About Death God alone is worth of all praise, Who sent down death upon the greatest oppressors and the mightiest of men and wriggled their necks; and broke the backs of the greatest kings; and extinguished the hopes, the aspirations of the possessors of enormous hordes and treasures by putting an end to their lives. Everyone of these persons express doubts even at the hint of death, but when the promise of Almighty (the time of death) came to pass, they were thrown into a pit and were toppled from their high palaces to the depths of earth, they were lifted from their soft beds under the sparkle and glare of electric lights and were hurdled into the darkness of the grave. They were given over to the worms and insects, and instead of enjoying the delights of eating and drinking they were rolling in dust. So, Did these people build castles strong enough to protect them from the onslaught of death? Did they adopt any other means to keep death away? Hence there is one and the only Pure Lord and none shares His Supreme Might and Wrath. He alone is Everlasting and has no equal. Hence when death is inevitable for everyone and everyone must become one with earth and join the worms in the grave. My friends! However prolonged this worldly life may be, it is mortal and must end. However great may be the possessions of this world, one day they are bound to be left behind. The eternal life is immortal; its blessings are ever-lasting. In view of all this it needs no explaining to a man of ordinary sense that one should opt for something which is everlasting. On the other hand to hanker after something which is transitory is the height of stupidity. We are captivated by the embellishments of the waiting room of this station where the period of our stay ends with the arrival of the train. It would certainly be to his advantage if during this short period of waiting a person should get busy himself with the preparations and arrangements of goods for his journey and making provisions for those things which will prove useful on arrival at the eternal home. If on the other hand he wastes his short but precious time of leisure in going around the place and while his own goods are lying scattered he should set about dusting and furnishing the waiting room; and what's even more foolish if he should get busy in purchasing mirrors and maps for hanging in this room, he will not only lose his ordinary provisions but also his most valuable goods; Almighty says: "O those who keep faith! Let not your goods and your offspring make you heedless towards the remembrance of God. And if a person does this, he will be among the losers. And whatever God has provided you with, spend out of it before someone's death approaches. My friends and elders May the Almighty God be kind to you. Avoid negligence and be alert. Wake up from your slumber, before the shout goes around that such and such a person has fallen ill; now he is in a critical state, all hope is lost; There after it is noised about that the sick man has started making out legacies. Lo and behold! his tongue swells in his mouth, he is speechless. His family and kinsmen stand around and weep. Now the son comes forward, now the wife, but the man's tongue is paralyzed. Presently his soul begins to escape from the limbs of his body and at last flies away to heaven. The kith and kin at once start preparing the funeral. The cries and laments of the sympathizers are over and they are calm now. The kinsmen are busy dividing the estate; and as far the dead man, he lays entrapped by his own deeds. No living being knows the time of its end. Man makes provisions for a hundred years, yet knows not that he might die the next minute. God Almighty by His Eternal Grace may help us to lean on Him
alone. And may He grant us the gift of hating this sinful world. |
Compiled
from "The Scene of Death and What Happens After Death"
By Khwaja Muhammad Islam |