PREPARING FOR DEATH - BY KHALID BAIG
>Preparing for Death> >> >By Khalid Baig> >> >
"Suppose you learn today that you have only one more day to live; you'll > >die tomorrow. How will you spend your last day?"> >
This interview question was posed long before the age of mass media. The interviewer approached prominent scholars and people known for their > >virtuous lives with the idea that he would compile their answers in a book. > >Such a book would provide the readers with inspiration for the most > >important virtues.> >> >But the most inspiring response came from the person who did not provide a > >wish list of virtuous deeds. He was the great muhaddith Abdur Rahman ibn > >abi Na'um and he replied: "There is nothing that I could change in my daily > >schedule learning that it is my last day. I already spend everyday in my > >life as if it is going to be my last."> >>
>Death is the most certain aspect of life. According to the latest > >statistics, 6178 people die in the world every hour. These are people of > >all ages, dying of all causes. Some of these deaths will make headlines. > >The great majority will die quietly. Yet everyone will enter his grave the > >same way. Alone. At the time appointed by God. Science and technology can > >neither prevent nor predict death. It is solely in the hands of the > >Creator.>
>"O mankind! If you are in doubt concerning the Resurrection, then lo! We > >have created you from dust, then from a drop of seed, then from a clot, > >then from a little lump of flesh shapely and shapeless, that We may make it > >clear for you. And We cause what We will to remain in the wombs for an > >appointed time, and afterward We bring you forth as infants, then give you > >growth that you attain full strength. And among you there is he who dies > >young, and among you there is he who is brought back to the most abject > >time of life, so that after knowledge he knows naught!"[Al-Haj 22:5]>
>> >We see it happening all the time. Yet it is amazing how we feel that it > >won't happen to us. At least not anytime soon. We bury our own friends and > >relatives but think that we'll live forever. Our attitudes about death defy > >all logic. In a way we recognize it and even plan for it. We take out life > >insurance policies. We may do estate planning. Businesses and governments > >have contingency plans to carry out their operations in case of sudden loss > >of their leaders. But this is recognition of death as an end point of this > >life. Where we fail is in recognizing it as the beginning of another life > >that will never end and where we'll reap what we sow here.> >>
>A central teaching of Islam is that it is our recognition of and preparation for that eternity that must separate those who are smart from > >those who are not. As the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam said: > >"Truly smart is the person who controlled his desires and prepared for life > >after death."> >> >
There is a moving story about Bahlool, who, in his innocence seems to be on > >the opposite end of the scale of worldly-smartness. Khalifa Haroon ur > >Rashid had given him access to his court probably because his naivet?was a > >source of entertainment to him. Once the Khalifa gave him a walking stick > >saying, "It is meant for the most foolish person in the world. If you find > >a person more deserving of it than yourself, pass it on." Several years > >later Haroon ur Rashid fell seriously ill and no medical treatment seemed > >to work. Bahlool visited him and inquired about his condition. The > >conversation went something like this:> >> >Haroon: "No treatment is working. I see my final journey ahead of me."> >> >Bahlool: "Where are you going?"> >> >Haroon: "I am going to the Other World."> >> >Bahlool: "How long will you stay there? When will you come back?"> >> >Haroon: "No one ever comes back from that world."> >> >Bahlool: "Then you must have made especial preparations for this journey. > >Did you send an advance group to take care of you once you arrive?> >> >Haroon: "Bahlool, you have to go there alone. And no I did not make any > >preparations."> >> >Bahlool: "Ameer-ul-Momineen! You used to send troops to make extensive > >preparations for you for even short trips of only a few days. Now you are > >going to a place where you'll live forever but you have made no > >preparations! I think I have found the person more deserving of the stick > >that you had given me some years ago."> >> >This story speaks to all of us. We may not be kings but we do plan our > >trips of even a few days very carefully. How about preparing for the > >journey into eternity? How about making the concern for the Hereafter the > >cornerstone of our lives here?
> >Actually, that concern can change our lives here as well. This world is an > >abode of deception. Here we are not punished the moment we commit a sin. > >This fools us into thinking that we can get away with it. Remembering death > >is the antidote for that deception. A person who remembers that he will > >have to stand before his Creator and be accountable for his actions simply > >cannot defy God!> >> >In the story of Pharaoh, we learn that when he saw death approaching he > >declared belief in the God of Moses. Before that he had been fooled by his > >apparent power. His repentance came too late but it did show how his > >arrogance and intransigence evaporated when faced with the certainty of > >death.> >> >It is amazing how a lot of our own "confusions", frivolous arguments, > >excuses (for why we cannot do this or avoid that), or plane laziness can > >melt away when we visualize ourselves in our grave! Death settles lot of > >arguments. Its remembrance can do that too. Before it is too late. He was > >indeed a very wise person who spent everyday of his life as if it was going > >to be his last day. But that certainly should be the goal for all of us!> >
"Suppose you learn today that you have only one more day to live; you'll > >die tomorrow. How will you spend your last day?"> >
This interview question was posed long before the age of mass media. The interviewer approached prominent scholars and people known for their > >virtuous lives with the idea that he would compile their answers in a book. > >Such a book would provide the readers with inspiration for the most > >important virtues.> >> >But the most inspiring response came from the person who did not provide a > >wish list of virtuous deeds. He was the great muhaddith Abdur Rahman ibn > >abi Na'um and he replied: "There is nothing that I could change in my daily > >schedule learning that it is my last day. I already spend everyday in my > >life as if it is going to be my last."> >>
>Death is the most certain aspect of life. According to the latest > >statistics, 6178 people die in the world every hour. These are people of > >all ages, dying of all causes. Some of these deaths will make headlines. > >The great majority will die quietly. Yet everyone will enter his grave the > >same way. Alone. At the time appointed by God. Science and technology can > >neither prevent nor predict death. It is solely in the hands of the > >Creator.>
>"O mankind! If you are in doubt concerning the Resurrection, then lo! We > >have created you from dust, then from a drop of seed, then from a clot, > >then from a little lump of flesh shapely and shapeless, that We may make it > >clear for you. And We cause what We will to remain in the wombs for an > >appointed time, and afterward We bring you forth as infants, then give you > >growth that you attain full strength. And among you there is he who dies > >young, and among you there is he who is brought back to the most abject > >time of life, so that after knowledge he knows naught!"[Al-Haj 22:5]>
>> >We see it happening all the time. Yet it is amazing how we feel that it > >won't happen to us. At least not anytime soon. We bury our own friends and > >relatives but think that we'll live forever. Our attitudes about death defy > >all logic. In a way we recognize it and even plan for it. We take out life > >insurance policies. We may do estate planning. Businesses and governments > >have contingency plans to carry out their operations in case of sudden loss > >of their leaders. But this is recognition of death as an end point of this > >life. Where we fail is in recognizing it as the beginning of another life > >that will never end and where we'll reap what we sow here.> >>
>A central teaching of Islam is that it is our recognition of and preparation for that eternity that must separate those who are smart from > >those who are not. As the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam said: > >"Truly smart is the person who controlled his desires and prepared for life > >after death."> >> >
There is a moving story about Bahlool, who, in his innocence seems to be on > >the opposite end of the scale of worldly-smartness. Khalifa Haroon ur > >Rashid had given him access to his court probably because his naivet?was a > >source of entertainment to him. Once the Khalifa gave him a walking stick > >saying, "It is meant for the most foolish person in the world. If you find > >a person more deserving of it than yourself, pass it on." Several years > >later Haroon ur Rashid fell seriously ill and no medical treatment seemed > >to work. Bahlool visited him and inquired about his condition. The > >conversation went something like this:> >> >Haroon: "No treatment is working. I see my final journey ahead of me."> >> >Bahlool: "Where are you going?"> >> >Haroon: "I am going to the Other World."> >> >Bahlool: "How long will you stay there? When will you come back?"> >> >Haroon: "No one ever comes back from that world."> >> >Bahlool: "Then you must have made especial preparations for this journey. > >Did you send an advance group to take care of you once you arrive?> >> >Haroon: "Bahlool, you have to go there alone. And no I did not make any > >preparations."> >> >Bahlool: "Ameer-ul-Momineen! You used to send troops to make extensive > >preparations for you for even short trips of only a few days. Now you are > >going to a place where you'll live forever but you have made no > >preparations! I think I have found the person more deserving of the stick > >that you had given me some years ago."> >> >This story speaks to all of us. We may not be kings but we do plan our > >trips of even a few days very carefully. How about preparing for the > >journey into eternity? How about making the concern for the Hereafter the > >cornerstone of our lives here?
> >Actually, that concern can change our lives here as well. This world is an > >abode of deception. Here we are not punished the moment we commit a sin. > >This fools us into thinking that we can get away with it. Remembering death > >is the antidote for that deception. A person who remembers that he will > >have to stand before his Creator and be accountable for his actions simply > >cannot defy God!> >> >In the story of Pharaoh, we learn that when he saw death approaching he > >declared belief in the God of Moses. Before that he had been fooled by his > >apparent power. His repentance came too late but it did show how his > >arrogance and intransigence evaporated when faced with the certainty of > >death.> >> >It is amazing how a lot of our own "confusions", frivolous arguments, > >excuses (for why we cannot do this or avoid that), or plane laziness can > >melt away when we visualize ourselves in our grave! Death settles lot of > >arguments. Its remembrance can do that too. Before it is too late. He was > >indeed a very wise person who spent everyday of his life as if it was going > >to be his last day. But that certainly should be the goal for all of us!> >
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