The Ultimate Journey: Preparing for the Hereafter

The Story of the Foolish Man and the King

He had, masha'Allah, a very vast kingdom, various different individuals under his wing, many cabinet members, many henchmen. And there was also one particular individual that he was quite fond of, the reason being because of how foolish he was. And this foolish man was always frequenting the king and he would always put a smile on his face.

One day the king, he was feeling quite generous, so he told this foolish man, "Foolish man, come here." "Yes, my king?" He said, "I want to give you a very special present tomorrow. Make sure you come dressed for the occasion. And I'm going to give you something that I have never given anyone in the world. Make sure you come on time. Make sure you don't miss out."

So he said, "Absolutely, king." He went back home. He ensured that he woke up on time. He dressed properly for the occasion. And he came back to the king the very next day at the appointed time. The king asked him, "Do you know why I've called you here today?" He said, "Oh king, you said you're going to give me a very wonderful gift."

He said, "Yes. Here is a particular gold coin. And this is for you. But this isn't like any other gold coin. This is an amanah. This is a trust. This is in fact a reward which belongs to the most foolish person that has ever walked the face of this earth. You are such a foolish man, that I thought I should give you such a reward. But this reward is such, that if you ever come across any man more foolish than yourself, then it is your obligation to hand over that particular coin."

So this man was so happy. He took it with such joy. He went back to his village. And he started boasting to everyone around, "Do you know what, the king gave me such a wonderful gift. He told me there was never anyone more stupid than me that he has ever seen. And this is what he gave me." And he continued boasting to everyone about his foolishness. And much time passed. And this remained with the foolish individual.

Until a time came now where the king felt severely ill. He was very sick. No medication was helping him. No doctors could assist him in his health. And he became quite gloomy and very sad. And now everyone in the castle was quite worried. They were concerned about the king.

One day it so happened that this foolish man was passing by the guards. And as he was passing by the guards, the guards remembered, "Wait a second, this is that same foolish man. He always used to put a smile on the king's face. Maybe we should call him in to go see the king. It's been quite a while since anyone has visited the king. Perhaps this would do him some good." So they called out to the man, "Hey, foolish man, aren't you the one that the king gave that special gift to?" He said, "Yes, that's me." He said, "You know what, the king is not doing very good. He's quite ill and he's been quite gloomy. Why don't you come and see him? Speak to him for a little bit."

So the man said, "Absolutely. That would be such a great honor." So they brought him into the quarters of the king. They left him alone with the king. And then he came to the king and he said, "Oh king, what happened?" He said, "Oh, can't you see I'm quite ill? I'm quite sick. I'm preparing for a journey." "A journey? What journey? Where are you going? How long are you going to be there? And when are you going to come back?" The king said, "This is a journey that no one comes back from."

He said, "Oh, what preparations did you make? Don't you remember, whenever you would go to any particular town, I remember you would send various different scouts ahead of you. You would ensure that your food arrangements have been made. Ensure that the road is very safe. You would ensure that sleeping arrangements have been made. In fact, sometimes you would send people two weeks in advance just to ensure that everything is in order. What preparations have you made for this particular trip?"

He said, "Don't you know, this is a trip that we will have to take alone. You can't make any preparations for this trip."

So then there was a moment of awkward silence. And all of a sudden, the foolish man, he reached into his pocket, he pulled out the coin, he said, "King, I have something for you." And he pulled out the coin and gave it to the king right in his hand. And he said, "Today I have found someone more foolish than myself."

The Journey We All Must Take

So you and I, we may not be kings. We may not prepare and make such lavish preparations for our trips. But when we do make trips, we do ensure our transportation is taken into consideration. We make sure that we have a place to stay. We make sure that we either pack some food for ourselves or we know where we're going to purchase our food. But how many people prepare for this journey wherein they're going to meet Allah, the journey of death? This is a question for you and I.

Allah advises us time and again throughout the Qur'an. Allah mentions:

"O you who believe, fear Allah. Be conscious of Allah. And every single person should be worried, they should be concerned about what they are going to send forth for themselves tomorrow." This day which is so near that Allah has mentioned, it is like tomorrow.

Allah then continues:

"Do not be like those who have forgotten Allah, and in turn Allah has made them forget about themselves. Those are the open sinners." Those who don't care about the hereafter.

Allah also talks about this in Surah Al-Infitar, towards the end of the Qur'an:

"When the sky splits asunder, when the stars burst and implode, when the oceans begin to boil over, when the graves begin to turn over" — when everything is thrown into chaos, when the Day of Judgment begins — at that moment in time, every person will realize what they have sent forth for themselves.

And then Allah addresses us:

"O mankind, what has deceived you from your very generous, your very kind and benevolent Allah? The One who has perfected your creation, and has made you in such a perfect form."

Allah then tells us in the Qur'an that there are only two things that can lead a person astray:

There are only two things that are going to lead you astray: the glitter and the glamour and the chase after this worldly life, and also the attacks of Shaytan and the nafs. What has caused you to forget to send something forth for yourselves on this day when every individual is going to be presented in the court of Allah?

What have we prepared for ourselves for this particular day? What can you and I say? What do we have when Allah asks us what we did with our lives?

What Have You Prepared? The Hadith of the Bedouin

This reminds me of a particular hadith. You find many mashayikh — those who dedicated their entire lives to the khidmah of deen, to the service of the deen. They were engaged in learning and teaching and implementing the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ. Yet you see them on their deathbeds crying about the fact that they feel they have nothing worthy of presenting in the court of Allah. If this is the case of those who have dedicated their entire lives for the sake of Allah and His Messenger, then what do you and I have? What can you and I stand behind? What can we feel that we have confidence in?

On one occasion a Bedouin came to Rasulullah ﷺ and he asked:

He asked the Messenger of Allah, "When is the Day of Judgment?" So Rasulullah ﷺ replied:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3688; Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 164)

"Don't worry about when the Day of Judgment is going to take place. What have you prepared for this day? What do you have to present in the court of Allah?"

So it is mentioned in the narrations — and this hadith is in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim and other books as well — that this particular individual was quiet for a while and he felt that he had nothing. And then he began to reply, and he said:

"O Messenger of Allah, if I really truly think about it, I don't have any extra voluntary prayers that I can stand behind. I don't think I have any extra voluntary fasts. I don't think I even gave an amount of charity which is worth having any sort of reliance on. I don't have anything. But, if I think about it, the one thing that I perhaps can say I have, is that I love Allah and I love His Messenger."

So Rasulullah ﷺ gave him such reassuring words. He said:

And in another narration:

"Don't worry. You will be with those that you love. You'll be taken care of. You'll be with Allah and His Rasul on the Day of Judgment."

So Anas رضي الله عنه said, "This was the happiest day of our lives. There was no other day more beloved to us — after we accepted Islam — than when we heard this from the Messenger of Allah." Why? Because he carries on and he says, "I love Rasulullah ﷺ. I love Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه. I love Umar رضي الله عنه. And even though I may not have the actions that can qualify me to stand with them on the Day of Judgment, at least I have genuine love for them. And alhamdulillah, I will be taken care of."

The Yardstick of True Love for Allah and His Messenger

Which Muslim says that they don't have love for Allah and His Rasul? Everyone claims to have love for Allah and His Messenger. But Allah gives us a yardstick that we have to judge our lives according to. What is this yardstick by which we can measure whether we truly love Allah and His Rasul? Allah mentions:

"If you truly claim to love Allah, then your actions will speak louder than your words." How closely do we follow the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ?

I remember we have certain teachers in South Africa. They would say, Allahu a'lam, I don't know what I have to stand by in the hereafter. These are people who dedicated their whole lives — over 20 to 30 years of teaching قَالَ اللَّهُ، قَالَ الرَّسُولُ — "Allah says this, Rasulullah ﷺ says this." I don't know what I can present. At least I can come on the Day of Judgment and say, "Ya Allah, if I couldn't talk like the Messenger, if I didn't have the patience of the Messenger, if I didn't have the generosity of the Messenger, at least I adopted the apparel, at least I tried my best to resemble him in looks. And I made it a point, Ya Allah, I don't have anything but at least I try to look like him."

Unfortunately, my dear brothers and sisters, can we even say that? Can we even say that we aspire to look like the Messenger? Allahu Akbar. This is a question for you and I. A question for myself as well. What have we done in our lives that we can truly say we love Allah and His Messenger?

You'll find various different individuals. You'll find kids — they are infatuated with various different athletes and social media stars and actors. And you'll see that love permeating throughout every aspect of their lives. You'll see kids who are able to rattle off various different statistics of hundreds of different athletes. Did you see them ever once sitting with those baseball cards or sitting on websites, checking the different stats of different players? They know everything about their history. They know the different apparel that they are promoting and so on and so forth. In fact, not only have they memorized it, but they are so infatuated that they make it a point to purchase all of those clothing, and if there's a haircut, to adopt the same haircut.

What about when it comes to Rasulullah ﷺ? Mankind is such that they are naturally drawn towards perfection. When it comes to athletes, people pay millions of dollars to see them perform because they have reached a level of perfection. People pay actors millions of dollars because they have reached a level of perfection when it comes to acting. People have paid various different influential individuals millions of dollars because they have reached some sort of level of perfection — whether it's in beauty, whether it's in a skill, and so on.

Rasulullah ﷺ was the pinnacle of perfection in every single manner, way and form. Allah Himself says:

Yet, if we were to be asked to talk about the Messenger of Allah, how much would we be able to speak about him? Everything that we have available regarding all of these other individuals — their history, their clothing, their whatever — we find everything of that regarding our Messenger Rasulullah ﷺ has also been preserved. But has it entered our hearts? Can we truly say on the Day of Judgment that we love Allah and we love His Rasul? This is a question for myself first, and for all of us to truly ponder about.

An Opportunity: The Annual Seerah Conference

Alhamdulillah, through the fadl of Allah, we have various different opportunities here in the Chicagoland community — alhamdulillah, bifadlillah — where we have various different institutions that are promoting the deen of Allah, promoting the deen of Rasulullah ﷺ. They hold events, they hold seminars, they hold conferences, wherein we can acquaint ourselves with the life of Rasulullah ﷺ. Perhaps we may not have been able to adopt the character of Rasulullah ﷺ. Perhaps we may not have been able to adopt the apparel of Rasulullah ﷺ. Perhaps we don't have anything. But at the bare minimum, we can start making an effort by attending these programs. We can acquaint ourselves with the life of Rasulullah ﷺ.

And alhamdulillah, bifadlillah, there is one such conference happening here at Darussalam today itself. Let us make it a point. We don't know how long we're going to live, and we don't know what preparations we have made. But at the bare minimum, if we take out time for Allah and His Rasul, and we make it a point to attend these gatherings, insha'Allah, perhaps that will be a catalyst for our transformation. And even if it's not, at least it's something we can present in the court of Allah. "Ya Allah, I tried."

"Whoever increases the numbers of a gathering, then you are from amongst them." Let us do our absolute best to attend this particular gathering, which is going to be taking place today, insha'Allah, after Maghrib Salah — immediately after Maghrib Salah. We have a guest speaker all the way from the UK, subhanAllah, who came just for this program — Sheikh Hassan Ali. And then from tomorrow, insha'Allah, 10 AM all the way to 10 PM.

This also is not just a program where we're going to be discussing one thing. There is a concentrated effort every year to change the topic of discussions so that we can touch various different aspects of the life of Rasulullah ﷺ. It should be sufficient that if we're going to have a program about Rasulullah ﷺ, everyone comes.

In one hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ, when passing away, said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 44, Hadith 36)

"I am reminding you about Allah regarding two things. Number one: Kitabullah — the Qur'an. Hold on to the Qur'an and the teachings of the Qur'an. And the second thing Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned: I am reminding you of Allah regarding my family members."

So insha'Allah, the topic of discussion for this seminar is going to be the Ahlul Bayt of Rasulullah ﷺ. Who is included in the Ahlul Bayt of Rasulullah ﷺ? Who are the family members of Rasulullah ﷺ? And particularly, the difference we see from a Sunni perspective. Let us insha'Allah educate ourselves and get a correct understanding of this.

May Allah grant us all the true love for Allah and His Rasul.

Announcements

All the brothers can stand up and insha'Allah move forward and fill all the gaps before we perform our sunnahs. JazakAllah khairan.

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah.

Please join our annual Seerah conference: "The Prophet's Family — Ahlul Bayt in the Sunni Tradition", which starts tonight after Maghrib Salah. It will continue tomorrow starting at 10:30 AM. There will also be a sisters' parallel session from tomorrow's Dhuhr to the end of the program, where female scholars will be addressing our sisters.

Sunday school registrations are open for boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 16. Classes have already begun.

Darussalam will be offering a new online program called Ta'leem. There are 10 courses per semester. It will run Monday through Friday, with three and a half hours of study daily. More information will be coming soon, insha'Allah. Kindly visit the website for more information.

Our weekly programs: Team Fajr will resume tomorrow, insha'Allah, at 5:45. We also have our Tuesday Tafsir, which will continue after Maghrib Salah — we are currently on Surah Fussilat. We also have a weekly Urdu Seerah program every Thursday after Maghrib Salah.

Please join our annual benefit dinner at Shalimar Banquets on Saturday, October 5th, with our guest speaker Sheikh Hussein Sattar, hafidhullah. Tickets can be purchased by scanning the QR code on the flyers displayed outside.

Also save the date for our 7th Annual Winter Intensive, which will take place between December 21st and December 24th. More details will be coming soon, insha'Allah.

Let us all make du'a for our brothers and sisters who are suffering throughout the world, particularly in Palestine. Let us also make du'a for brother Abdul Mannan's mother, Arifa Begum, who has passed away. Brother Tanweer Zaman has also passed away, and Afsari Begum has also passed away.

May Allah grant all of our brothers and sisters who are suffering throughout the world ease and aafiyah. May Allah assist them and rid them of their oppressors. May Allah grant all of those who have passed away complete maghfirah, elevate their status, and grant them all Jannatul Firdaus bi ghayri hisab.