Preparing for a Good Death

Preparing for a Good Death

By Mufti Menk

Opening

My brothers and sisters, Allah created us and placed us on this earth. One thing for certain is we are going to leave this earth. We came recently and very soon we are going to depart.

There is no need to actually panic about the day we are going to be departing, but rather we are taught to prepare for the day we are going to meet with Allah. O you who believe, develop the correct relationship with Allah and each one of you should prepare for what you are going to be producing or presenting tomorrow. What you are going to be giving to Allah.

Your book of good deeds for indeed Allah is all-knowing of your deeds. May Allah help us develop this beautiful relation.

The Reality of Life and Death

So, I have known of people who had lived before my time, who have died before I even came onto the earth. They were more powerful than I am. They had much more in terms of wealth and so on, on earth. But when I came to the earth, they were not here.

We only heard about them. The likes of the pharaoh, the likes of Abu Jahl, the likes of so many others even more recently. Then when I came onto the earth, I found people already on earth.

There were so many, my parents, some of my siblings etc. They were already here and then I came. The same applies to every one of us.

So, I came and when I came, I found people started leaving. So, there were some who were old who were leaving. There were some who were young who were leaving.

There were some who left while in the wombs of their mothers and others left during childbirth or just after childbirth. That was something and it continues to happen. They're leaving every day.

We see them, we witness them and then a day will come when I have to go. I have to go and you have to go. That is one thing that is absolutely certain.

So, what should I do? Should I panic to the degree that I become depressed and sad? Should I panic to the degree that I actually lose myself?

No, my brothers and sisters, remember the one who created you calls himself the most merciful, the most forgiving, the most kind, the most compassionate, the most beneficent and so on. He is the one who is amazing. He is your Lord.

He made you in the first place. Just like there is a lot of anxiety prior to birth, especially for the mother. There is also a little bit of anxiety sometimes for those who don't know where they're going to go once they die.

But believers know for a fact, we are going to a much better place, an amazing place. The Almighty has asked us just to prepare for that day.

How to Prepare for Death

How do we prepare for it? I want to spend a few moments speaking about preparation for death.

And death is something when Allah has ordained it, it is the most beautiful thing. Suicide is prohibited. You need to know that.

It is prohibited to kill ourselves. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, warns us of taking our own lives. And even the Quran speaks about it.

Listen to what Allah says:

"Don't ever take your own lives. Don't ever kill yourselves. Indeed, your Lord or Allah is very merciful towards you."

So no matter what difficulty you're going through, suicide is not an option. You wait until the day Allah decides to take you, not by your own doing, not by the doings of your own hands.

Allah says:

"Don't cause your destruction by the doings of your own hands."

Amazing verses of the Quran.

Developing Relationship with Allah

So what should I do? As a human being, I need to know, I must develop a relationship with He who made me in the first place. So whoever created the skies and the earth, whoever created the planets and the universe, whoever created the Milky Way, whoever created all the creatures, including myself, humankind, whoever created everything around me, he is the only one I am allowed to worship. That's what I believe.

And that's what a mu'min, a Muslim believes. I cannot worship anyone in any way, shape or form besides He who made me. What do I call him? I call him Allah, the worshipped one.

He is the only one who deserves worship. So He who made me is He whom I'm going to return to when I go back after my short stint on earth. And I say short stint because honestly, 70 years is nothing.

And the bulk of us live for an average of 60 to 70 years. That's the statement of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him as well, where he says the average age of the members of my ummah approximately 60 to 70 years. So my brothers and sisters for this short stint, surely I need to know I was somewhere before I came here and I'm going to go somewhere after I actually leave.

Man is too sophisticated to just fizzle into thin air after his death, as some may believe. So we who believe in the maker and the worshipping of the maker alone will develop the best possible relationship with that maker, not forgetting that he has other creatures besides us.

Allah has angels who never disobey Him. And then on the other hand, Allah has the devil or shaitan, Satan, who defies Him. And we are in the middle. And Allah says that to us, we're neither angel nor are we devils.

May Allah protect all of us. So an angel does not have the capacity to disobey Allah. And the devil defies Allah.

But man sins against Allah not out of defiance, but out of his own human weakness. And this is why it's important when you're doing something wrong. Never do it out of defiance of Allah by thinking, well, Allah has prohibited this, I am going to do it.

And I want to see what happens to me. That is dangerous. But rather, Allah has prohibited this, I consider it prohibited.

But I made a mistake and I involved in it or engaged in it or partook of it. And I apologize, I seek forgiveness, I repent, I change my ways, my habits, that is a true believer, one who sins and seeks forgiveness.

The Importance of Seeking Forgiveness

And this is why the Prophet peace be upon him is reported to have said, and this hadith appears in so many books of hadith:

(Sahih Muslim Hadith 2749)

"If you Oh, man did not sin and repent, I would have brought another who would actually then sin and repent, because Allah loves repentance."

Allah loves those who keep seeking forgiveness, and those who are clean, clean in the way you talk, the way you eat, the way you drink, the way you do business, the way you carry yourself in your thoughts, everything should be clean. And at the same time, physical cleanliness as well. Allah wants us to be smart, clean, Allah wants us to lead a life of purity and goodness so we can be content.

And he says, seek forgiveness. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him says:

"The one who seeks forgiveness is equivalent to the one who has no sin at all." Sunan Ibn Majah Hadith 4250

So this is something we need to consider my beloved brothers and sisters, keep seeking forgiveness to prepare for the day you're going to meet with Allah.

I'm developing a relationship with him. I don't worship anyone besides him. I seek forgiveness for anything I may have done wrong knowingly or unknowingly.

I seek forgiveness even for those things, which I may not know, I cannot remember how many things I did that were wrong, the minor sins, the major sins, the ones I did at night, the ones I did during the day, the ones I did in hiding, the ones I did openly, may Allah forgive me and may He forgive all of us. Good news of a place in paradise for those in whose or on whose books a lot of repentance is found. So if in your book, a lot of repentance is found, good news to you.

Allah accepts repentance. Now, shaitan's job is to make us lose hope in the mercy of Allah. Don't let that happen.

When you seek forgiveness of Allah, Allah has forgiven you. Don't doubt that you're going to the most merciful, the most kind, you can hold him to that. You can tell him you called yourself Ar-Rahman, Ar- Raheem, Al-Ghafoor, Al-Wadood.

Here I am your slave. I seek your mercy. You said you are the most merciful. I seek your kindness. You said you are the most kind. And Allah says:

"This is a promise of Allah that you can hold him for, which means you can ask him about it."

You can say, Oh, Allah, you said you would do this. Where is it? And Allah will say, It's done. There is no way that Allah goes against his promise.

Allah never ever goes against what he has promised. If he has said something, it is correct. Who can there be more truthful than Allah in what they have said, in what they have declared? That is Allah.

Have Hope in Allah's Mercy

So have hope in the mercy of Allah. We have all done wrong in our lives without exception. From those who are on earth right now, nobody can ever say they have not sinned.

Imagine Allah created Adam, the first of our species. And Allah told him, you can do anything you want, but don't do one thing. And that is exactly the thing he went to do.

Imagine if I were to tell you, you can do what you want, but don't wear this pair of shoes. And that's the only pair of shoes that you wanted to wear. And you ultimately, finally wore them.

And Allah tells Adam, I knew what you were going to do. But these words that you said are so beloved to me that I have forgiven you. And now you can go on to the earth.

So Allah forgave Adam before he actually sent him onto the earth in order for us to learn a lesson that, oh, mankind, you will know the rules. You will go against them, not out of defiance of your Lord, but you will go against them because of your weakness. You will seek forgiveness.

And that is what I love and that is what I want. So don't forget you are just a human being. Those who forget they're human, they sometimes struggle with their mental health as well because they want to be too perfect when you are not created perfect.

"Man was created very, very weak."

Yes, perfection is for Allah. But man, no way.

We have a brain that is not perfect. We have bodies that are not perfect. Yes, Allah says in the Quran:

"We have created man in the best of postures."

But He never ever said, we made you absolutely flawless.

No, there will be flaws because if Allah had created us here flawless, there would be no point to create paradise that was then flawless. But we look forward to a flawless life. We look forward to something where we get what we want for that reason.

In this world, Allah will never ever give us, any one of us, every single thing we want the way we want it. Remember that. So life is full of challenges and tests one after the other.

We pass some, we fail some. We seek forgiveness, we must continue. One thing that is dangerous is when you have wronged another human being, you need to seek forgiveness from them in order to prepare for the day you're going to meet with Allah.

Preparing for the Meeting with Allah

So death is something that's going to come to me:

"Every soul shall taste death."

I need to be happy about the day I'm going to finally meet with my maker. Wow, it's going to be amazing.