The Return Journey

Yesterday I was invited at a friend’s place to a dars (a talk that involves remembering Allah and giving good advice to the audience). Her mother had passed away a few days back and this gathering would serve as a condolence meet as well. There were many ladies present. Some of the ladies who are teachers at different Islamic institutes in Jeddah gave very inspiring talks. One lady shared her personal story of her mother’s last days with her.
The host  Shahjahan’s daughter Ayesha recited Chapter 84 Al Inshiqaq from The Noble Quran. The ladies had gathered with the intention of remembering Allah, taking time to remember the destroyer of all pleasures; death, and to pay condolences to the host on her mother’s demise. One of the teachers started her talk by reminding us that we all should have Taqwa (consciousness) of Allah and should focus more on preparing for the Hereafter. Then she related a very interesting story from Israelite traditions in which the moral was to be content in what you have and not be greedy over the worldly things because world is not going to stay forever.
Another speaker teacher Shakeela explained to us the meaning of Surah Al Inshiqaq and told us that slowly and gradually we all are moving toward the meeting with our Lord, Almighty Allah. The life in this world is not more than a temporary stay or transit during the journey. The return ticket is confirmed and the seats are booked. Only the date and time of the return journey is kept hidden from us. The period of stay in this world is a test for mankind. It is being monitored how we spend our days on this earth; in Allah’s obedience or disobedience. Each one of us must check our life as to what we are doing with it. Are we heedless of the harsh reality of death that each one of us would be facing for sure one day? It could come suddenly any time. When someone dies we do not imagine that this same day is about to come in our life as well. We will also die one day.
In the Noble Quran Allah says, ‘Wherever you may be, death will overtake you…’ Death is inevitable.
Every soul shall taste death. Death has a taste, so to say. Like we taste various things and get to know how it feels only after tasting, the same goes for death. We shall know the taste of death only when it is in front of us.
The last moment of a person’s life will be the flashback of the whole of his life. He will die on what he lived. If he spent his life on the Kalima, denying that there is no god except Allah and only Allah is worthy of worship, he will have a good end. The moment one sees the angels of death the curtain separating this life from the next life will be lifted up. Now he will clearly see everything that was hidden from him, he will see the truth behind things.
The good soul will be taken by the good angels, smelling nice and taking out his soul delicately. He will be given a warm welcome in the seven heavens. He will then be taken from one level to another as he crossed the stages in the world. These levels or stages of every soul will be according to his or her deeds. The one who is saved from the fire of Hell and admitted to Jannah is the most successful one.
Every one of us keeps busy in 3 things during our time in this world:
1. Earning money and making property
2. Making and maintaining relationships
3. Doing deeds (good or bad)
The first two things remain behind when we die. The deeds come along with us in our graves. If they are good they will become a source of peace for us and our stay in the next world will be a good one.
To motivate ourselves to do good deeds always we must keep in mind that Allah is always aware of what we are doing.
Since this life is a test we have been given The Book to prepare for this test or exam. This book is the Noble Quran.
A good soul leaves this world happily as he is looking forward to meet his Lord, Allah.
The angels who take out the soul of a good person give him 5 glad tidings:
1. You won’t have any fear
2. Your Jannah is ready as per the promise of your Lord.
3. We will be your companions always
4. You will get in Jannah whatever you wish
5. Allah will honour you as His guests in Jannah
These amazing rewards and temptations will be there for those who lived their lives in obedience of Allah’s commands.
These rewards will be never ending and will keep increasing for the inhabitants of Paradise.
We must collect the baggage for our return journey. It should be loads of good deeds and not the burdens of sins and evil deeds.
What we must be doing:
• We should do all actions keeping in mind the Hereafter and the outcome. The real profit is the profit of the Hereafter. We must see that we give value to the things that actually hold real value and not ignore the commands of Allah for petty things in life.
• We have to do good deeds for our own benefit in the grave. The good deeds will light up our graves.
• We should make good and righteous friends who help us remember Allah. Attending the gatherings of Allah’s remembrance strengthens our Faith and softens our hearts.
• We should have good thoughts about our companions. We are Allah’s witnesses on the earth for our fellow beings.
• Always say a good word about each other.
• The good deeds have great strength. Even if the deed is small it can be of value in the sight of Allah. It is difficult to do good deeds in this life but eventually they will turn out to be very heavy on the scales.
• The sins of show-off, taking interest, not performing salah, being arrogant will be punished severely on the day of Judgment so we should be very careful of all the sins.
• The test of the bearers of Al Quran is even harder. We as the people of the Quran must see that our deeds match our words. We must not be arrogant of our skills and knowledge.
We are never completely satisfied in this worldly life. We aim for building a house and when we achieve that we start wishing to have a big car and this greed goes on and on. Most of the time in this life is spent in making this life better and better but what happens is that we leave all that and set out to another world for which we had hardly prepared anything.
The best among all the people are those who are best in their manners and character.
The most intelligent of the people are those who remember death often and prepare for it.
These were the inspirational words by the teacher and then some of the ladies in the audience shared their experiences. In the end we made dua and thus the event came to a close.