No Escape

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

For 9 months (more or less) we live in comfort and warmth of our mother's body, small and cozy. When we came to this world, it was a completely different world, a big open space. It was a difficult transition. We cried! But soon we get used to this world. Some get too attached to it. Here we will spend our lives for a time.

Soon, sooner than we think, we will face death. There is no escape. At that time we are aware that we are leaving this world to an unknown world, al-barzakh. The ones who have been busy building their lives for this world will hate leaving it, but the ones who have been busy building their mansions for the next life will welcome the angel of death.

Living in the grave is another story--it can be easy or it can be very difficult. May Allah has mercy on us.

Whenever 'Uthman ibn Affan, Allah be pleased with him (the son-in-law of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, third righteous Caliph, one of the 10 being promised Paradise) came near a grave, he wept so much that his beard became wet. Someone remarked to him that when he mentioned the Garden and the Fire he never wept as much, and he said: 'I heard the Messenger of God, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "The grave is the first of the Hereafter's stages. If one is saved from it then what comes next is easier, but if one is not saved from it, then what comes next is ever harder."

Next, we will find ourselves crawling out of our graves. The sky cracking, the moon knocked out of its orbit, the sun is over our heads, the stars are falling, the mountains exploding, the ocean is catching fire and burning, earthquakes everywhere, people are running around as if they are drunk. This is the worst stage and we will need tranquility!

"...The day that men shall be like scattered moths, and the mountains shall be plucked wool-tufts. Then he whose deeds weigh heavy in the Balance shall inherit a pleasing life but he whose deed weigh light in the Balance shall plunge in the womb of the Pit. And what shall teach thee what is the Pit? A blazing Fire!" Qur'an Al-Qari'ah 101:4-11

"As for man, when his Lord tries him by giving him honor and bounties, then he says (in): "My Lord has honored me." But when He tries him, by straitening his means of life, he says: "My Lord has humiliated me!" Nay! But you treat not the orphans with kindness and generosity (i.e. you neither treat them well, nor give them their exact right of inheritance)! And urge not one another on the feeding of AlMiskin (the poor)! And you devour inheritance all with greed, And you love wealth with much love! Nay! When the earth is ground to powder, And your Lord comes with the angels in rows, And Hell will be brought near that Day. On that Day will man remember, but how will that remembrance (then) avail him? He will say: "Alas! Would that I had sent forth (good deeds) for (this) my life!" So on that Day, none will punish as He will punish, And none will bind as He will bind. (It will be said to the righteous — believers of Islamic Monothesim): "O (you) the one in (complete) rest and satisfaction! "Come back to your Lord, Well-pleased (yourself) and well-pleasing (unto Him)! "Enter you, then, among My (honored) slaves, "And enter you My Paradise!" Qur'an Al-Fajr 89:15-30

May Allah gives us peace and tranquility in this life and the next. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam