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Allah (‘azza wa jal; The Possessor of Complete Glory and Majesty) reminds us in the Glorious Qur’an: “Every soul shall taste death. And you will be paid your wages in full on the Day of Resurrection. So he who is distanced from the Fire and admitted to the Garden, has indeed triumphed. And the life of this world is only the enjoyment of delusion.” [Surah ali ‘Imran 3:185]
Very often we leave ourselves to be immersed in the pleasures of this life and its allurements. The pursuit of our worldly share takes precedence over our share of the afterlife. Competition for material possessions preoccupies us from competing in righteous deeds. Our focus is directed to the temporary and diverted from the eternal. Our hearts harden and rust. We cry at the loss of profits and are indifferent at the loss of a prayer. This hard and impenetrable heart is remedied only by the remembrance of the great leveller, the destroyer of pleasures – death.
We are surrounded by death, but our vision is tunnelled to block out the periphery. Look at the sick, the ill, the dying. Visit the graves. Visit them voluntarily, where you can remain for a short while then leave before you’re taken involuntarily and cannot return. Ibn Mas’ud (radiAllahu ‘anhu; may Allah be pleased with him) reported, The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ; peace be upon him) said: “I had prohibited you from visiting graves, but visit them now. Verily, they will weaken your attachment to the world and remind you of the Hereafter.” [Sunan Ibn Majah 1571 (sahih according to Al-Suyuti)]
Remember that no wealth or strength can prevent the inevitable. Let it not be a passing thought, but a constant thought by which your daily decisions and reflections are governed. Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu ‘anhu; may Allah be pleased with him) reported, The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ; peace be upon him) said: “abundantly remember the destroyer of pleasures” [Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2307 (sahih according to Al-Albani)], by which he meant death. So let us be reminded by the deaths of others, and not wait until our own demise to be alerted to our fate and learn the truth when it is too late.
May Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala; the most glorified the most high) have mercy upon all of the deceased Muslims, protect them from any punishment in the grave or in the hellfire. May He take us from this world in the best of state (when He is pleased with us); enter us all into the highest level of paradise in the companionship of the prophets, martyrs, and the truthful and righteous ones. Ameen!
It was narrated that Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu ‘anhu; may Allah be pleased with him) said, when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ; peace be upon him) offered the funeral prayer he would say:
Pearls of Wisdom
"Do not sit idle, for indeed Death is seeking you."
Hasan al-Basri(rahimahullah; may Allah have mercy on him)
Dua of the Week
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Transliteration: "Allahummaghfir lihayyina wa mayyitina, wa shahidina wa gha’ibina, wa saghirina wa kabirina, wa dhakarina wa unthana. Allahumma man ahyaitahu minna fa'ahyihi ‘alal-Islam, wa man tawaffaytahu minna fa tawaffahu ‘alal- iman. Allahumma la tahrimna ajrahu wa la tudillana ba’dah."
Translation: "O Allah, forgive our living and our dead, those who are present and those who are absent, our young and our old, our males and our females. O Allah, whomever of us You cause to live, let him live in Islam, and whomever of us You cause to die, let him die in (a state of) faith. O Allah, do not deprive us of his reward, and do not let us go astray after him."
Source: Sunan Ibn Majah 1498 (hasan)
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