Muhammad Ahmad Al-Has’sani
Okaz
Most people treat death as something remote that will never happen to them although they know of the Qura’nic verse: “The death from which you run away will certainly approach you”. (62:08) Dealing with death in a practical way does not mean that we should be afraid of it or afraid of being placed in a grave.
What amazes me is how some people never think about death even when they attend the funeral of a relative or a friend and even if the relative or friend has died suddenly and young. They might be shocked a little for a few days, and then they will go back to the same routine as if their number will never be up.
We have to be realistic. Nobody knows when he is going to die. Being young, healthy, old or senile has nothing to do with death. Everything has been written and everyone will die when the time comes. But why do we act in a way that overlooks this fact and why do we continue to oppress and mistreat others as if there was no Judgment Day and as if we would live forever? Why do some people do wrong and act as if they will go to Paradise? Have they forgotten what the Holy Qur’an says in different verses and how it warns us against oppression, disobedience and immoral behavior? Many of us are oblivious of these facts. Such obliviousness means that we have cruel hearts and take the matter of life and death lightly.
It is completely wrong to oppress others, commit wrong and earn money dishonestly, and then say that Allah will forgive you. A renowned scholar once said something about people who do bad things and then say that they trust that Allah will forgive them. “Those people are liars for if they really do trust Allah, they would have complied with His Shariah,” he said. We cannot run from death because we will find it ahead of us. In fact, our actions and the way we deal with death are different from our words. They speak louder than words.
