The Hardest Moment of Your Life

The Hardest Moment of Your Life

الحمد لله وحده والصلاة والسلام على من لا نبي بعده، نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلّموا إلى أمة تسليماً كثيراً

All praise is due to Allah, and His praise and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions, and his followers until the Day of Judgment. I bear witness that Allah is the only one worthy of worship and that Muhammad is His last and final messenger.

The Moment We All Will Face

My dear brothers and sisters, I would like to speak to you today about a moment which is the hardest moment that we'll ever experience in our life. And it is a difficult moment, not only for you, but for the people around you as well. But you as a person — it will be the toughest, the hardest, and the newest experience that you have never experienced before.

It's a moment that will bring either, after that, a glad tiding and happiness, or sadness and sorrow. A moment that has made righteous people always worry about it, and made people who are far away from Allah, far away from the way of God, careless about it — but when they experience it, they regret the most that they did not prepare themselves for it. It is that moment when your soul departs from your body.

That moment when Allah sends the angel of death to collect your soul — for you to experience for the first time in your life what death means. And in reality, you will know what life truly means as it departs from your body. It is the moment when you leave the joy of this worldly life behind your back, and you are coming to the next life.

Death Has Become Just Numbers

It's very sad that death today has become numbers. They say when one death happens, it becomes a tragedy. But when thousands of people die — like when you see in war, you see in Gaza, you see in a pandemic — it becomes numbers.

We don't really realize what death truly means. It is sad that a lot of people die — I think in 2015, if I'm not mistaken, around 55 million people died in just one year. Death happens all the time around us.

Remembering Death Often

This is the day which Ibn Ahmad called it Yawm al-Janāzah. A day which the Prophet told us all:

Remember often the destroyer of pleasures (i.e., death). (Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2307; Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 4258)

Not to paralyze us, but to motivate us to do good and to appreciate life more. But unfortunately, this is something that we don't think about — unless your doctor tells you, "You've been diagnosed with cancer, you have only six months to live." That's when you start panicking and thinking about death more. But in general, no. And that's not the way of the Prophet. That's not the way of the prophets in general.

We purified them with a pure quality — خالصة, meaning one of the most exclusive qualities — ذِكْرَى الدَّار: the remembrance of the hereafter. That they always think of what is coming next. One of the best qualities of the prophets was that they always remembered the abode of the hereafter.

Unfortunately, men and women, young and old, treat death as if it is something that will never happen to them. And yet, everyone is going to die one day. Just give them time, and they will end up dead. Nobody knows exactly when it's going to be.

Live Like a Stranger in This World

The Prophet would often remind himself and the companions of death. He said to Abdullah ibn Umar:

Live in this world as if you are a stranger or a wayfarer. (Sahih al-Bukhārī, Hadith 6416)

I know some of you have just come back from vacations in the winter break or from travels. You travel, you check into the hotel. What happens after a couple of days or a week? You check out. And that's how this dunya is. You check in, then you check out. It's not a place where you live permanently, not a place where you stay. That is a reality.

Everyone knows that they will die at one point. As al-Hasan al-Basri said:

I have never seen anything that people are more certain of than death, yet I have never seen anything that people treat with more doubt than death.

People 100% know they are going to die one day. And yet all people treat death as if it's not going to happen to them. Someone else, someone else — not me, not me. Even the healthiest person can die at any moment, regardless of age. Go to the cemetery and look at the ages.

The Prophet said:

The ages of my nation are between sixty and seventy, and few will surpass that. (Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 3550; Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 4236)

The Companions and Their Awareness of Death

When I look at the companions and the early generations — people like Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, al-Hasan al-Basri, Ibn Sirin — these great imams, these great worshippers who dedicated their lives — there is no comparison between any one of us and them. Actually, let me put it this way, and Allah knows best: if all of us came together, we would not be even equal to one of these great giants in all that we do.

Yet when you look at their lives and the way they viewed that moment and the way they worried about it, it makes you wonder what kind of heart we have, how heedless we are, how far away from realizing the reality and the purpose of life. We have come together amidst shortcomings, amidst indifference, and amidst false hope and false security. And they came together amidst an abundance of righteous work and fear of Allah.

What Happens at the Moment of Death

The Arabs used to hire people — telling their daughters, their wives — to hire mourners when they die, to come to the cemetery and say all these great things about the deceased, to show sadness by wailing and crying. Islam said that is absolutely forbidden. Why? Because when you die, if you did good, that wailing will not benefit you anything.

Islam told us: when you die, your soul will be told where it is going. If it is going to something good, it will say, "Hurry up, rush me to be buried." And if it is going to something bad, it says, "Don't take me to my grave" — scared to go to the next steps.

Allah told us the difference between those who, when death comes, are so happy and welcoming. Consider the example of Harām ibn Milhān, as recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari — when he was stabbed, he died as a shaheed. He said, "I won, I won!" — فُزْتُ وَرَبِّ الكَعْبَةِ, "By the Lord of the Ka'bah, I have succeeded." Then when he met Allah, Allah spoke to Harām ibn Milhān and asked him to deliver a message. Then Allah sent Jibreel to the Prophet to deliver that message. And he was so happy.

When the soul reaches the throat, Allah says:

We are closer to him than you are, but you cannot see.

The dying person would never wish to go back — not to the family he loved, not to the wife he loved, not to the kids he worked all his life for, not to the job, not to the factory he built. He will only wish to go back to this life to do good.

Just last night, someone called me and said, "Shaykh, I had a janazah, and the request of the deceased was that they play a specific song he loved so much — can you please play it as we take him to his grave?" I told them that is not allowed, and they were upset. But you think he will miss that? He would never wish to go back to his wealth, his family, or his children. He will only wish to go back to do good.

May Allah bless you. Those who are doing good now are doing the very thing that people in their graves wish they could do.

The Pain of Watching a Loved One Die

Imagine yourself in that moment of pain — the pain of death. One person will be thinking, "How much money did he leave? What's my share?" And another will say, "What's wrong with him? He can't even remember any one of us. We're talking to him and he's not responding." You hear them calling upon you. Your daughter calling, "Dad, who will be there for me?" Your wife, your family, your friends. But you don't have the strength, you don't have the ability to respond — because your soul is already departing.

Each and every soul shall taste death.

And the Prophet himself, in his death, said that death has its moments and its difficulties. He said it is tough, it is hard when the angel of death pulls your soul out of your body. It is the hardest thing the believer will ever experience — death.

It is said that if a dead person could come back to life to tell you what his experience was — what kind of pain death causes — no one would ever enjoy life again. But for the believers, that moment of hardship is temporary. After that, a relief will come. For the hypocrites, the disbelievers, the wrongdoers, the evil people — it is not temporary. It is hard and it stays hard.

The Shaytan at the Moment of Death

One of the scariest things about the moment of death is that your sins strike you at that point. The Shaytan knows and will put his greatest influence on you at that time, so that you will not be able to say:

You will be distracted. We say to a dying person, "Say لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ." But the Shaytan is whispering — mentioning music, mentioning things that person used to love in the dunya. Because upon your death, what is truly in your heart comes to your tongue.

Let us have a moment of openness and transparency between ourselves. If you really want to know how much you care about the akhira, look at how much the akhira occupies your time. And upon death, what is truly in the heart comes out.

The Deaths of the Righteous

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq

The Prophet's best companion, who traveled with him in the hijrah — in his last moments in this life, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq said: "By the way, when I was the president — the head of the Muslim state — I had these sheep I used to milk and a robe I used to wear when I gave the khutbah or the Eid prayer. That is not mine. I only used it for official purposes. Make sure these things are returned to the Muslim treasury. Give it to Umar since he has become the khalifa after me."

Then he said, "Wallahi, I wish I was just a dry branch of a tree somewhere in the desert — never lived, never to be held accountable for my deeds." That is Abu Bakr.

When his tongue became so heavy that he could barely speak, his daughter Aisha began reciting a line of poetry about how even the rich and powerful are so weak in the moment of death. All of a sudden, Abu Bakr gathered his strength, looked at her and said, "Don't say this kind of poetry. Say: This is the moment of truth, the moment of death — that which you've been trying to escape all your life."

Umar ibn al-Khattab

Umar ibn al-Khattab, upon his death, said, "Put my head on the ground — maybe Allah will have mercy on me. Don't put a pillow underneath my head. Let me touch the ground, which is what I'm going to right now. Maybe Allah will have mercy on me." He whose kingdom never changed and whose wealth never decreased — he said, "Have mercy on me as I am losing everything today."

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, the fifth khalifa, one of the most righteous people ever known in history — the avid worshipper, the ascetic, the zahid. They sat him up, and he said, "I am the one whom You ordered to do things and I did not fulfill them completely. You asked me to abstain from things, but I didn't always. But what I have, what I believe in, is that You are the only one worthy of worship and You are the only one I worship."

Then he raised his gaze as if looking at something. Those around him said, "What do you see?" As if he saw the angels — not jinn, not something scary, not like humans. Then he lowered his gaze and began reciting:

The hereafter is meant for those who are not looking to be arrogant in this life or to spread corruption — it is for the people of taqwa. May Allah make our end good.

Amr ibn al-As

Look at Amr ibn al-As upon his death. He brought all his soldiers, all his servants, all his children. He lined them up in front of him and said, "Can you save me from death?" They said, "No." He said, "Then there is no need for you here — go."

Then he asked for water to make wudu. He was carried to the masjid and prayed two rakat. Then he said:

"O Allah, You commanded me to do things and I did not fulfill them as I should have. You forbade me from things and I did not refrain as I should have. I have no good excuse for my mistakes and sins. I have no power to protect myself from You. The reality is, I am a sinner admitting his sins and seeking Your forgiveness. I am not arguing. I am not justifying. I am not too arrogant to admit that."

A Great Commander Reflecting Before Death

There was a great commander who, before he died, put a vast number of soldiers in front of him — so many he couldn't see the end of the army. Different squads, archers, soldiers on horses, all lined up. He began making dhikr to Allah. Then he looked at himself — old and broken, desires so weak — and he looked at all those soldiers. Then he said to himself, "Now you think about the akhira? After you have become old and broken and your desires are weak in you — where was that when you were young?" And he cried and he cried.

Then he said, "Death has come, but it is not the death I am truly worried about. It is what comes after death. Ya Rabb, have mercy on this old man. This heart — which is not soft, which is hard — forgive the mistakes and the sins I have committed. What I rely on today is Your generosity. Because I never trusted anyone more than You. I never ever wanted anything from anyone except from You."

Ibn Taymiyyah in His Final Days

Those who live in goodness die in goodness. I cannot forget: Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah — his brother Abdullah. You know, usually brothers are rivals, especially if they are close in age. So when Ibn Taymiyyah died, they asked Abdullah, "How was your brother, Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah?" He said, "Wallahi, I knew him as my brother. I lived with him. Every praise that you heard about him — there is nothing comparing to what he actually was. He was much, much bigger and higher than what you think."

He said, "I was with him the last six months in jail. We made 70 khatmah of the Quran together. And in the last khatmah, the day he died, he was reciting the verse in Surah al-Qamar:

Verily, the people of taqwa will be in gardens and rivers, in a seat of truth near the Omnipotent King. Abdullah said, "We did not move him from his place until I finished the full khatmah."

A Call to Awareness and Action

I want to end this talk not by trying to make you sad, but to make you aware. Don't let the distractions of this dunya — the running after it, the luxury things of this life — make you forget. Don't ever think that because you're young or healthy, you're immune. Alhamdulillah, that means you have a good quality of life — but it doesn't mean you necessarily have a long life.

Take advantage of these days and these moments that are still in your account before you run out of them.

My brothers and sisters, the more you think about the akhira, the more you think about death, subhanAllah — so many things in your life will change. I find that the more I think about the akhira, about death, about the end, the less angry I am. All these problems with people and conflicts mean less and less the more I think about the akhira. The little things that used to bother me in this dunya, I don't really care for anymore. The things I desired to have but couldn't — they became less and less important. And by the way, that's not a way to make you live less. No — it's a way to make you take it easy. It's not worth it.

May Allah make it easy for us.

Du'a — Closing Supplication

Allahumma arhami alladhina matu wa qutilu wa quttilu dhulman fi Ghazza wa Filastin. May Allah have mercy on those who died, were killed, and were murdered unjustly in Gaza and in Palestine. May Allah bring victory to them. May Allah forsake their enemies and turn it against them. O Lord of Majesty and Honor.

O Allah, we ask You for guidance, piety, chastity, and sufficiency.