Allah’s greetings to all
of you; dear parents, loved brothers and sisters. May you all be well, may all
your life be good and may your final place be: Paradise. I ask Allah the
exulted and greatest, who brought us together in this house of his to obey
him, I ask him to bring us together with the company of the chosen one, the
messenger PPBU, in his paradise. He is the Lord and he is the capable.
The real purpose of our
creation as Allah has made it clear when he said: {I did not create humans and
Jinn for any other reason other than to worship me}. Allah also made clear the
reality of this world life that he made to be the venue for our test. The
messenger (ppbu) said: [As far as Allah is concerned, if this worldly life had
any value even as little as a wing of a mosquito then he wouldn’t have given
an atheist as much as a drink of water]. That is why the messenger of Allah
always advised his companions never to settle and feel at home with this
worldly life that is certainly coming to an end. He was reported saying: “be
in this life as a stranger in a transit.” Ebn-Omar used to say “if your night
comes do not expect to see the morning, and when your morning comes do not
expect your night; and take from your health to your sickness, and from your
life to your death”
The tarnishing of this
worldly life in the Quran and the Sunnah is not because of its time of day and
night. For Allah created day and night to those who needed reminding or needed
to be thankful. The tarnishing was not due to the venue for Allah has made
earth a living and habitation to Adam and his siblings. Certainly the
tarnishing was not because all the good things in it, for these are all
mercies from Allah to all his creatures. The real reason for tarnishing this
worldly life is due to all the disobediences and sins committed against Allah.
We certainly do not want
all to take the idea of giving up this worldly life. This life is like the
farm for the next life. The messenger said: [Any Muslim planting any plant or
a tree and some bird or human or an animal eats off that then it will be
considered a charity for this Muslim]. Before crossing to the life of
permanence we pass through the temporary and terminating life. This life is a
mere passage to the next endless life. This is a finite life and the next is a
infinite life. We can sow seed here to harvest over in the next life.
Everyone dies, the good,
the bad, the fighter in the line of Allah, and those who escape the service,
the believers and those who enslave people, the honorable people die and the
cowards, those who love life and value it dearly. All die, for Allah said:
{All who is on it will perish, and shall remain the face of your Lord with the
Majisty and exalted}. The messenger also said: [Always remember the destroyer
of enjoyments]. It is the fact that Allah called in his book “the certainty”
or “the truth” when he says: {and comes the struggle of death with the truth.
That is what you have been avoiding. And the horn is blown, that is the day of
threat. And each soul arrives and with it one who leads it and one who is a
witness} 19-19. (La elaha ella Allah. Allahu Akbar).
Death has its struggles.
Those word were said by the beloved messenger PPBU when he was dying on his
death bed. 3a-esha (ÚÇÆÔÉ) said: The messenger of Allah died between my
stomach and my chin. He was holding a cup with water. He used to dip his hand
into the water and wipes his face and says: { La elaha ella Allah. Death has
its struggles.} This loved human to the Rahman, gets a feel of the struggles
of death. Well then how about us? And in another report he was saying: {My
Lord help me overcome the struggles of death.}
The struggles of death
comes with the truth. What are the struggles and the problems. Well, at those
moments the worries and problems gets worse. On the death bed one sees in
his/her room what no one else can see. You shall see a Satan sitting at your
head all he wants is to distract you from the word of the statement faith and
fidelity or the statement of deliverance and salvation. (La elaha ella
Allah.). Satan tries to block you from it. Satan talks to you: Die as a Jew.
It is the best of religions. And he says: Die as a Christian it is the best
religion. The scholar Ebn-Taymia was asked about the matter of offering of the
religions at human’s death bed. He said some people do and some do not get
that offering immediately before death. But it is the temptations that we were
ordered by our messenger to guard against when he said: {Lord, with your grace
I guard my self against the punishment of the grave, and the punishment of
hell, and against the temptation of life and death and against the temptation
of the false messiah.} Satan comes at the hour of death as part of the
temptation of death. And this is probably the toughest temptation upon the son
of Adam. Did you know dear brothers that the Imam Ahmed Ebn Hanbal (ÅÈä ÍäÈá)
Satans called him at his death bed? His son said: “When time of death
approached my father, I kept looking at him. He went in and out of conscience.
Every time he comes round he used point with his hand and says: Not yet… not
yet.” When he was asked by his son, he said: “son, Satan is sitting at my head
biting his fingers and saying to me: If miss today I will not get you again.
And I say to him, Not yet, not yet till I die on: Allah is my only god. (la
elaha ella Allah)”. Dear brother and sister, if you were of the true
believers, sincere in believing the one god Allah. If Satans come to you,
Allah will send you the angels of fixation or holding firm. For the messenger
PPBU was reported saying: {When a believer lies on his/her death bed; angles
with white faces like the sun come to him with a shroud or cover from paradise
and embalm and perfume from paradise. They sit where he/she can see them. Then
the angel of death comes and sits at his head and calls upon his/her good
spirit saying: You good spirit come on out, while praising and thanking your
Lord. And with the good news and the assurance of freshness, and the fragrance
of basil, and a contented not dissatisfied Lord. The spirit of the believer
slips out with ease, softness and facility as water would seeps out of the rim
of its container. The angels do not let it stay in hands of the angel of death
not for blink of an eye. It takes it and ascends with it towards Allah}
Allah says: {Allah holds
firm the believers in the firm message in this life and in the life after. And
He lets the aggressors go astray. And Allah does what He pleases.} Ibrahim
14-27. Allah has affirmed this good news to the believers in his singularity
when He says: {Those who said Allah is our Lord and then remained on the
straight path, angels descends upon them to assure them do not worry and have
no fear and no sadness, and take the good news of a the paradise that you were
promised. We are your supporters and guardians in the first life and in the
life after. And you shall have what yourselves wishes for. And you shall have
what you demand. Hosting is by a merciful forgiver}.
Ebn-Abbas said that the
“firm message” in this life and the life after is: “No god but Allah or La
ellaha ella Allah”
“The struggle of death
comes with the truth. That is what you have been avoiding” 50-19. The truth is
that you die and Allah is alive never dies. The truth is that you shall at the
time of your death see the angels of mercy and the angel of death. The truth
is that your grave will be a garden of the gardens of Eden or a hole of the
many holes of Hell.
“That is what you have
been avoiding” meaning all that time visiting the doctor when feeling sick,
getting a drink when thirsty, after the health, strength, intelligence, what
is next, you prince or manager, you of high status or low, you rich or poor?
For Allah says: {No, when it gets to the collarbone, and when it is said: is
there a doctor or a healer, or who will elevate him? And realised it is
departing or separation time, and the leg is twisted round the other, It is to
your God that moment you shall be led} 75-30. When Allah says “and when it is
said: is there a doctor or a healer, or who will elevate him?” The word in
Arabic (raq, ÑÇÞ) it means healing, and it means elevating upward. On one
side, it refers to who would save him now, but it also means who would carry
the spirit up into the heavens. Will it be the angels of mercy or the angels
of punishment or hell? Or, who would treat him/her now. For who is he? Does he
have the money to take him in a private jet to the best hospital in the world,
with the best team of specialist doctors round him? The doctors may want
something, but the King of all kings wants something else. Allah says: {For
each nation has certain term; when it comes, they do not get beyond it one
hour nor ahead of it.} 7-34. Allah also says: {Where ever you may be, death
will catch up with you; even if you were in erected towers} 4-78.
As the dieing person
starts going pale, the limbs feeling cold, and start to feel deep cold
creeping through his hands and feet. At the moment of difficulty he looks into
the room where he/she is. Once he sees it as frightening space and once sees
it narrower than the eye of a needle. Starts to see his folks getting closer
and further away. Starts getting mixed up. Who is this at his head? Is it the
angel of death, who are coming down from the heavens? He can see them with his
own eyes, they are angels. Wondering if they are the angels of mercy or angels
of hell. Wonder what will the angel of death say to him? Will he say: you good
spirit come on out to blessings and contentment from your Lord, and to a
contented Lord not a dissatisfied lord. Or will the angel of death say: You,
bad spirit come on out to Allah’s anger and wrath and punishment. The person
comes back for a few seconds with a wakening look, and suddenly can sense his
folks, family and loved ones round him. Looks in plea of mercy, saying
sometimes without voice, Please, don’t leave me alone. I am your father, I
build the homes, I made the money, I worked hard in the business. My children
who of you would donate an extra hour in my life out of his? Buy me time with
all my money, with days of your lives. But, Allah’s truth takes over. The
Koran says: {My money will not do. My majesty has left me}
The Khalifa Suliman ebn
Abdul-Malik asked the scholar Abo-Hazim: why is it that we hate death.
Abo-Hazim said: because you built your worldly life and destroyed your life
after. Consequently, you hate to move from a build area to a dissolute area.
Your life no matter how
long it goes on, it is short. And no matter how great in status it gets, it is
worthless. Time will come when one goes into the grave. AbuHazi was asked
then, How are we with Allah? Abo-Hazim said: measure your self by the book of
Allah. And where in the book I find it the Khalifa asked. Abu Hazim said: in
82-13 and 14 {the kind, true and devoted are in comfort, exultation and
blessedness. And the immoral and inhibited are in hell}. The khalifa asked:
“then where is Allah’s mercy?” He answered: “Allah’s mercy is very close to
those who do good” 7-56. The khalifa asked and how are we going to be put by
Allah tomorrow? He replied: the ones who did good is just like the slave
coming home to his folks and family after a long travel. The family welcomes
him with great joy. Those who do bad, will be like a runner away slave brought
back to his master.
The messenger said:
{this who loves to meet Allah, Allah will love meeting him. And this who hates
to meet Allah, Allah will hate meeting him}. Hearing the messenger saying
that, his wife 3a-esha said: we all hate death. No, he said: the believer when
given the good news about the mercy of Allah, and Allah’s contentment with
him, and Allah’s paradise; just loves meeting Allah, and Allah love meeting
him. While the non-believer when given the news of Allah’s dissatisfaction and
punishment, starts to hate meeting Allah, and Allah hates meeting him.}
That’s the start of our
journey to the next life by death. Death ends by reaching the next stage:
which is the grave, which we shall talk about in another Friday.
Dear brothers make a
pure repentance and the return to Allah, the Lord of the earth and the
heavens. Any of you who aggressed against yourselves with the wrong doings;
not doing your prayers in the houses of Allah, or those who stopped dressing
as Allah recommended you to, those who refrained from attending the learning
about your religion, those who wasted your time at the coffee houses, return
to Allah and Allah will accept your repentance.
Dear brothers and
sisters, work hard in this life, build the universe and make as much profits
as you want, but with two conditions: do it right (or halal), and give to
Allah what He is owed. Work hard in this life but sow plants for the next.
This life is like the farm for the next life. Don’t get overwhelmed by making
it big in this life and forget about the next life. For soon, you will leave
this life, and nothing will be matter except what you have done in advance for
the next. Only three things will follow a dead person: his money, family and
deeds. Two will come back and leave him: the money and the family. Only his
deeds will remain with him. Not forgetting the mercy of the one who never
dies.
Notes:
-
Adhan
- The call to prayer.
-
Ansar (or Al-Ansar):
The inhabitants of the city of Al-Medina that received and supported the
messenger (PPBU) when he immigrated from Mekkah in the very early years of
Islam.
