Reflecting On Life's Shortness And Preparing For Death

Opening

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. O Allah, bless our master Muhammad and the family of our master Muhammad and bless and greet him. O Allah, open my heart and ease my affairs and solve the knot of my tongue so that my speech will be understood.

Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Beloved scholars and elders, brothers and sisters of the community, peace be upon you.

A Powerful Reminder from Our Community

This week, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose to send us a very powerful reminder. This week, our community experienced a very harsh and tragic reminder of the shortness of this life and the reality of death. With the passing of one of our very own community youth who was not even 20 years old, we get reminded that when our time comes, it will not be delayed for even a second.

We get reminded that death does not discriminate — whether a person is rich or wealthy, whether a person is young or old, whether they have a high status in society or not. Death does not discriminate when your time comes. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says this repeatedly in the Qur'an:

Every soul shall taste death.

SubhanAllah, before I had received the news — hours before — I was actually at another burial. And this burial happened to be a completely different setting, where the person being buried was an elderly grandmother who had been in a coma for two weeks. MashAllah, Allah ta'ala had given her a long life. She had been married for 72 years, mashAllah. And then Allah ta'ala called her back after a very long life.

And so subhanAllah, this is a moment to reflect that we don't know when we will go. We don't know when our time will be. And only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows whether we will live 85 years or 18 years. Allah ta'ala alone knows this.

Only Allah Knows the Unseen

And He Himself states this in the Qur'an. Allah ta'ala says:

He mentions a number of things that only He knows. Allah ta'ala alone knows when the Hour will be, when the Day of Judgment will be. And He alone knows when He will send down the rain. And He alone knows what is in the womb — meaning the fetus and everything associated: not just the gender, but the rizq that the fetus will receive, how many years the fetus will live for. And no soul knows what it will do in the future — what is written for the future for that particular person, only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows. And no soul knows in which land they will die. No one knows where they will die, and no one knows when they will die as well. Indeed, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is all-knowledgeable, all-aware.

Are You Ready for That Moment?

And so this should serve as a wake-up call for all of us — that we should reflect over our lives and think: Am I ready for that moment? Am I ready for that moment when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to call me back?

When Nabi ﷺ was asked by a sahabi when the Day of Judgment was, he responded by turning the sahabi's attention towards something that is more important, more pertinent to that particular sahabi and for all of us. He asked him rather, "What have you prepared for that day?" He said, that's not what you can control right now. You cannot control when you will go back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You cannot control when the Day of Judgment is. But something that we can absolutely strive to do is make sure that when we do meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we try to meet Him in a state in which He is pleased with us.

So when an event like this happens in our community, when a brother suffers so tragically, obviously we extend a helping hand, we offer them our support, we make them feel like they're not alone — especially later on when it really sets in. And that is a really good thing to do on a community level. However, on a personal level, on your own spiritual level, we must also realize that this is a reminder that we have a purpose in life. That we have a purpose that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala clearly outlined in the Qur'an — He clearly outlined it in Surah Al-Dhariyat:

I have not created jinn nor man except that they worship Me. The sole reason why we've been created is to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And so, if we're not fulfilling that purpose — if we're not striving to fulfill that purpose at any particular moment in our life — then what are we really doing here? If any of us were to pass away right now with the deeds that we have, then how many of us would be content? How many of us would be confident and say, "Yes, I've strived as hard as I can. I've strived to make Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala happy. I've strived to gain the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so He can be pleased with me when I meet Him." Or is it that we feel that we could have done better? We feel that we've left more on the table than desired. We feel that there's so much more potential that we had, yet we did not realize that potential.

Regret After Death Is Futile

And then the person who is in that second scenario starts regretting after they pass away. However, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes it all too clear in the Qur'an that regret at that stage — regret after death — is utterly and completely useless and futile. That no matter how much you regret, no matter how much you plead with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on that day after you pass away, in the Hereafter, you'll never be given a second chance.

And Allah ta'ala speaks about this at length in the Qur'an. There are so many ayahs:

And spend from what We have given you, from what We have provided you, before death comes to one of you. And then he says, "Oh my Lord, please give me just a little bit more time — just a little bit more time — so that I can give sadaqah, so that I can give charity and I can be righteous." However, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ends off the surah by saying:

Allah will never give even a single soul any amount of respite once their time has come. And Allah ta'ala is all aware of that which you do.

The Importance of Time

And one of the most profound takeaways that we can take from this lesson is the importance of time. Allah ta'ala Himself swears by time in the Qur'an:

Why? Because time is the most important commodity that human beings have. When Allah ta'ala swears by something, it shows the importance of that thing. And so when He swears by time, He's letting us know that time is extremely, extremely important — and you must utilize every single moment that you have.

Which is why Nabi ﷺ speaks at length through various ahadith showing us to use our time wisely, not to waste our time, to spend as much time as we can productively. There are so many ahadith like this:

Two blessings in which people are completely deceived — they think they have a lot of them, but they don't know how valuable they are, and they don't utilize them well: good health and free time.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2947)

Hurry before the seven things come — the hadith of the seven things. And the list goes on; there are so many ahadith like this.

And so if we haven't internalized this now — if we haven't taken heed now — then when will we take heed? When will we ever take heed? And this is directed first and foremost at myself: that I am receiving reminder after reminder after reminder, and yet my heart feels hard. It feels like nothing is changing. Why? Why is it so hard to change?

This is how we should be accounting for ourselves. We should be taking our hisaab — taking our own account of ourselves — before our hisaab is taken for us on al-Qiyamah. Just like Umar radiyallahu ta'ala 'anhu, his famous saying goes:

(Attributed to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه)

Take your own account for yourselves. Assess yourself: How am I doing? What am I going to bring for al-Qiyamah if I'm going on the current trajectory I am at right now? Before you get actually judged by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on al-Qiyamah. May Allah ta'ala save us.

Because once your time is up, once our time is up, we won't have even a single breath to say one subhanAllah, one la ilaha illallah, one astaghfirullah. We won't have any time — not even a single breath — to do tawbah, to repent for our deeds, to fix any of our bad habits and mistakes. We won't have any time to settle all of our debts, to amend all of our relationships. Once your time is here, your time is here and you're gone.

The Example of Sufyān ibn Sulaym

MashAllah, if we look, we can find inspiration from people in the past who did actually live like every single day was their last. We have hope. There is a famous narrator by the name of Sufyān ibn Sulaym rahimahullah ta'ala. He is a very famous narrator, a very reliable narrator. And he had such a high status — he was such a wali of Allah — that once someone asked him a question.

They said: "If hypothetically you were told that the Day of Qiyamah was tomorrow — you were told that the Day of Judgment was tomorrow — what would you do to change your schedule so that you can prepare for that day? What would you do in the one day that you have so that you can be as prepared as possible for Qiyamah, in this hypothetical scenario?"

And subhanAllah, look at his response. He simply said: "I wouldn't change a single thing." SubhanAllah.

What does that mean? That means every single day, he was living like that. Every single day, he was living as if tomorrow is Qiyamah, as if his hisaab is going to be taken tomorrow, as if this is my final, my very last chance — I have to rectify myself. My last chance to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, so I better make the absolute most out of it.

And this can actually serve as a benchmark for us — a progress bar for us — to see how far we are along the path to getting the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to being aware of the Qiyamah and the Hereafter. If we tune our schedule every day to focus on the Hereafter — so that whatever we do, we do it for the sake of Allah ta'ala, and our focus, our vision is always beyond the barrier of this world — then inshAllah, we can be assured that we will be prepared on that day when that day comes.

However, if we feel the opposite — if we feel like just thinking about this topic makes us cringe, makes us feel remorse, that "what am I even doing here?" — then still know that it is not too late. It is absolutely not too late. Since we are all here listening to this khutbah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has not taken our lives away. Allah ta'ala has given us respite, Allah ta'ala has given us a second chance, more chances. And so we must absolutely take steps towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala while we still can.

A Practical Step: The "Qiyamah Day"

And one practical step that one of our teachers told us was: we implement a Qiyamah day in our lives, where we pick — it doesn't have to be every day — it could be, for example, one day of the month, one day every three months. We plan our schedule, we make sure that we have no prior engagements, and we say: "This one day is dedicated for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This one day, I pretend like the only thing that matters is Qiyamah. This one day, I pretend like Qiyamah is tomorrow."

And so beforehand you schedule: okay, I'm going to fast, I'm going to pray this many salats, I'm going to make up all my qada salats, I'm going to do all of my tilawat, all of my dhikr, all of my ibadah. I'm going to mend my relationships, forgive others, I'm going to give sadaqah — all of these things. You plan your day out beforehand, months beforehand.

And then once you get to that day, and you finally go through all of these ibadah, you finally live as if tomorrow is Qiyamah — just once a month, not even every day like Sufyān ibn Sulaym — inshAllah we will find that we have a heightened level of awareness. Awareness of the fact that we are going to die one day, that we are going to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala one day, and that we are going to face Allah ta'ala on al-Qiyamah one day. And so by doing this we can hope to attain that level of spirituality, inshAllah.

Be in This World Like a Stranger or a Traveler

And another reflection that we can take away from these events is that our lives are very short, and they should be spent as if we are like a traveler, as if we are like a stranger. This is referring to the hadith of Nabi ﷺ:

That be in the dunya — exist in the dunya, spend your time in the dunya — as if you are a stranger to a particular land, or a traveler. When you are at an airport and you have a connecting flight boarding in five minutes, you won't spend your time at the gift shop, or at the lounge, just trying to get whatever you can — right? That would be foolish. You have a destination to go to. You have a mission to fulfill. If you get distracted by other things, you're not going to make it. However much you want to relax, you can relax there. It makes no sense to try to relax where you are right now.

Similarly, the dunya and the akhirah are in the same situation — it's the same example. The dunya in comparison to the akhirah is so, so, so insignificant. It's not even like five minutes of your time. And so to get caught up in chasing the dunya — and more importantly, getting our heart attached to the dunya — that is the most important thing to guard against. You can have wealth and belongings and possessions, but if your heart is not attached to those possessions, rather it is attached to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then you are successful. But as soon as you get your heart attached to the dunya, as soon as you start chasing the dunya for the sake of the dunya, then that's where things get dangerous. That's where people go astray.

The Prophet ﷺ as the Living Example

And so this is what we find from the salaf. From Nabi ﷺ, we find his character — his embodiment of his own Sunnah, of the Qur'an — that he would live every day like he was a traveler. Like he didn't belong here.

Umar r.a once entered upon Nabi ﷺ. And he saw the blessed back of Nabi ﷺ — it was covered in marks because he was resting his blessed body on a very rough, very hard surface. He didn't have a comfortable bed; he had a very hard surface. And so it left all these marks on his blessed back ﷺ. And so Umar r.a began to weep, he began to cry, and he said: "Ya Rasulallah, all of these kings around us, all these empires, they have so much luxury — they have comfortable beds, comfortable comforters and pillows and cushions, and so many other things of the dunya. Ya Rasulallah, why don't you have this? Ya Rasulallah, you are the final messenger, you are the greatest creation of Allah. You deserve at least what they have, if not much, much more."

So then Nabi ﷺ looked at Umar r.a and responded with a very powerful response:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4913; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1479)

"Ya Umar, O Umar — are you not glad? Are you not pleased that all they have is this dunya? All they have to look forward to is this dunya, and that's it? And rather we have the entire akhirah — we have the eternal akhirah, which is infinitely, infinitely times greater and more in magnitude than this dunya."

And so Nabi ﷺ is putting the perspective of Umar r.a into place — that don't think about what you have in this world. Rather, you are a stranger in this world. You are a عَابِرُ سَبِيلٍ in this world. You don't belong in this world — you belong in Jannah, inshAllah.

A Du'a to Focus Our Hearts on the Hereafter

And so that is exactly what we should be striving for. And there are many du'as that we can learn to focus our attention towards the akhirah. There is a du'a:

O Allah, please make Your love the most beloved thing to me — meaning, O Allah, allow me to love You more than I love anything else. And please make Your fear the most fearful thing to me — meaning, O Allah, allow me to fear You more than I fear anything else. Allow me to fear You alone and You only. And O Allah, please cut off and fulfill all of my needs of the dunya just by me longing for Your meeting — just by me longing to meet You, O Allah, please fulfill all of my needs of the dunya, whatever needs I may have.

And look at this last line — this is a very powerful line. And O Allah, since You have given the people of the dunya the coolness of their eyes by giving them the dunya and that is all they have — O Allah, I want something else. I want something greater than that. O Allah, please grant me the coolness of my eyes by giving me Your worship. O Allah, allow me to worship You, and allow that to be the coolness of my eyes.

And so this is exactly what the attitude of the believer should be — that they don't care how much wealth Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chooses to give them; they are content with that. All they want, all they ask from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is: "O Allah, please whatever You do, whatever choices You grant for me, O Allah, just make it so that You grant me the tawfiq to worship You, to fulfill my purpose in worshipping You."

And so by practicing — by reading this du'a often, and this is found in a du'a book that you can read every day — by having these types of du'as, we can eventually turn our attention towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. May Allah ta'ala grant us the tawfiq to practice upon these reflections. Ameen.

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