By Abdullahi Jamaa
In recent days, we witnessed a sharp rise in the number of sudden death. There is widespread fear and anxiety and many people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike are talking about it as if death is a new thing.
It seems we haven’t learnt the purpose of life and if we do , we are not ready to die even when we know that one day , when Allah says , the curtain will fall on us. It simply means, we neglected our assignment on earth.
With or without Corona , people used to die and they die on an appointed time. I agree that the increasing sudden death is tormenting our hearts and minds, creating a new wave of uncertainty perhaps in a way that instills a feeling hopelessness.
We have given ourselves so much into this world that we behave as if we will forever live here. This is a delusion, and it is the reason why we are in fear of death. It is a bigoted fear, which puts us into the danger of missing out the bigger picture of life in general.
The most downward thing is that we are not taking any clue from increased number of burials. Every day we lower into the earth members of our families or friends, supervising and standing for their funerals and leave them behind in a dark sod- without taking any lessons back home.
Let alone learning lessons, we continue to transgress , committing sins while absconding our religious duties. In the miasma of Corona era, our perspective of life didn’t really change, we take life for granted , wasting golden opportunities to come back to Allah in sincere repentance.
We move on with life even though we do not know our fate in afterlife. Death remains to be the last chapter of our life’s story that we shall never understand until that day when we taste it ourselves. A reason why we fear to die.
Run towards Allah
We should fear Allah (the most High) for indeed His fear is one that overcomes all other fears including that of death. The fear of Allah is not similar to other fears that we know , it is about achieving a sound state of piety and it is a perfect mix of love, hope and fear.
When we fear Allah , we run towards him in search of success and salvation but when we fear from other things we run from their destruction and devastation. The fear of Allah is amazingly sweet with a wonderful surety of blissful life here on earth and in our next.
We fear death because we absconded our religious obligations as this tantalising world overwhelms our desires. We don’t take Ibadah seriously, our prayers are in constant shortfalls even when we know that prayer on time is the best deed and we don’t worship Allah as he is suppose to be worshipped.
We think, with our on and off prayers and ritual fasting we shall collect the cup of heaven just like that. While the mercy of Allah can guarantee a slot in paradise for the chosen ones , winning Jannah is not a walk in the park .Did not the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) stand all night in prayers.
We are yet to understand the essence of worship as long as we search for worldly success through prayers. Of course we have to ask Allah for all round support and success but when our desire for worldly success makes us religious and prayerful people , we become completely lost in a busy but an empty religious life.
When your concern for doing Ibadah is about serving your Lord and not accumulating the world, you will feel the presence of Allah around you . This is the epitome of worship , the sweetness of life and the honour of being an honourable believer.
At this stage of faith, you understood why you worship Allah, your concern becomes the hereafter and the world becomes a by-the-way-kind of place. So death becomes a reminder for you to accumulate more and more Ibadah before your time on earth is up.
But when you pray to Allah only when you have problems or because you want his support for a worldly thing, the essence of worship is lost, it doesn’t count how much Ibadah you engage in as long as your focus is on this world only.
At this point , you did not understand the purpose of worship, your concern becomes achieving success on earth and Akheerah is missing from your radar. So death becomes a tormenting monster because you love the world so much at the expense of Akheerah.
The solutions is in knowing why we are here on earth. The world is a bridge said Imam Ibn Jawzi (rh) , and we should not take this bridge as a home. We must wake up from ensuing laxity. We must worship Allah as he is suppose to be worshipped.
Imam Ibn Qayyim (rh) said :
“Beware of every hour and how it passes, and only spend it in the best possible way, do not neglect yourself, but render it accustomed to the noblest and best of actions, and send to your grave that which will please you when you arrive to it.”
