The World’s Sorrows and the Hardship of Death
My friends, the grief of the world is temporary and the joys of the world are also temporary. Today if you look around you and ask about conditions, you will find every person worried in some degree or another.
Someone is worried because of business.
Someone is worried because of his health.
Someone is worried because of his children.
Someone is worried because of a job.
Someone is worried because of a house.
Someone is worried because of fights between husband and wife.
Someone is worried because of his children’s in-laws.
Someone is worried because of neighbors.
Someone is worried because of his relatives.
Why is it like this, what is the reason that today there is no concern for the hereafter in our lives, due to which worries are coming like a heavy rain?
In this world no person is without grief. If anyone is, then he is not a human.
Today we say we had too many worries and we forgot the worries of the hereafter. But when the eyes of the outward close, then the veils will be lifted from our eyes as to what kind of life we were living.
Remember, at the time of death shaitan comes in the form of a dead mother, father, or friend and invites a person to turn away from deen. No one can be saved from this trial without the mercy of Allah Ta‘ala. Hazrat Ka‘b Ahbar rz used to say, the one who recognized death, the calamities and worries of the world all became easy for him.
A companion of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, was ill. The Prophet, sallallahu alaihivasallam, came to visit him.
He, sallallahu alaihivasallam, had just reached there when the angel of death came.
The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, saw that the angel of death placed his finger on his chest and took the soul of this companion rz.
He, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said to the angel of death, be a little gentle. The angel of death said, O Beloved of Allah Ta‘ala, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, Allah Ta‘ala had already commanded me to take the soul of every companion of my beloved with ease. That is why I took the soul of this servant of yours with one finger.
If I were taking the soul of someone else, I would thrust my grip into his chest.
It is in hadith, if animals knew about their death like you do, you would not get any fat animal to eat.
Think, if someone’s finger gets cut, how much pain there is. The soul has left this part and withdrawn into the rest of the body. Now if there is so much pain in the soul leaving this finger, then what condition must it be when the soul is leaving the whole body?
An example was given to explain: if a thorny branch is inserted into a person’s body and suddenly pulled out, just as thorns prick the whole body and pain is felt, in the same way a person feels pain at the time of death.
Another example was given: at the time of death a person feels as much pain as if the skin of a live goat is being pulled off.
When Hazrat Ali rz used to deliver a sermon, he would say to the mujahideen, O mujahid, if you are martyred in the path of Allah Ta‘ala, you will feel no pain at all. And if you go home and die, you will feel more pain than being cut with scissors. Sometimes he would say, you will feel more pain than being roasted in a pot.
That is why it was said, do not speak ill of the dead, because they have reached their reward or punishment. From this it is known that the pain of death is very great.
Rather, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said about death:
Wallahi lau ta‘lamuna ma a‘lamu ladhahiktum qalila wa labakaytum kathira wa la talazzaztum bin-nisaa‘i alal furush.
By Allah, if you knew what I know, you would laugh little and weep much, and you would not enjoy your women on the beds, meaning you would not be able to have intimacy with your wife.
Allahu akbar.
Hazrat Sufyan Thauri rh says, when the angel of death touches the vein of the heart, at that time a person cannot recognize people, the tongue also gets tied, and he forgets all things of the world. At that time the pain is so severe that if the intoxication of death were not upon him, he would start swinging a sword at those sitting nearby.
Allahu akbar.
May Allah Ta‘ala save us all from the hardship of death. Ameen.
Post a Comment