Meditating On Life and Death from an Islamic Perspective
By
Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi, New Age Islam
14 January
2022
The
Concept That Life and Death Are Trials Is An Opportunity For The Believers To
Be The Best in Conduct
Striking
Points:
1. Muslims'
perspective of death and the hereafter is based on the holy Qur'an.
2. God Almighty
Created Life and Death To Test Who is a Good Human Being.
3. Islam
prefers the quality of deeds to the quantity of deeds.
4. Remembering
that we will be held accountable to our Lord after death Must Enable Us to Do
Good acts and speak good words.
5. Fulfilling
human rights should be founded on honesty and sincere faith rather than guile
and deception, as has been the case with many so-called devotees of God
Almighty.
…
The entire
life for the faith of a Muslim is a trial and test, which determines his
ultimate fate. For him, death represents the soul's return to its Creator, God.
His views about death and the Afterlife are never far from his mind. This seeks
to help him put his life and deeds into balance as he strives to live in
expectation of what is to come, as a result of good deeds. Muslims' perspective of death and the
hereafter is based on the holy Qur'an.
Our search
for the meaning of life and death will be inadequate unless we examine divine
revelations. Why did Allah Almighty create death as well as life? Life is full
of ups and downs, with people being either happy or miserable at times. Despite
the fact that they like life, they find it difficult to contemplate death.
Death is unavoidable; it comes to everyone, without exception, in an unexpected
way. But what is the purpose of life and death? Is there a specific reason for
death and life?
The Holy
Qur'an provides a clear answer to this question: “He Who has created death and life (so
that) He may test you as to who of you is best in conduct. And He is Almighty,
Most Forgiving” (67:2)
From the
foregoing, it is apparent that Allah Almighty created both life and death
solely to test the believers to see who the best in conduct is. According to
the Qur'an, life is a test, and we will get the results of our actions after
death. The experiences of life teach us that this test is not to be taken
lightly. It's impossible to conceive a test without difficulties. To achieve
the position of being the finest in conduct, we are bound to face challenges
such as grief, worry, starvation, devastation, oppression, corruption, loss of
possessions and life, and so on.
People who
are constantly considering their mortality have a proclivity to do more and
more good things. Without a doubt, every step of one's existence reminds him of
his own weakness and helplessness in comparison to Allah's absolute strength,
instilling in him the desire to live righteously. On the other side, the fear
of death is the most effective technique of reforming one's behaviour, only
when he believes that he will have to be accountable to his God on the Day of
Judgment and that it would be a bad idea to observe the displeasure of his God
on that Day.
Death is an
unavoidable reality of existence. When a person considers death, he must worry
about his acts, for which he will be held accountable before God. If his
actions are sinful, standing before God in the afterlife will be a humiliating
experience for him. If his faith is sincere and his behaviour is pious, then
the notion of death will not bother him. It's also critical to avoid pride,
which is forbidden in Islam even for great accomplishments and pious deeds
because God's reward for good deeds is fundamentally God's kindness. That we
have been given the opportunity to do good deeds in this worldly life is
definitely one of the blessings of God Almighty.
According
to a Prophetic Hadith, “death is adequate as a preacher, and assurance is
sufficient as a cause of being free from needs.” [Tabarani]
This hadith
suggests that visiting the death moment or event of friends and family is
adequate preaching. If that doesn’t work, then nothing else will. Witnessing
the death, he must realize that everything will pass by his journey of life one
day and that now is the moment for him to begin doing good deeds in order to
create a pure relationship of love with God Alone.
It's worth
noting that Allah didn't say in the verse mentioned above, “Who of you commits
more deeds,” but rather, “who of you is best in conduct”. This shows that it is
the quality of deeds, not the quantity that counts. That is why, on the Day of
Judgment, man's activities will be weighed rather than counted. In some cases,
the weight of a single action is more than the weight of a thousand actions.
What Is
A Good Action?
The Holy
Prophet once recited this verse, and when he got to the words “best in
conduct,” he stopped and clarified that this refers to the individual who
abstains the most from the things Allah forbids and is always ready to obey
Him, according to Hazrat Umar. [Qurtubi]
What are
the things that Islam wants us to refrain from is a topic on which we will not
go into detail here. In short, we can better comprehend the division of rights
in Islam between the rights of God and the rights of human beings. Along with
fulfilling God's rights, we must also fulfil human rights with complete
honesty. From an Islamic perspective, fulfilling human rights should be founded
on honesty and sincere faith, rather than the cunning and dishonest attitude
that has characterised many so-called devotees of God Almighty. So-called
rights of justice, benevolence, peace, equal treatment and all other human
rights must take their actual form. The reason for this is that Allah Almighty
has forbidden humans from deceiving human beings by concealing hypocrisy in
faith, love, peace, human rights, or anything else. So we can pass our exam and
trial by abstaining from the prohibited deeds [Haram and Najayez].
The Quran
reveals how Allah Almighty puts us to the test in the following way:
“And We will most certainly test you somewhat
by means of fear and hunger and a certain loss of wealth and lives and fruits.
And, (O Beloved,) give glad tidings to those who observe patience” (2:155)
Glad
tidings are only given to those who exercise patience in all kinds of problems,
such as those briefly outlined in the verse above. Those who prepare to conduct
all possible bad activities, such as killing innocent people, bombing,
destructing, stealing, and oppressing the helpless and minority, and so on; in
order to satisfy selfish goals fail the test.
In the two
divine passages that follow, it is mentioned how individuals who are given good
tidings exercise patience:
“(They are the ones) who, when afflicted with
some distress, say: ‘Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return” (2:156)
“It is they upon whom are bestowed successive
blessings and mercy from their Lord. And it is they who are the guided ones” (2:157)
Individuals
who do not show patience in the face of adversity and engage in wicked actions
will not obtain blessings or mercy from their Lord after they die, according to
the previous paragraphs. They're the ones who've fallen from grace.
There are
two types of consequences. One can either succeed or fail during one's
probationary period. Both types of consequences are well-mentioned by Allah
Almighty in the Holy Qur'an: “Indeed, We have created man in the best
constitution” (95:4) “Then We returned him to the lowest state of the
low (95:5)” “Except for those who believe and do good works. For them is
an unending (i.e., everlasting) reward (95:6).
First Allah
Almighty created all human beings in the best constitution [Ahsane Taqweem],
and then He gave their self (Nafs) insight between good and evil (91:8).
Following that, a person who believes in Allah Almighty, His Prophets, Angels,
Messengers, and Books, and behaves in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah, has
retained natural virtue and the best constitution and has passed the test. And
if someone acts in a way that contradicts all of these characteristics, he will
degrade his natural position and fall from the ranks of mankind, going from the
best constitution to the lowest state of the low.
Allah
Almighty also says,
“Indeed, the one who purifies his
(ill-commanding) self (from all vain and vicious desires and cultivates in it
virtue and piousness) succeeds” (91:9) “But the one who corrupts himself (in
sins and suppresses virtue) is doomed indeed” (91:10)
It is now
apparent that Allah Almighty created life and death in order to put a man to
the test. This entire world is a test in which we encounter both good and bad
deeds; but, when we perform good deeds, our Lord will be happy, whereas when we
do wicked deeds, our Lord will be displeased. Many people today are unable to
control their inner demons. The reason for this could be that they are
negligent of God, forgetting that they will have to answer to Him on the Day of
Judgment.
Take for an
example; many people over the world are frightened to conduct numerous criminal
acts because they are afraid of breaking international or national law. Crime
will rise if there is no legislation. Similarly, many people would not have
abstained from doing good deeds in this world if God had not established the
law of punishment in the Hereafter. There are many things to think about and
understand, but in order to do so, we as Muslims or believers must remember
that we will be held accountable to our Lord after we die, so we must consider
our acts and words so as not to commit any violation.
...
A regular Columnist with
NewAgeIslam.com, Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi Dehlvi is an Alim and Fazil (Classical
Islamic scholar) with a Sufi background and English-Arabic-Urdu Translator.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-spiritualism/meditating-life-death-islamic-perspective/d/126157
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