Advice of Scholars - REMEMBERING DEATH

Sayyid Abdulhakîm bin Mustafa Arwâsî ‘rahmatullâhi 'alaih’ says in his booklet Safar-i-âkhirat:

Discreet men and women who have îmân and who have reachedthe age of puberty are termed mukallaf. It is sunna for those who are mukallaf to remember death very often. For, remembering death urges to hold fast to the commands and to avoid the prohibitions. It reduces the temptation to commit harâm. Our Prophet (sallallâhu ’alaihi wasallam) declared: “Remember death very often; it ruins tastes and terminates amusements!” Some men of tasawwuf made it a habit to remember death once every day. Muhammad Bahâuddîn-i Bukhârî (quddisa sirruh) would imagine himself dead and interred twenty times every day.

To die does not mean to cease to exist. It is an event that does not annihilate existence. Death is the termination of the soul’s attachment to the body. It is an act of the soul leaving the body. Death is a matter of man’s changing from one state into another. It is to migrate from one home to another. ’Umar bin Abdul’azîz (rahmatullâhi ’aleyh) said, “You have been created only for eternity, for endlessness. Only, you will migrate from one home to another!”

Death is a blessing, a gift for the Believer. It is a disaster for the sinful. It is relief for the poor, and torment for the rich.Wisdom is a gift endowed by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Ignorance is the cause of straying from the right way. Cruelty is man’s ugly aspect. Worship brings good humour, joy, and a sacred light to the eyes. Weeping with fear of Allah polishes the heart. Laughter dopes the heart with venom. Man does not wish death. Yet, infact, death is more useful than mischief. Man likes to live. Yet, in fact, death is better for him. With death the true Believer gets disentangled from the torment and exertion of this world. With the death of the cruel, countries and people attain relief. It will be pertinent to quote an old couplet of poetry, which was inspired by the death of a cruel enemy of the religion: