Remembering Often the Ender of Pleasures

You’re sitting comfortably on the sofa watching your favorite television show with your favorite person. Your laughter abruptly stops and you're spellbound as your eyes hold an image you've never seen before. And before you can say anything, your eyes are forever closed as your soul is torn away from your body.

 
Are you ready to meet your Lord?

The angel of death can come knocking on your door as an uninvited guest at any time and without a moment's notice.

You can't turn off the lights and pretend not to be home, for even if you do, he'll find a way in.
You'll be hauled back to the One who Created you, ready or not. Whether you're an ambitious youth with dreams and hopes about the future, or a wise elder with fond memories of the past, death is inevitable and its arrival is unknown to you.

So it only makes sense that every breath of ours should be spent in the worship of the One who has granted these breaths because none of us know which breath will be our last.

You may ask, how can I constantly be in a state of worship? Simple answer, though difficult to follow at times: Live life in accordance with the Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) .

It's all about the intentions, and the sincerity of those intentions. The Prophet (pbuh) has said: "Deeds result only from the intentions of the actor. And an individual is rewarded only according to that which he intends." [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]

Take the simple act of eating for example.

If done with the intention of nourishing our bodies in order to worship our Lord, it becomes an act of worship itself. Imagine that, something as enjoyable as eating can gather up good deeds for you.

Of course you would want to keep the eating in check though! Take a sip of water with the name of Allaah while sitting, in small amounts, and then thank Him Almighty after, and the number of good deeds keeps adding up.

Just the same, the routines of our daily grind can all become acts of worship when we do them to refine our intentions and by emulating the example of our beloved Prophet (pbuh) .

When working to constantly be conscious of Allaah, The Most High, having that Taqwa (piety) and simply being aware that He The Most High is watching over us at every moment will help us keep ourselves from doing anything that would bring the displeasure of Allaah Almighty.

Knowing that death can come to us at the precise moment you decided to look just once more at the sister across the room will help us keep our gaze lowered.

Remembering death does something else too. It forces us to realize the reality of this world. It too will come to an end one day.

Life in this world is temporary and merely a means for us to fulfill the reason why we were created in the first place: To worship the One true God, Allaah alone. Realizing this truth, enables us to live as a traveler as the Prophet taught us.

And if we were to die unexpectedly, what about those kids from high school that you once fought with over something you can't even remember now and severed ties with them? Or that cousin that you haven't talked to in ages because they didn't come to your wedding!

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has said: "When the believers cross [the traverse over] Hellfire, they will be stopped at a small arched bridge, Qantarah, before entering the Garden, and will be given retribution for injustices between them until they become purified. Then they will be permitted to enter Jannah or Paradise. So, by the One in Whose Hands is my soul, they will know their way to their homes in Jannah, better than they know their ways to their homes in this world." [Al-Bukhaari]

Thus, Al-Qantarah is a small bridge after the Siraat (the Traverse) that the believers will have to cross before entering Jannah (Paradise). Allaah, the All-Mighty, will ask the believers to settle their issues here, right in front of the gates of the Paradise. And your good deeds will continue to go to the person you've wronged till they forgive you, and if you run out of good deeds, their bad deeds will go over to you.

 
Now, is that fight really worth it?

My dearest readers; do yourself a favor today. Save yourself while you're still a traveler in this world and reconcile with the folks you know you need to.

Send your apologies. Free yourself of this burden and save yourself before it's too late.

Let us all prepare to meet our Lord, before the Angel of Death comes to meet us.