Live Ready to Die

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

When it comes to the material world, our inheritance is conditional. You only inherit from a certain person, at a certain time, only to a certain extent, with certain conditions being fulfilled and no prohibitions. But Allah inheriting is in the absolute sense. He is Al-Warith. No claims last but Allah's claim.

ِAllah Most High is the One who owns everything to begin with. He has granted certain things of this life, out of wisdom, to His creation. But the thing and the owners will return to Him eventually. They return to Him because they are His. He has granted ownership as a trust and a test of how we would deal with them.

This is something Allah reminds us repeatedly in the Quran. For example,

إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَرِثُ ٱلْأَرْضَ وَمَنْ عَلَيْهَا وَإِلَيْنَا يُرْجَعُونَ ﴿٤٠

Indeed, it is We who will inherit the earth and whoever is on it, and to Us they will be returned. (40) [Quran, Maryam 19:40]

This is is a reminder for the believer -- in what state will you return to Allah?

Out of the mercy of Allah the ultimate return is at an appointed time. You don't know when your ultimate return to Allah will be. So be ready to return to Him. Live ready to die. We are not hoping to die but we should be ready to die in that if Allah were to take your soul at this moment, you would say I have genuinely done my best, so forgive me my Lord.

What leads to worldliness and false hopes is the loss of consciousness of this reality that we are returning to Allah. False hopes arise not just from unawareness or heedlessness of the reality of death but of thinking that death is something that will happen much later. But death could come to you at any moment. The laxity of turning to Allah is believing that you will live on without the possibility of immediate death. Allah gives us a moment of existence. Allah is inheriting us in every moment. We are Allah's from moment to moment and to Him are we returning from every moment.

The Prophet would be in remembrance of Allah in all his states. Even in his sleep he was conscious of his Lord. May Allah enable us to follow his footsteps and may Allah grant us an excellent ending. 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