The Way to a Good End

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

Assalaamu alaykum

We all hope for a good ending and the highest Paradise. How do we get there?

‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said,

“Carry out the obligatory duties [Fard Ayn] for the pleasure of Allah and Allah will surely lead you to straight to Paradise [Jannah].”

A good end means when a person was guided before his death to keep away from that which angers Allah and to repent from sin, and to focus on doing acts of worship and good deeds, and then he died in this good state.

One of the indications of this is the saheeh hadeeth narrated from Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: “When Allah wills good for His slave, He uses him.” They said, “How does He use him?” He said, “He guides him to do good deeds before he dies.” [Ahmad, al-Tirmidhi}

The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: “When Allah wills good for His slave, He sweetens him.” He was asked, “What is this sweetening?” He said, “Allah guides him to do righteous deeds before he dies, then He takes (his soul) whilst he is in that state.” [Ahmad]

There are signs of a good end, some of which are seen by the dying person as he is dying, and some which may be visible to other people.

With regard to the signs of a good end that appear to the dying person, these are things that give him the glad tidings, as he is dying, that Allah is pleased with him. As Allah says,

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَقَـٰمُوا۟ تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ أَلَّا تَخَافُوا۟ وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا۟ وَأَبْشِرُوا۟ بِٱلْجَنَّةِ ٱلَّتِى كُنتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ ﴿٣٠

Indeed, those who have said, "Our Lord is Allah " and then remained on a right course - the angels will descend upon them, [saying], "Do not fear and do not grieve but receive good tidings of Paradise, which you were promised. (30)

[Qur'an, Fussilat 41:30]

This is also indicated by the hadeeth narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim, from the Mother of the Believers Aisha (may Allaah be pleased with her) who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever loves to meet Allah, Allah loves to meet him, and whoever hates to meet Allah, Allah hates to meet him.” I said, “O Prophet of Allah, do you mean hating death, for all of us hate death?” He said, “It is not like that; but when the believer is given the glad tidings of the mercy and pleasure of Allah, and His Paradise, he loves to meet Allah, And when the kaafir is given the tidings of the wrath and punishment of Allah, he hates to meet Allah and Allah hates to meet him.”

Imam An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: What this hadeeth means is that the love and hate that are referred to here are those that happen when one enters the stage in which repentance is not accepted, where the dying person is told of his situation and he is shown his destiny.

There are many signs of a good end, which the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) have derived from the texts which speak of that, but despite that we cannot be certain that a specific person is one of the people of Paradise unless the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) testified that he will go to Paradise, such as the ten Companions who were promised Paradise, including the four righteous caliphs:

1} Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (573-634 C.E)
2} Umar bin Al-Khattab Al-Faruq (584-644 C.E)
3} Uthman bin Affan, Dhun-Nurayn (577-656 C.E)
4} Ali bin Abi Talib (600-661 C.E)
5} Talha bin Ubaidullah (596-656 C.E)
6} Zubair bin Al-Awwam (596-656 C.E)
7} Abdur-Rahman bin Awf (580-652 C.E.)
8} Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas (600-675 C.E)
9} Sa’id ibn Zayd (593-673 C.E)
10} Abu Ubaidah Aamir bin Abdullah bin Al-Jarrah (583-638 C.E)

We ask Allah to protect us from His displeasure and grant us deeds that are pleasing to Him and forgive our sins. 

May Allah grant us an excellent ending and make our meeting with Him the best of meetings. 

May Allah resurrect us with His beloved Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and enter us into the highest Paradise with him without reckoning. Ameen.

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam.

And Allah knows best and is Most Wise, and He alone grants success, and to Him is the final return of all.

Wassalaam