3 Farhan Abdul Azeez A Good Ending

A Good Ending

By Farhan Abdul Azeez

The Prophet's Tears at the Gravesite

Al-Bara' ibn Azib رضي الله عنه narrates that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم - they were with the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم at a janazah. And he says, so the Messenger of Allah sat at the edge of the grave:

He began crying so much to the point that the ground where he was sitting on became wet from his tears. And he says, And he said, oh my brothers, for this moment then let everyone prepare.

Prepare for the Grave

For this moment let everyone prepare. That's why Uthman رضي الله عنه when he would pass by the grave he would cry so much. And so the Sahaba said, why would you cry so much at the graveyard? And he said, this is the first step of the hereafter.

This is the first step of the hereafter. And so the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying it says:

So brothers and sisters prepare for this day. Right, and subhanAllah when you are meeting someone that you love who you haven't seen in a long time. Perhaps your parents or your children who have gone away for studies or something like this. Your spouse who's overseas and you're eagerly waiting for the arrival. When you meet someone you love there's a different preparation that goes into it.

Ibrahim and the Angel of Death

There's a different level of excitement that goes into it. And so Ibrahim عليه السلام it is mentioned in the Athar that when the angel of death came to him and we know the angel of death takes permission from the Anbiya' before he takes their souls. Ibrahim عليه السلام he was confused for a moment and he told the angel of death:

He tells the angel of death I am the Khalil of Allah. I am the best friend of Allah. So I don't understand this scenario where the best friend will cause the death of his best friend.

And so the angel of death responds to Ibrahim عليه السلام and he tells him:

Oh Ibrahim do you consider a scenario in which the one who is beloved to another dislikes meeting his beloved.

Longing to Meet Allah

When Ibrahim عليه السلام was put in that perspective he said then take my soul now oh angel of death. Right, and so Allah جل جلاله describes this mindset of the believer when he says:

Whoever longs to meet Allah جل جلاله then let that person know that that meeting is coming soon. And Allah is all-hearing and all-knowing.

So the point is when we long for meeting Allah جل جلاله if it is Allah who we love the most:

Those who believe they have more intense in their love for Allah than anything else. If we truly love Allah then we will look forward to that day of meeting Him جل جلاله

Those Who Say "Our Lord is Allah"

And Allah describes what would be the scenario of a believer when he is about to meet Allah جل جلاله. He says:

This famous ayat that we've heard before. Those who say our Lord is Allah. And then they stay firm upon that statement meaning they live by that statement of (لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله). Their life is a life that they follow the commands of Allah. They stay away from His prohibitions and they do the best they can.

And whenever they slip and they mess up they go back to Allah and ask Allah for repentance.

That they have no fear upon them, nor shall they grieve. No fear upon them, nor shall they grieve.

And have glad tidings of paradise that Allah has indeed promised for you. So what does Allah say? For these people who long to meet Allah they say our Lord is Allah and then what? They stay firm. They stay firm on Allah's commands and following the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

Angels Descend Upon the Believer

So when death comes to them what is their state? Allah says:

The angels will descend upon, like a group after a group after a group will come to them.

So a believer when he is about to die angels upon angels come to them. And the Messenger of Allah says in a hadith to describe the situation he says:

(Musnad Ahmad 18534, Sunan Abi Dawud 4753)

He says when the believer is about to die between dunya and akhira angels descend upon him:

Their faces are as white and bright as the sun. And he says:

With them is a shroud from the shrouds of jannah.

And perfume from the fragrances of paradise.

Until the person who is about to die he sees the angels sitting in rows for as far as the eye can see.

Umar ibn Abdul Aziz Welcomes the Angels

And that's why when Umar ibn al-Aziz رحمه الله تعالى when he was on his deathbed and his wife Fatima was next to him and her brother Maslamah he tells them to leave. And so they leave and they stay right outside the room. And they heard him say:

He says, welcome to these faces that are neither the faces of humans nor of jinn. And then he recited a verse from the Qur'an and then he passed away when they went and they found him dead. They found that he had passed. Because angels upon angels come with beautiful faces and shining faces.

The Angel of Death Greets the Believer

And the hadith continues:

And then the angel of death comes until he sits at the head of the person who is dying and he says:

Oh, beautiful soul come out to the pleasure of Allah and forgiveness and pleasure.

And Allah says:

These angels that come to the believing soul they tell them three things. They say to come? Death and the grave and the resurrection and the day of judgment. Don't have no fear of any of that.

وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا

And don't be sad about what? About what passed. Your children you're leaving behind. Your parents you're leaving behind. Those you have responsibility over. Allah gives the believer the glad tidings. At that moment, He knows. We may not know. But He knows. Don't worry about them.

And then the angels give them the good news.

And glad tidings for paradise that you have been promised.

The Believer Longs to Meet Allah

SubhanAllah, when Aisha heard the Messenger of Allah say that whoever loves to meet Allah, Allah loves to meet him. And whoever hates to meet Allah, Allah hates to meet him. She says, But we hate death, O Messenger of Allah. Who doesn't dislike death? And the Messenger of Allah tells her, No, that's not what it means, O Aisha. He says that when death comes, the believer is given the glad tidings of the pleasure of Allah and His generosity.

So there is nothing more beloved to him than what is coming that Allah has prepared for him.

So he loves to meet Allah at that moment and Allah also loves to meet him.

Allah's Protection in Dunya and Akhira

And then Allah says:

We are your protectors in this dunya and akhirah. So Allah is telling the believers we will not leave them. We will give them that company until they meet Allah.

And the hadith goes on and he describes a water that comes out, the soul that comes out from the body of the believing soul like a water drop that comes out from a jug without any resistance, with ease as it comes out. And the hadith says it has the most beautiful fragrance that is present on the whole earth.

The Soul Ascends to the Heavens

And even the angels begin asking:

Who is this beautiful soul? And they begin calling this soul by its most beautiful names as it goes to the first heaven and the second heaven and the third heaven until it goes to the seventh heaven and then it's sent back to earth and it is put in the body.

The Questioning in the Grave

And then the angels that come to question the believer come and they question him. Two angels come and they sit him up and they say:

Who is your Lord? What is your religion? And who is this man that was sent to you? And the believer is given توفيق from Allah.

The believer is giving ثبات from Allah to be able to answer these questions properly. And you might be thinking, well, anyone can look up a book but no, it's different.

In a weak hadith that describes the description of the two angels who questioned the believer in the grave or the person in the grave. They say their hair is dragging behind them. Their eyes are like lightning and their voice is like thunder.

So when they say مَن رَّبُّكَ It's like thunder is going off in your small grave. And you are shaken with such a shaking of fear that you won't be able to answer except for the one who Allah gives steadfastness in that moment. We ask Allah to make us amongst them.

The Believer Answers with Truth

And so they will say, my Lord is Allah. Then what is your religion? My religion is Islam. Who is this person that was sent to you? He is Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم

And then a crier will call out from the semaa. And:

This slave of mine has spoken the truth. So put out carpets in his grave from the carpets of paradise.

And give him clothes from the clothes of paradise.

And open in his grave a gate so he could see his place in paradise. Allahu Akbar.

Good Deeds Visit the Believer

And the hadith says, and then the fragrance and the joy of jannah will enter into the grave of this man or this woman. And then a man comes with a beautiful face, with beautiful clothes and a beautiful smell. And he tells the person:

Glad tidings, congratulations of what will make you happy. This is the day that you were promised. And so the man will say, who are you? For your face is only a face that will bring good. And he says, I am your good deeds.

I am your good deeds. And subhanAllah, the believer will be accompanied by his good deeds as he sees into his home and paradise. And he will begin saying:

Oh Allah, begin the day of judgment. Oh Allah, begin the day of judgment.

So that I may go back to my family and my possessions. This is the state of the believer. This is the one who lived by (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ - la ilaha illallah) and died by (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ - la ilaha illallah).

The Reward of Faithful Living

He will be accompanied by his good deeds, his fasting that he would do when the days were long and his prayer when it was difficult and then he may be mocked at work or at school. The hijab that she would wear when she was being criticized and the jilbab that she would wear and hide her beauty.

All of those things, all the struggles will come and will meet you and at that moment you will realize it was all worth it. As you see your place in paradise and you're begging Allah to start the day of resurrection.

A Death at the House of Allah

I just came back from Umrah and on my last day at the house of Allah I was performing tawaf after Salatul Fajr and as I was nearing the black stone to begin my next circuit I saw a man with with anxiety on his face and he was calling a police officer and the crowds were very thick right after Salatul Fajr and so the man was maybe

five, six people ahead of the officer but it's body to body and you could see from his face that something is wrong.

Now, I've gone as a physician to Umrah and Hajj and the most common things that you see of people are heat related illnesses, dehydration and passing out from the heat which in this case shouldn't have applied because it was after Fajr. The sun wasn't up, it was cool, it was about 70 degrees, it was beautiful.

A few days earlier it just rained and people were doing tawaf in the rain feeling the mercy of Allah descend upon them as they're at the house of Allah. And the other thing is sometimes people get overwhelmed with emotion and have hyperventilation type syndromes from anxiety and emotion and whatnot and they just kind of lose their senses and they're just breathing real fast and just... But it's nothing serious and as an ER physician you have to develop the sixth sense of knowing when something is serious and when something is not serious. When something is worrisome, when you see someone even if it looks like they're in severe distress you have to know when is someone in distress and when is someone not in distress.

Witnessing Death at the Kaaba

And so it wasn't my plan nor was it in my capability to try and follow this person because of the crowd so I continued my tawaf, I passed the black stone and now I'm in line in the front of the Kaaba near Maqam Ibrahim. And subhanAllah it happened to be that Allah decreed I walk right by where the man was calling the officer to. And I look down and I see a person right away I know this is something serious.

And so I tell the officer I'm a physician and he allows me and there were two officers there. And the man was collapsed and he wasn't breathing. And so I quickly check for a pulse. I don't feel a pulse. The man had passed away. In Ihram. In front of the Kaaba. Literally facing the door of the Kaaba next to Maqam Ibrahim. And there was another brother that was there presumably a physician because he was checking the pupils.

And so I asked him do you know how long the man has been down for? And he said no I don't know but it's been at least a few minutes. And he said I'm debating starting CPR. And I told him no.

The Best Death: Dying in Worship

You don't come to the house of Allah to have CPR done. You come seeking the pleasure of Allah. You come seeking a death like this.

You ask Allah Oh Allah let me die in a good state. You ask Allah let me die in your worship. Oh Allah let me die with saying La ilaha illallah.

What were this man's last words? In Ihram in front of the Kaaba. What was his last words? And the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said about a man who died in Hajj when he fell off his camel and his neck broke. He said wash him with water and Sidr and don't cover his face or his head because he'll be raised in the day of his resurrection in Ihram saying the Talbiyah Labbayk Allahumma Labbayk.

Here I am Oh Allah to serve you. Here I am answering your call. Imagine being resurrected saying Labbayk Allahumma Labbayk.

"I Have Succeeded by the Lord of the Kaaba"

So you don't come to the house of Allah to have CPR done. And as I got up I told the man Rahimak Allah may Allah have mercy on you. And the thing that came to my mind was a statement of Haram Ibn Hanad (رضي الله عنه)

One of the 70 companions who was martyred in Bir Ma'una the fourth year after Hijrah when they were betrayed and a man came from behind him and they stabbed him with a spear and the spear penetrated through his chest and he looked down taken by surprise from the best of this Ummah. Anas Ibn Malik says these 70 would pray at night and they would fill the water of the jugs in the masjid in the day and they would sell firewood and then use the money to feed Ahlus Sufah. This is these 70 people.

Haram Ibn Hanad one of their leaders is stabbed and the spear is protruding out of his chest and he looks down and you know what he says? He says:

I have succeeded by the Lord of the Kaaba. And I told the man (رحمك الله) and that's what came to my mind. فُزْتُ وَرَبِّ الْكَعْبَةِ You have succeeded by the Lord of this house that you are performing tawaf around.

The Essence of a Good Death

(سبحان الله) But a beautiful ending and a good ending doesn't necessarily mean you have to die while you're praying or die while you're performing tawaf or die while you're fasting or die while you're reading Quran because many of us may not have that death although it's a beautiful death but the beautiful death is a death that you die upon in Islam.

The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) died on his deathbed. Abu Bakr died on his deathbed.

And the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) he was once told by a man when somebody died suddenly he said, well, Allah saved him from illness and the last parts of his life and he said, well, how do you not know that the illness would have forgiven his sins? And the Messenger of Allah came across another man who was in his last moments and he says, he says, how do I find you, O young man? And he says, I'm fearful for my sins but I'm hopeful for the mercy of Allah.

And the Messenger of Allah said, whoever is meeting Allah with these feelings, Allah will save him what he's fearful from and he will give him what he's hopeful for. He will forgive him his sins and he'll grant him paradise.

Live as a Believer, Die as a Believer

So a good death, brothers and sisters, while this man had a beautiful death, this man had a beautiful death, a beautiful death is to die with la ilaha illallah. To die as a believer. To live your life as a believer and when you do so, as the scholars say:

And as the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says, and whatever you die upon, you'll be resurrected upon.

What you live upon is what you will die upon. And what you die upon is what you'll be resurrected upon. We ask Allah to make us, to make our best deeds their last.

And our best day of our life, the day we meet Allah. We ask Allah to make our best of our life the last part of our life.

Du'a for a Good Life and Death

O Allah, we ask you, as the Messenger of Allah used to say:

O Allah, give us life for as long as life is good for us.

And O Allah, give us death when you know death is best for us.