This is how ever a senseless conviction. No matter where the person is, by whom he is surrounded, or under which circumstances he leads his life, it is in likely that he could avoid death. Allah draws our attention to this fact in the following verses:
Say: “Death from which you are fleeing, will certainly catch up with you. Then you will be returned to the Knower of the Unseen and the Visible and He will inform you about what you did.” (Surat al-Jumu’ah: 8) Whereever you are, death will catch up with you, even if you are in impregnable fortresses. If a good thing happens to them, they say, “This has come from Allah.” But if a bad thing happens to them, they say, “This has come from you.” Say, “Everything has come from Allah.” What is the matter with these people that they scarcely understand a single word? (Surat an-Nisa: 78)
Every self will taste death. We test you with both good and evil as a trial. And you will be returned to us. (Surat al-Anbiya: 35)
Everyday we hear of the death of someone or we lose one of our close relatives. These incidents are surely OBVIOUS evidence that no one can avoid death. Whether young or old, well-off or poor, every one faces death on a predestined day. This makes one realise that one should not at teach to this world and prepare for the life after death.
Never plead ignorance of the fact that a person merely deceives himself by assuming that death is far from him. And being aware of this fact, spend your life in earning the good pleasure of Allah.
Avoiding the thought of death does not change the fact that one will die one day. A sudden traffic accident or a clot on the brain may well be the unexpected end of a Young and healthy person. Nobody can claim that he will not die falling down steps or on the way to a business meeting. This being the case, it is also irrational that one thinks one can avoid death by not giving a thought to it. Nobody knows where or under which circumstances he will die. Allah may take back the soul of any one at any moment.
In the rush of daily hassles, everyday you wake to a new day. That there are a lot of things to accomplish probably makes you feel that it is too early to die. However, this is just avoidance of death and these are only vain endeavours to escape it. Death is a reality you may meet any time, and time flies in the countdown to ones own death.
Never plead ignorance of this OBVIOUS fact, and do not be seized by death in a state of heedlessness.
|
