Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim
Alhamdulillahi rabb al-‘alamin was salatu was-salamu ‘ala nabiyyina muhammad wa ‘ala alihi wa ashabihi wa man tabi’ahum bi ihsanin ila yawm ad-din,
amma b’ad:
The Companions of our Prophet Muhammed (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa salam) used to gather to remember death so that they would benefit their souls by increasing in fear of Allah and strive to gain His pleasure. If this was the case of the Sahabah and they were the best of generations, the most pious and God-fearing of this Ummah, then what about us? Surely, it means that we need to engage in the remembrance of Allah – the Most Perfect, the Most High – even more. After all, we are in far more need of this act of worship than they were.
Let us begin at the end of a man’s life, in his last moments. He is lying on his death bed and his family are at his side. His father is calling for the doctor. His wife asks him: “To whom are you leaving us?”. The man’s little daughter asks him, “Why do you not answer me?”, and his small boy cries but nobody responds to him. This is the situation Allah, the Most High and the Most High, has informed us about:
“Nay, when the soul reaches the throat, and it is said: ‘Who will cure him now?’ The dying person concludes that this is the time for departing. The leg joins the other leg.”
(Al-Qur’an 75:26-29)
They place him in his shroud, his leg joins his other leg. Then he is carried upon the shoulders and taken to a dark hole. If he was a transgressing criminal he cries out: “Woe to it! Where are you taking it?”
“The drive that day will be to your Lord.”
(Al-Qur’an 75:30)
As for the other group, the ones who obeyed their Lord in this world, let us describe briefly their fate:
When he is placed into his grave it is widened and made spacious for him. He smells the sweet fragrance of Al-jannah and feels some of its comforts. He sleeps in his grave like a bride on her wedding night who no-one shall awaken except her beloved. When the cry comes he is gathered to the crowding place and waits there for 50,000 years. This time passes as if it were the time between dhuhr and ‘asr. Then the Lord of the worlds comes to make judgement, so He calls His slave saying, “Oh my slave, do you not remember that sin, do you not remember this sin.” So the slave replies, “My Lord I have perished!” So Allah replies to him, “I hid it in the world for you and this day I forgive it.”
This good man is handed his book in his right hand. Due to his happiness he runs to the people and says
“Take it; read my book. Indeed I used to think I would meet my accounting.”
“So he will be in a content life.”
(Al-Qur’an69:19-21)
For more information please visit http://islamichub.net/2014/03/the-party-of-paradise/