Reflection on DEATH

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

“I spent daily for years nights and days just thinking of death” – Shaykh Abdul Kadir Jilani.
Inspite of his daily faraids and sunnah acts – this used to be a part of his spiritual diet. He then said, I used to ask Allah (swt) that nothing and no one takes my soul except Allah (swt). This was the state he was in – always in a state of DhikrAllah. This is the level of muraqqabah he had and he used to think of it until he would fall asleep. We can’t even focus for 5 minutes in a class. If you turn your eyes, you turn your heart and if that happens you are lost.

Shaikh Abdul Kadir Jilani said, one day in between his sleep and wakefulness he saw an old man all in white approaching him through his door. He asked, who are you? The man replied I’m the angel of death. He said, but I have been asking Allah (swt) that my soul is not to be taken by anyone but Him then why are you here? The angel said – ya Abdul Kadir, I’m nothing but a servant of Alllah (swt) – saying this they both started crying and hugged. When he woke up he found himself sobbing from his dream. At one point he told his family leave me all of you – I have company with me.

So, part of developing your muraqqabah is to think of death. Some righteous people even dug their own graves and used to go to sit in there morning and evening as part of their reflection. That’s the level a person is in when they have reached nearness to Allah (swt).They are looking forward to meet Him azza wa ‘jal. And that’s the level we all should be in.

Reflection:
So, how much do we actually consider thinking of Death? Are we preparing ourselves enough to face Allah (swt)? Are we going to be able to stand in front of Him and face Him? Are we in that state?? What if the angel of death comes to me even before i finish this line? Am i looking forward and longing to meet my beloved - Allah azza wa jal? If we do not want to think about death we need to ask ourselves "why". There could be one and only one valid reason - we love this dunya - there's nothing wrong with that - however, that love should not be so intense that it makes us hate the hereafter. If we are not looking forward to face our Lord - the reason could be we have invested much in this dunya to let it go. We have invested in this dunya and are reaping the benefit of it - and we have neglected to make any investment for akhira. So, if we had invested or started working on our hereafter we would not be afraid of the next life. we would actually be waiting and seeking to be in His presence. Can you imagine being in front of Him (swt) Who is not the investor of just a bulb or such and such idea - but Who is the creator and inventor of all that exists in the whole universe? Are we even worth standing in front of His manifestation? The One who has been fulfilling all our needs and providing us - we are going to meet Him - we all should be excited right? Don't we look forward to meet someone who does good to us? What about meeting Allah (swt)? Are we anticipating our meeting Him azza wa jal?

We seek comfort and if we know that our next life does not ensure much of that - we wouldn't we be so attached to that life, inspite of knowing that our final and permanent abode is the hereafter. Let's commit ourselves to invest atleast one penny to the next life if we can invest the equal amount to this world. May Allah (swt) make our final abode a better one than we deserve and may He (swt) replace our worng actions into good one so we have a good end. Ameen.
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Contents from Shaykh Mokhtar's halaqa