Living for a Noble End | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | No-Tech retreat 2025

Introduction

Really needs no introduction. He's our beloved teacher, our beloved Imam. He is Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed.

As you know, at a young age, he completed his Hifz and then went overseas to South Africa as well as Pakistan and completed his 'Alimiyyah course and Iftaa' course, came back, as you all know, he was an Imam in Frankfurt, and then over a decade has been serving our local community. Without any further ado, I'd like to introduce Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed this evening.

Brothers and sisters, dear elders, dear listeners, guests of the house of Allah, those visiting from out of town for this weekend, who traveled far and wide to come here, may Allah reward you all.

Before we begin, I ask everyone to please move forward. There should be no gaps in front of us. If we could all from the back of the masjid please move close to the center. The sisters in the sisters' prayer hall as well. We encourage all of the sisters to please, if we are sitting away from the center, move away from the walls and sit together close to the center of the masjid. You are going to be surrounded by angels and this is where the majlis is.

You'll get a lot more barakah when you make the effort. Alhamdulillah, you've already made the effort of coming here. Now we just make an effort of moving a few extra inches and a few extra feet. And we will insha'Allah receive great ajr and reward for our sacrifice.

As we have been blessed to be part of this gathering, we ask Allah that He allow all of us to take the maximum benefit of the entire retreat — the very short 23 hours or so that we have left. We hope most of us, if not all of us, can stay here till the very end and we are able to fully benefit from all the programs, fully benefit from the fasting tomorrow, and from tahajjud tonight.

We also ask Allah that whatever goals we have never been able to make for ourselves, He allows us to make those goals and accomplish them in these 24 hours — whatever bad habits and struggles we have in our life that we haven't been able to break — hopefully through the blessing of tonight's and tomorrow's gathering we're able to achieve the feat of removing those habits from our life.

وَمَا ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ بِعَزِيزٍ — This is not difficult for Allah; this is easy for Allah. We simply have to make the resolve and the intention. So let's collectively make this intention: ya Allah, I've come here for my own rectification. For Allah to change a person's life, one glance of mercy of Allah is sufficient. One instance is sufficient.

Now we have alhamdulillah an entire 24 hours in the masjid, in the house of Allah. This is more than sufficient time to bring change within a person's life — as long as Allah is on board with us. And you just heard the quote of Hudhaifa رضي الله عنه, that a time will come where a person will not be saved from fitna unless he cries to Allah and begs Him the way a drowning man begs Allah.

So we cannot just simply say ya Allah, I want to change, but we have to show earnest desire coupled with tears, coupled with sincerity in front of Allah. And why would Allah reject that? Most definitely Allah will accept it. But we have to do our part of showing our need to Allah, and we hope and expect from Him that He will definitely accept our prayers and grant us what we are asking of Him.

Living for a Good Ending

Beloved friends, the idea of leading a good life so that we have a good ending, so that we have a good resurrection, so that we have a good stay in paradise — it sums up why we're here. That we want to lead a life in a certain manner, so that we die in a certain manner, so that we get raised in a certain manner, so that we have a never-ending stay in a place called paradise, in a place called Jannatul A'la, Jannatul Firdaus.

The Prophet ﷺ in his prophethood, in his message that was sent for all of humanity and all of jinn and all of creation, gives us the teachings and the method of how to lead a life in a manner that will make a person worthy of this everlasting paradise. And so there are ways that a person, if he were to do it properly, will insha'Allah have a good ending. And then there are mistakes that if a person makes, a person will have a bad ending.

The Hadith of the Final Cubit

The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith related by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه:

A man — one of you — does the actions of the people of Jannah until there is only a cubit's length between him and Jannah. Then destiny overtakes his situation and he begins to do the actions of the people of hellfire, and he enters hell. And a person does the actions of the people of hell until there is just a cubit's or hand's length between him and hell. Then destiny overtakes this affair and he begins to do the actions of the people of paradise, and he enters paradise.

This is a very powerful hadith. It teaches us that what counts is the final moments. That if we end on a good note, then we will be raised in the most beautiful manner. And if our ending in this world is on a bad note, then no matter what happened in the past, it doesn't make a difference. So that is why it's so important for us that we focus on ensuring the last moments go well.

Think about so many things in this world that are based on those critical moments — in our jobs, in the interview process, in the university interview process, in the board exams that people are writing. And in something not smaller, but greater as well — the whole marriage process. A person may be able to accomplish 90% or 95% of it, but the last 5% is where everything is about. And if things don't go properly in those last few minutes, in those last 5%, then whatever happened in the past will be of no use.

Now, when will a person die? He needs to be prepared for those last few moments. If we knew exactly when we were going to die, it would be no issue — then we just focus on those 5 minutes, 10 minutes. But Allah says:

Only Allah has the knowledge of the Day of Judgment. Allah sends down the rain. Allah knows what the wombs hold. No one knows what they will do tomorrow. And no one knows where they shall die. Allah is all-knowledgeable, all-aware.

So when a person does not know when he will die and where he will die, it is as though then he has to be always prepared to die any moment in any place. He has to live every moment as though it is his last. He has to live every day as though it is his last.

And this is where the Prophet ﷺ said: an intelligent person is the one who keeps on practicing, who keeps on putting himself in check, keeps on looking at his nafs, keeps putting tabs on his nafs, and keeps on preparing for the life that comes after death. And the fool is the one who does whatever he wants, follows his desires, follows his wishes, and then has these false presumptions about Allah — that Allah is Ghafoor Raheem, Allah will forgive me, I'm a Muslim anyway, what difference does it make?

If you think about the Ummah today, how many of us are leading a life of the first category? And how much of the Muslim Ummah is leading the life of the second category? How many Muslims across the globe — from our friends, our cousins, our relatives, ourselves — when reminded, say, "Thank you, alhamdulillah. Thanks for that reminder. Honestly, I need to back away from this doubtful thing. I need to back away from this haram. I really need to prepare for death." And how many are leading a life of heedlessness? That when they are reminded, they say, "No, thank you. We will take care of it afterwards. We appreciate your concern, but it is not necessary. We will sort it out." And they feel that because they have a Muslim name, an Arabic name, or because the census counts them as Muslim, then naturally they're headed to Jannah, regardless of what they do.

This type of attitude, the hadith teaches us, is that of a fool. May Allah protect us from this foolishness. Ameen.

How Do We Prepare for a Good Ending?

1. Preparing the Heart

One is to prepare by preparing the heart — for the heart to be infused with beneficial knowledge: knowledge of Allah's attributes, knowledge of Allah's names, knowledge of Allah's power. That will create within us that amount of love for Allah that will motivate us to do every good thing that is pleasing to Him. And that will create within us that level of fear that will protect us from falling into any sin.

The du'a of the Prophet ﷺ:

Oh Allah, I ask You of Your fear — that level which will become a barrier between me and Your disobedience. Oh Allah, I ask You of Your obedience — that degree that will allow me to enter Your paradise. Oh Allah, I ask You of that level of conviction that will make it easy for me to handle the difficulties of this world.

So we have to ask Allah not just a little bit of love, but a lot of love. Not a little bit of fear, but a lot of fear — that amount of love and fear that will keep us on the right track.

2. Rectifying Our Actions

One is rectifying the heart and one is rectifying the actions — that a person does the right deeds and those deeds are filled with sincerity and are according to the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

Signs of a Good Death

1. Dying with the Kalima on One's Lips

Mu'adh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه says the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 3116; authenticated by al-Hakim)

Whosoever's last words before he leaves this world is لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ shall enter paradise.

The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22863)

Whoever has been reminded at the time of death of لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — he will enter paradise.

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri رضي الله عنه says the Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith narrated by Imam Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 916)

Those who are passing away — stand around them and encourage them to say لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ.

How do we do talqin? Talqin is when you stand around a person who is passing away, who is very sick, and you recite in a nice manner لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. You don't order him to recite it — Allah forbid, out of pain or agony, out of frustration, if he says, "No, I don't want to say it," and Allah forbid he passes away in that state, that would not be good. That is why we are not supposed to force anyone who is dying to say لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. But instead, we say it around him nicely, softly, encouraging him — hopefully when he hears those words, he will be able to say it.

It sounds pretty easy, but it's not as easy as it sounds. I remember a story of a friend who was in a bus which faced an 18-wheeler coming right at him on a road. The bus barely escaped a head-on collision. That Muslim brother who was surrounded by Muslims in that bus told me: "What happens at the time of death — I got a taste of it. Although we are all Muslims, but what people were saying in those final moments was not good. People were swearing. That's what happens. They see a truck coming at them and they're swearing — the worst type of swear words. Imagine if the truck had hit them. This is the last thing they said."

And he said, "As for me, the only thought that was coming to my mind was: Dhuhr time started a little while ago and I haven't prayed my Dhuhr yet. I wonder if this will count against me or not. Because if I die now, although Dhuhr time has begun, but there is still a long time before Asr — I hope this doesn't count against me." SubhanAllah — he was thinking about that while saying the kalima.

But the idea is: it's not easy. This is tawfiq from Allah. How hard does it sound to get in a car and come to the masjid? Sounds pretty easy. How do we get into the car and go to the store, go to the bowling alley, go to the park, go to work? You'd think it should be easy to come to the masjid. But we know it's not that easy — unless Allah makes it easy for us. So reciting the kalima at the time of death most definitely is one of the signs of a good ending.

It is mentioned that Abdullah ibn Ahmad al-Mu'adhdhin says: I was performing tawaf of the Ka'bah and a man was holding on to the ghilaf — the covering of the Ka'bah — and he was begging Allah and saying:

Oh Allah, allow me to leave this world in a state of Islam.

He didn't add anything extra. He said to him, "Are you not going to increase and ask Allah anything else? You keep on repeating this: 'Oh Allah, allow me to leave this world in a state of Islam.'" He said, "If only you knew my story." "What's your story?" He said:

"I had two brothers. The older of the two was a mu'adhdhin who gave the adhan in the masjid for 40 years, expecting reward from Allah. When he was about to pass away, he called for the mushaf — we thought he wanted to take the blessings of the Quran and hold it. He took the Quran in his hand, made all of us witness against himself, and declared that he had nothing to do with what's in the Quran. Then he passed away right after that.

"Then my other brother gave adhan for 30 years. When he was about to pass away, he did exactly what his older brother had done."

He said: نَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ مَكْرِ اللَّهِ — We seek refuge in Allah from the makr of Allah. The word makr is used in the Quran:

Only the biggest losers would think themselves to be safe from the plotting of Allah. What does that mean? The word makr is used when you are plotting something connivingly. Allah does not have to hide His plans — He's not afraid of anyone. But this word is used here to make us understand that there are times when a person doesn't realize where life is taking him, and he's just relaxed, apathetic to horrible things happening, and he just thinks everything will be fine — as long as I eat well, burp well, and sleep well, alhamdulillah, what else can happen?

And if you think about it, what a massive chunk of the Muslim Ummah is in this situation — that it never crosses their mind: What state am I going to die in? Am I going to be a Muslim or not?

When was the last time you asked this question to yourself? When was the last time I sat up at night, worried, unable to fall asleep — not because of business, not because of physical health problems, not because of some emotional issues, not because of familial issues — but because I am scared that I don't know if I'm going to be able to die as a Muslim, or Allah forbid die in the state of something else, and that fear is not allowing me to fall asleep?

There are so many things that give us stomach aches, headaches, depression, sadness, that make us lose our hair — when was the last time we felt any type of sadness, worry, concern, anxiety, or fear because of worrying about our last moments? That's what you call أَمْنٌ مِنْ مَكْرِ اللَّهِ — when a person feels content. Honestly, we're in a very bad situation, because Allah says if you're not worried about this, you're a loser. The ones who are not losers are the ones who are struggling, who are worried: Ya Allah, what will happen if I don't die in the state of Iman?

So both of his mu'adhdhin brothers, on their final moments, left Islam. He said: "All I'm asking is ya Allah, allow me to die in a state of Iman."

I asked him: "What were the sins that these two committed? I mean, you don't just die in this manner." He said: "These two were mu'adhdhins, so they used to climb the minarets. From there, they were able to see through the houses — open roofs, open homes as they used to have before. And while giving the adhan, or going up to give the adhan, or coming down from giving the adhan, they were not guarding their gaze. They were looking at the opposite gender, and they were looking at the same gender with the eyes of lust. And he said this became the reason that possibly Allah deprived them of Iman in the final moments."

Remember that this type of bad ending — after having spent an entire life in good — can happen. And this is why we are told to ask Allah for protection from it. If it was not something that can happen, we would not have the Prophet ﷺ most frequently making the du'a from Surah Al-Imran:

Oh Allah, do not allow our hearts to become crooked after You have given us guidance. And grant us mercy from yourself. Indeed, You are the Bestower.

If the taking away of guidance after being given guidance were not possible, this du'a would not only have been mentioned in the Quran, but the Prophet ﷺ would not be repeating it most often. When one of his wives asked him why he recited this du'a most often, his response was that the hearts of the children of Adam are between the fingers of Allah — He may turn them in any direction that He wishes. And so I'm afraid.

My dear friends, what I just said right now is sufficient to make us lose laughter, lose our sleep — that the Prophet ﷺ himself is telling his wife: "I'm making this du'a most often because the direction of the heart can change any second." We don't have control of our hearts. Allah does. Allah says:

Know very well that Allah comes between you and your heart. How many times in this world you stand up and feel like: "You know what, I want to pray four raka'ats extra today after Isha." And how many times a person says: "I don't want to pray Isha." SubhanAllah. It's scary — what can happen.

That is why there is a du'a of the Prophet ﷺ:

Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You from having Shaytan grasp me and mislead me in the final moments of death.

When Shaytan comes and attacks us and gives us a run around and deceives us — it happens, probably many if not all of us have had times in our life where you say: "I just don't feel like doing this anymore." Or all of a sudden you feel aversion towards your spouse, aversion towards your parents, without any major reason — irritation towards your children, irritation towards your spouse, irritation towards your parents, irritation towards the one who has done you favors. And when asked — or when you think about it — you really don't have much to explain why. But it's just anger or rage.

Similarly, how many times a person may say: "I just don't feel like praying. I just don't feel like going to the masjid. I just don't feel like picking up a mushaf and reading Quran." "But you know you should." "Yeah, I know I should. But I just don't feel like it." How many of us — and our children, and our spouses, and our siblings — are suffering through this?

Imagine, my friends. We know what we're going through, maybe. But we just sit there — "Brother, read Quran." "Pray your salah." "I can't. I don't know why. But I just can't." This is when we are awake and sane and alive. What shall happen at the final moments of death? We might be in a hospital. We might be in a coma. We might be in a battlefield. We might be in a car accident. Allah knows best where we're going to be at that moment. How difficult it is for a person to say the kalima and to remain a Muslim at that time without Allah genuinely showering His favor upon us.

And that is why the Nabi ﷺ used to make this du'a most often. I've had the opportunity of visiting and meeting many senior scholars throughout my life. Some of them have been teaching the sacred sciences of Quran and Hadith for 4 decades, 5 decades, 6 decades, 7 decades. They were in their 90s when I met them. Some of them I met while they were in Umrah, some while they were at their home. They have spent more time teaching than most of us our age who are here — in the amount of time they spent teaching Quran and Sunnah.

But yet, when they meet and receive guests, they always have one thing to say. When you say, "Shaykh, can you give us advice?" they say: "Please make du'a for us." Allahu Akbar. We came to get your du'a, and you're saying we should make du'a for you? "Please ask Allah to grant us death with Iman. That's all we want." Every single one I can think of had the exact same thing — the same request. They would say: "We're 90, we're 100, we're 85 — we've done a lot. All that we did is nothing if Allah doesn't give us a good ending. And if Allah gives us a good ending, alhamdulillah, even the little we did is enough." That's it. What counts is the final moments.

So these are people who know Allah, and that's what they think is the most important thing. Your parents, your grandparents may have asked you this before, and you and I may never have paid much attention to it. But I want us to realize that this is seriously the most important du'a — that ya Allah, please grant us a good ending.

2. Passing Away on the Day or Night of Jumu'ah

The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith related on the authority of Abdullah ibn 'Amr:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1074)

There is no believer who passes away on the day of Jumu'ah or the night of Jumu'ah except Allah will protect him from the test of the grave.

And the test of the grave is such a tough one. The hadith of 'Uthman رضي الله عنه is well known — the companions say that, O Khalifa, when you pass by the graveyard, you would cry to the extent that your beard would become wet. Can we imagine how much that is? For a beard to become dripping wet with tears, how much you have to cry for that? And they would say: "You cry like this only when passing by the grave? You don't cry like this when Jannah or Jahannam is mentioned. How come?" And he would say:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2308)

The grave is the first stage from the stages of the hereafter. Whomsoever succeeds in this stage will be able to succeed in the future stages. And whoever suffers and fails in this first stage — what waits for him afterwards is even worse.

And then he would quote the Prophet ﷺ:

The Prophet ﷺ said: "I have never seen a scene — I have never seen a scenario — that is more terrifying than the scene of the grave." Not the grave outside — the grave inside. You can put cameras; you won't be able to see the scene. This is the scene of what happens when the soul leaves, when the sand and the mud is pushed back in, when the body is laid in, when the people walk away, and there is absolutely no one around — and when the angels come down into the grave, and when the soul is placed back into the body, and when they wake up the dead person and begin to ask him questions. That life — what we call the barzakh, the middle life between this world and the next — this is what the Prophet ﷺ is saying: "I have never seen anything that is more terrifying than this."

And then he said — just so that his sahaba know what's happening inside — "I would have asked Allah to remove the veils between you all and the grave for you to see what's happening inside. But I'm not asking Allah this because I'm afraid that if you were to see what happens to people after they die, you would stop burying your dead and the corpse would lie on the ground all over. You would have all the dead bodies stinking and all over the earth."

Not that you would still be saved, by the way — because the life of the grave begins wherever you are. A person is in ashes. A person is 2,000, 3,000 feet under the sea. A person's body is inside a shark's mouth. Or a person's ashes have been sent into space. Barzakh — the life of the grave — does not mean it has to be inside a physical grave. It just means life after death, wherever it may be.

So the Prophet ﷺ is saying: "That's why I'm not asking Allah that." So this is a sign of a good death — a person passes away on the night of Jumu'ah or Jumu'ah itself. And hence we have to ask Allah for this.

3. Passing Away as a Shaheed

Allah says:

Don't ever think that those who've been killed in Allah's path are dead — they're not dead. They are rather alive, being provided sustenance with their Lord. They are happily excited to receive what Allah is giving them from His grace. And they are eagerly awaiting their family members who have not died yet to join them. And what is being told to them? That you've got no worry about the future and nothing to be sad about from the past. Enjoy what you have.

What are some of the blessings that Allah rewards a shaheed? In the hadith of Imam Tirmidhi, the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1663)

In this one narration, six things have been mentioned — in other places even more have been mentioned:

Number one: As soon as the first sprout of blood — the first batch of blood — comes out of the body, he's been forgiven.

Number two: He will see his final destination and final abode in paradise before he dies, or as he's dying.

Number three: He will be protected from the punishment of the grave.

Number four: He will be protected from the horrors of the Day of Judgment.

Number five: He will be adorned with a crown of waqar — of respect and honor — on the Day of Judgment. One gem from this crown is far better than the entire world and all the material things of this world. One gem is far more valuable than all the material things of this world and everything you can imagine.

Number six: Allah grants him, along with his own wife from this dunya, seventy-two hur of Jannah. And his wife of this dunya — the mu'minah — if he was married, will be the leader of those seventy-two. And seventy of his relatives who are destined to go to hell — Allah will accept his intercession on behalf of those seventy relatives.

So these have been mentioned in this one hadith. So the one who has this conviction — this yaqin — then when he loses a family member as a shaheed, he thinks about all of this. This is exactly why the people of Palestine, from the past and in the past year as well, you'll see the strength — those mothers who have lost six kids, seven kids, those grandmothers who have lost twenty children and grandchildren — how they have been able to, with a straight face, move on. It's because they genuinely believe in this. They actually have this conviction.

What an amazing perspective on life. SubhanAllah, this world is short. And no matter how you try to ruin it — as Asma رضي الله عنها's famous hadith — Asma told Hajjaj ibn Yusuf when he killed Abdullah ibn Zubayr and hung him from the tree. He called the daughter of Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه and was making fun of him. What did she tell him? She said: "Well, Hajjaj — you have definitely ruined the dunya of my son. You've killed him, you've crucified him. But my son has ruined your hereafter. You've ruined my son's dunya while my son has ruined your hereafter."

This is what the people of Gaza say: "Yeah, you've ruined our homes, you've ruined our dunya. But subhanAllah, only time will tell how we've ruined your akhira. You can't even begin to imagine that." So this is where oppression goes. Oppression — be it Muslim vs. non-Muslim, or Muslim vs. Muslim — whoever it may be, oppression is oppression. It will not be left neglected by Allah. It will all be accounted for on the Day of Judgment.

So this is another sign of a good death — a person passes away as a shaheed. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1915)

"Who do you regard as a shaheed amongst you?" They said: "O Messenger of Allah, whoever has been killed in the path of Allah — he is a shaheed." He said: "If that's the case, then the number of martyrs of my ummah will be very little." So this is an incorrect answer — that only those who are killed in the path of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ is saying if that's the case, it will be very few. They said: "Then who are the shuhada?" He said: "Whoever is actually killed in the path of Allah — he's a shaheed. Whoever died — wasn't killed by the enemy, but just died doing something in the path of Allah — he's a shaheed. Whoever died during a plague — he's a shaheed. Whoever died from stomach pain, any type of stomach cancer, or while giving birth, or from some other sort of stomach disease — he's a shaheed. And whoever dies by drowning — he's also a shaheed."

In this hadith, the Prophet ﷺ listed these extra ones. But mashallah, there are actually many even beyond this in other ahadith. For example:

Whoever falls off his vehicle or his conveyance in the path of Allah — shaheed. And the Prophet ﷺ has said: صَاحِبُ الْهَدْمِ — the one upon whom a wall or something falls on him from the top — he's a shaheed. And the one who dies in a fire — الْحَرِيقُ — may Allah protect us — he's a shaheed. And a lady passing away in childbirth — وَالْمَرْأَةُ تَمُوتُ بِجُمْعٍ شَهِيدَةٌ — she is a shaheedah.

So we understand here that the Prophet ﷺ increased the number of categories of shuhada — more than likely as Allah was informing him and showing more mercy to the ummah by increasing those categories. Because there are ahadith that add more and more to this — up to 20 or so.

Some have even said that a widespread disease is a shaheed — a plague. What's a plague? It's a widespread disease. Now they say cancer — a third of the people are going to die from cancer. So some have said: insha'Allah we hope that cancer will also be regarded as a plague in terms of the number of people dying from it. And we hope all those who died from cancer in the past, or who are passing away now — that Allah regards all of them as shuhada.

This is not difficult for Allah. Jannah is not going to run out of space. Allah's mercy is expansive — it's huge, greater than whatever we can imagine. So because ta'oon is something that is widespread, and we see so many different new diseases that are widespread, many times we don't even know where they came from — cancer as well, not knowing where it comes from, no idea how a person is getting infected or falling ill. So we hope that insha'Allah through all these reasons Allah will also count all the cancer patients amongst the shuhada. And those who are sick — may Allah of course grant them shifa, and allow their sickness to become a means of complete forgiveness for them.

Additionally, the Prophet ﷺ also said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4772; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1421)

Whoever dies defending his deen — he is a shaheed. Whoever dies defending his family — he is a shaheed. Whoever is killed defending his wealth — he is a shaheed. "Don't steal from my store — he got killed." "Don't steal my car — he got killed." "Don't enter my home — he got killed." SubhanAllah. Or he was defending his family in the process — these are all shuhada.

Sometimes in the past, people would say: "Oh brother, this war in Palestine is about land — this is all useless." Even if a person were to die defending his land, his house, wherever in the world it is — that's a shaheed. The deen doesn't tell us to say: someone says "Give me your house," and you say "Okay, take my house. You want my wife, my kids? Take them all, just leave me." This is not what the deen teaches us. The deen teaches that a man — and hopefully a woman as well — will stand by their door and will say no. Islam does not teach us to simply hand everything away. SubhanAllah. So these have all been counted as shuhada — the one who dies protecting his property, his wealth, his family, and himself.

4. Passing Away While Doing a Good Deed

The Prophet ﷺ said: Whoever says لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ seeking the pleasure of Allah and then passes away in that state, he shall enter Jannah. Whoever fasts one day only for the sake of Allah — like tomorrow insha'Allah, let's fast only for the sake of Allah — and he ends on that note, he'll enter paradise. Whoever gives sadaqah and charity only for the sake of Allah and ends in that state, he'll enter paradise.

Meaning: whoever makes a habit of doing certain good deeds — more than likely insha'Allah, his ending will come while doing that good deed.

Whoever has a habit of doing something on a regular basis — more than likely his final moments of his life and the final day of his life will also be in a similar manner. As the famous saying goes:

The way you lead your life is the way — more than likely — you shall die. And the way you die will be the way you'll be raised up.

So that is where it comes in that every day we're supposed to live as though it's our last. Including — if our Fajr salah is prayed and Fajr and Isha we do it regularly — then insha'Allah the day we're going to pass away will be a day where we're going to pray our Fajr and Isha. And you see so many people — mashallah, you hear about the pious, righteous people — they're exactly how they are. They pray Isha and they go home and they pass away. They pray Fajr and they go home and they pass away. Because why? Their actions were like that the rest of their life as well.

One of the signs of Allah being pleased with a person — and Allah giving tawfiq for a person to have a good ending — is that Allah opens up the door of a good deed that a person may not have been doing in the past, and allows a person to become busy in something good. And then while he is busy in that new good thing, Allah takes him away. A door of khair opens up that wasn't opened before, and while busy in that door of goodness, alhamdulillah, Allah calls him back. And so this is a sign of Allah being pleased with him.

And this is something we should aspire to — not only do we live every day as though it's our last in a proper manner, but also keep on asking Allah as we grow older to open up some amazing, unopened doors for us of goodness where we can spread goodness, where we can sow the seeds of goodness, where we can become a means of spreading goodness across the globe — that will become a sadaqah jariyah for us. And then, while we are busy in that goodness, we pass away.

At times we say: "Man, I want to die at home, surrounded by kids and family, in my luxurious bed, in this beautiful manicured garden, and I want to be buried right here." But honestly — once you're dead, who cares? Because forget about other people — you should worry about yourself. The du'a that we need to be saying is: "Ya Allah, I want You to take me away in a state that You are most pleased with." And if that state is that I'm 2,000, 5,000 miles away from home and I'm serving the deen somewhere — I'm working in the continent of Africa giving out water to people, or I'm spreading deen in the jungles of South America, or I'm teaching the kalima to people in the islands of the Pacific — and people hear about my death two days later — but if I know that's pleasing to You, then that's the death I want. Because honestly, we're going to meet each other over there anyway. Who cares about this few minutes of separation? You're going to go anyway. But you just want to make sure you die in the most powerful, most pleasing manner to Allah.

Because we only have one death. People say "You only have one life." Remember — you only got one death. You only have one death; do it right. You have one life — that doesn't mean you mess it up, that means live it properly. But you also only have one death, and you want to make sure you and I die in the very best possible manner.

People say, "Oh I only have one wedding" — brother, as we see today there are many weddings happening for the same person, unfortunately. You know, not multiple wives, but unfortunately divorce and so forth. May Allah protect us. But there's no such thing as multiple deaths. We only die once, and we've got to die right. We've got to die in the best possible manner.

That is why every single one of us should have in our heart's desire that we die as a shaheed — nothing less than that. And the Prophet ﷺ said — what a positive, beautiful hadith to end our talk on today — knowing how merciful Allah is:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1909)

Whoever asks and begs Allah for martyrdom with true sincerity from the bottom of his heart — Allah will ensure allowing him to reach the status of the martyrs. Even if he dies on his bed at home. Allahu Akbar. What else could you want? Even if you die at home on your bed — look at how merciful Allah is. Allah says: "I'm going to give you the status of the shuhada because you asked for it."

Closing Reminders and Warnings

So this is a take-home point. Number one is that we all make this part of our du'a — ya Allah, grant us all a death of martyrdom. Give it to our parents, give it to our siblings, give it to our spouses, give it to everyone, our children — every one of us — that we die as a shaheed. There are so many ways of shahadah, but you ask Allah that you make us a shaheed. And number two: ya Allah, grant us a husn al-khatimah — a beautiful ending. And number three: ya Allah, allow us to lead such a good life that will hopefully insha'Allah ensure that we have a good ending. Don't wait for the last minute — "We're going to change, no." Allow us to lead every day of our life in such a good manner that the ending is also based on that, in a good manner.

And the first hadith I spoke about — how destiny comes in and things change at the last minute — do not make that hadith a means of harboring bad thoughts about Allah. أَحْسِنُوا الظَّنَّ بِاللَّهِ — the hadith teaches us to have good thoughts about Allah. That hadith — like the story of the mu'adhdhin showed — Allah is not an oppressor. Allah will not randomly say: "I don't like your face. You put your head in sajdah for 40 years, but I don't like your face — I'm going to send you to hell." Allah will never do that to us. There's always some hidden reason why this happens, why people lose their iman.

There's a reason all those people who become ex-Muslims today — I promise you, as sad as it is — everyone has got a bad story. And for a big chunk of them, it's arrogance. It's arrogance against Allah, arrogance against the deen, an "I know it better than everyone else" type of attitude. And some of them who've come back to Islam, alhamdulillah, have confessed to me this themselves. And others we know it — we can sense it, we feel it, we know them. So you don't just randomly lose iman. You have to do something horrible that no one knows about but Allah — and you know about it. And that becomes the means why Allah snatches the iman away.

So let's not have bad thoughts about Allah. Yes, we're supposed to still have fear that it may happen — because we don't know about the sins we're committing that might be upsetting Allah, and we're not even thinking about it. So definitely have the fear. But also have hope in Almighty Allah.

Closing Du'a

May Allah bless us all with a beautiful life and a beautiful ending. May Allah grant all of us the death of an accepted shaheed. May Allah grant us death in the city of Madinatul Munawwarah and grant us a death of shaheed in the city of Madinatul Munawwarah, and allow us to be buried in Jannatul Baqi', and make us amongst those who are first raised under the flag of Rasulullah ﷺ.