Ramadan After Death

  Assalamualaikum and Ramadan Kareem to all,

 

May bless all of us this Ramadan and make it a constructive one inshaAllah.

      This Ramadan started off with the death of many dear people. Many of you may have heard of the deaths of 17 year olds Nasir Sheikh and Adnaan Rehman (May Allah azzawajjal grant them Jannah tul Firdaus and make it easy for their families). I have also heard of the death of my mother’s best friend’s father, Imanul Huq, may Allah grant him Jannah tul Firdaus inshaAllah. These deaths were followed by one or two more in our own community as well as countless amounts of death world-wide.

    I believe that it is very important to understand and realize our mortality especially during the month of Ramadan. Many of us believe that we will live forever even though we don’t realize it.  Will we live to see the next Ramadan? How fast does death come? Many folks always say,”I want my death to be fast so I don’t feel it.” Oh brothers and sisters, make du’a that your death is slow. Make du’a that you can prepare fo your death and understand your death as well as remember what you done wrong so you can use that time for dhikr. du’a, and salah.

    The Arab shuyookh of used to share a story, a fable, so that people would understand the spontaneity of death.

    There used to be a very young and wealthy king. He woke up one morning and got breakfast on his bed. He said, ‘I do not want this’. He got the next choice of food and said ,”I do not want this.’ He kept saying no to the meals until he finally got what he wanted.

     He then goes to get dressed. He opens up a long closet of clothes and says,”Oh I have nothing to wear!” He keeps looking for clothes to wear in his huge collection of clothing but keeps finding faults in them.Too bright, too dull to small to large, etc. Finally he picks something up and says. “Fine I’ll wear this.”

     He proceeds to his horses to get on a horse. He looks at his large collection of horses and is frustrated as to what horse to get on. Too fat, too slow, too fast, too thin, too tall, etc. He finally gets on a horse and proceeds.

     Here is this great king so distracted by the dunya that is displayed in his daily routine.

     He starts his riding until he sees a man who looks at him and says salaam. The King, however, is too big and important for this peasant and has better things to do so he ignores him. The man grabs on to the reins of the horse. He says to the King, ‘I have something to tell you.”

    The king says,”I have to be somewhere, let me go!”

    THe man replies,”It is very important! It’s important for you.”

    The king finally accepts after many refusals, and says,”Make it quick!”

      The man says,”Bring yourself closer.” The King comes closer. “Closer.” The king comes closer. “Closer”

      The king exclaims,”Just tell me already!”

     “Closer.” The king angrily comes closer. The tells him,”I am the Angel of Death, where are you going?” At that moment, the King dies. No more time for forgiveness, no more time for another Astakhfarullah, no more time for two more rakats.

       This story tells us to be grateful with what Allah has given us, to use our time wisely, and well as showing us how sudden death comes.

      My brothers and sisters, May this Ramadan be a time where beg for forgiveness and purify our souls as well as repay our debts. Our ummah is in a state of constant flaw these days that we have to fix. Let this Ramadan be a time where we start fixing our own hearts so that we can fix this ummah.

     If we look to purify ourselves, than we will await death by preparing for it through our lives, which is what our aim should be. A story was told of Ibrahim (A)’s calling to death. (I do not know the authenticity of this story, so take it as good content iA)

     The Angel of Death came to Ibrahim (A) and said,”Your time has come.”

     Ibrahim, who was known to be Khalil Ullah(The friend of Allah) replied,”Does of a friends take the life of a friend?”

      The Angel of Death was confused and told Allah what Ibrahim said. Allah sent the Angel of Death back with a message to Ibrahim in where he responds, “Does a friend refuse the invitation of a friend?”

      Subhannallah. May Allah make our death as comfortable as this inshaAllah, Ameen.

 

Shabba Khair, have a great Ramadan inshaAllah

 

Wasalamualaikum

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