Death: A Concept to Live By

We’re, not one of us, getting out of this alive….

So why are we so afraid to speak of our inevitable demise? Why is it considered morbid or pessimistic to contemplate such a certainty? What is it about this topic that makes most people so uncomfortable?

We are young people. We’ve lived 20, 25, 30 years. We’re, many of us, still in school or just entering the work force. We are healthy, fresh, energetic, full of life. We stay up til all hours of the night joking around with our friends or watching lame movies or cramming for midterms. Whether we get 8 hours of sleep or 3 hours of sleep, we function at a pretty high level. We have expectations, dreams, aspirations, goals, and visions to make realities. We’re just too young to die or even talk about death, for that matter.

Plus, we live in the “West,” most of us in California. And if you live in California, it’s all about being “forever young,” looking better at 40 than you did at 18….it’s Hollywood, baby! Californians keep the botox/cosmetic surgery industries alive! Our culture is about the here and now, living it up, partying from dawn to dusk, and buying cool, cooler and the coolest stuff! I mean, I have even fallen prey to thinking that people without an iPod are kinda, hmmm, how can I put this lightly….lame?

This is the culture of consumerism. You work so you can buy cool stuff. You pray for a promotion so you can buy cooler stuff. How can you think about death when life is so much fun cruisin’ down the freeway (in traffic of course) in the Mercedes that you can’t afford, listening to music that spouts about guns, sex, violence and drugs, on your way to a movie in which 90% of the actors are or have been in rehab (but are still glorified as superhumans and paid more money than you will ever see in your lifetime) where you will be surrounded by girls who spent more on their haircuts than a family in Africa will survive on for a whole year and guys who spent more time in front of the mirror geling their hair than they have this whole month listening to world news?! There’s no room for death, for a moment’s seriousness, in this circus we call the most advanced society on the planet.

And even if you’ve managed to avoid the worst California has to offer, you have probably still been caught up in the whirlwind of scholastic achievement, family obligations, MSA rallies and activism, and the plans you’re making for the future concerning grad school, marriage, careers, financial responsibilities, etc.

We prepare so intently for this dunya. We plan weddings for months. We plan our careers for years. We plan vacations for weeks. We plan our weekends days in advance. But none of these events in our lives are certain. The one certainty in our lives, the one event that will inevitably occur is the demise of our physical, tangible bodies. And yet, our days and nights are spent without this fact even crossing our minds at all.

Furthermore, we’re comfortable here. Dunya is what we know. We have our rooms, our homes, our friends, our school pride, our communities, our families, all the stuff that is familiar to us. To most of us, it’s even difficult to think of moving to another city or another state, let alone leaving this world for one that we can’t comprehend and that we’ve never seen.

The reason we’d rather talk about sports or medical school or politics than about death is because we’re not prepared for it. We don’t know about it. We haven’t researched it like we’ve researched for our essays and midterms. We haven’t scoured books or listened to CDs about it or asked other people about it like we’ve scouted for fantasy football teams. We haven’t contemplated about it or put any thought into it the way we’ve thought about what to wear and say and sit at our first job interview. And most importantly, we haven’t made our intentions to live each moment as if it’s our last and to pray each prayer as if it’s our last and treat our loved ones as if we won’t see them the next day. We treat the small, trivial stuff like it’s monumental and the monumental stuff like it’s small and trivial.

As Muslim youth, we have to help one another to change our perspective on death and realize the blessings, the reward, and the dire importance of remembering death, and remembering it often. At some point, hopefully sooer than later, we need to face this concept of death head on and attempt to understand how better to live as a traveler through this fleeting, ethereal lifetime in order to reach our ultimate destination, al-jannah.

And seek with that which Allah has given you the realm of the hereafter and do not neglect your portion in this life. And be gracious as Allah has been gracious to you. And do not seek corruption in the land for Allah does not love the those who involve themselve in corruption.
(28:77)

As the spring brings blossoms and green life to all the plants and crops over the land, so too will the autun come sooner than later with its bitter cold and wind, and then winter will follow to turn the remaining green of leaves and vibrant colors of flowers to browns and twigs and dust. It is the same with this life. We are in bloom right now, and although we view our lives as long and lasting, they are but a mere blink of an eye, a transition from one season to the next. A single drop of water amidst the vastness of the earth’s oceans.

So how do we become like one who is a traveler through this world? What will you need for this journey? I like to analogize our Islamic perspective on this concept to the situation of a real life traveler, one who goes on vacation to say, Paris or Rome. What would this traveler need on his/her journey, and can we make an analogy to these necessities from an Islamic perspective? Here are my thoughts concerning this idea:

1. In most cases, the first step in preparing for a journey is to make a reservation. A reservation reveals (a) your destination and (b) the date of your trip. Our Islamic “reservation” has already been booked. Our “reservation” is our destiny. It was established before we were even conceived. Allah has written our destiny in our books and the pens are withdrawn, the pages are dry. As we sit here at this very moment, our hearts beating, our lungs pumping oxygen through our blood, we have a reservation to stand in front of Allah (swt) and account for our lives in this dunya.

2. A lot of people who go on trips purchase books/maps or guides about their destination. They want to learn all about it so that they know what to do on their trip. They want to know how to get around and where the local “hot spots” are. Our maps/guide books are Qur’an and sunnah. We have Allah’s words to give us direction throughout our journey and we have the Prophet’s (pbuh) example as someone who has “been there, done that” who has left us with a wealth of information and stories about his journey through this dunya.

3. If we’re traveling international, we often need a passport. You have to keep your passport current as a declaration that you are in fact a citizen of the country and a person with the intention to travel. Our passport in Islam is our identity as a Muslim and our constant need to renew our intentions. Purification of the soul. The shahada that we say in our five daily prayers. By constantly remembering our deen and reaffirming our intentions to walk in the Path of Islam and live in a way that would be pleasing to Allah, we are declaring that we are “citizens” of jannah and that we are “travelers” in this dunya.

4. If you’re traveling to a place you’ve never been, you’ll probably want to take a tour with some local guides or have a translator handy so that you can have someone knowledgeable with you at all times. In our lives as Muslims, we also need guides. The best guide we have is the Prophet (pbuh) and his sunnah. But we also have our role models, like the sahaba and others who have lived lives worthy of following. And we have schoalrs of the past and present who we can look to for the wisdom and knowledge in Islamic jurisprudence.

5. Sometimes, you’ll need to get immunizations before you leave on your journey so that you don’t run the risk of picking up diseases while you are away. Immunizations for us as Muslim youth are like innoculating ourselves against harmful people, places, and activities that can make our hearts sick and keep us from maximizing our journey through this dunya. Immunizations keep us away from things that are fitna to us. Immunizations are our commitment to personal jihad.

6. Most people like traveling with travel companions. Our travel partners in this dunya will have a huge impact on our ultimate resting place. Just as companions pretty much make or break a trip, they also can pretty much make or break our journey toward Allah (swt). Show me a person with good, wholesome friends and I will show you a successful person.

7. If you’re like me, you like making an itinerary of what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it during each day of your journey. If I’m traveling somewhere far, I keep my itinerary pretty light during the first couple days, and then I add increasingly more activities as my journey proceeds. Our itinerary as Muslims is our daily lives and how we schedule our time for Allah (swt). We have to recognize that our journeys as Muslims is a long, arduous one. We can’t jam pack our first phase of the journey or else we will just burn out and be unable to function for the remainder of the trip. We have to develop our iman in steps and phases, adding a little more activity and goals with each week, month and year that goes by. We aren’t going to wake up and be like Abu Bakr tomorrow. We have to plan our life’s itinerary with the knowledge that Allah loves actions for His sake that are consistent, even if they are small. He loves each step and effort we take with sincerity for Him. Plan accordingly.

8. When we go on a trip, we pack luggage. Clothes, personal hygiene items, etc. are all necessary to make our trip more comfortable. If we found ourselves in Rome with empty luggage, we might be a bit unnerved. We’d be forced to wear the same thing for days on end, and after a few days, we’d be pretty ugly and dirty. So when we “pack our bags” for this trip through dunya, what do we want to make sure we have to make sure we are lookin’ our best when we meet with Allah (swt). Our luggage is all the stuff, all the actions, the things we’ve done to make ourselves beautiful in the sight of Allah (swt). Allah (swt) tells us that He doesn’t judge us by our outward bodies but by our intentions, our heart, and our actions for His sake. Therefore, our luggage is the good deeds we’ve done, the zakaat we’ve given, the du’aa we’ve made, the prayers we’ve prayed, the Qur’an we’ve memorized, the dhikr we’ve made, and all the little things we’ve done with pure intentions to pack and store away only for Allah (swt) to know about. They are the things that we want to have when we stand in front of Allah (swt) and unzip our suitcases so that we can show Him that we’ve packed intelligently and dutifully for our journey.

9. Planes, trains and automobiles. When we travel, we need some sort of vehicle. In this dunya, our vehicle to reach our final destination is the body, the physical manifestation of self that Allah (swt) has blessed us with. Just as planes, trains and automobiles need some sort of fuel and regular maintenance, so too do our bodies. We need constant maintenance in the forms of self reflection and improvement, education, health and wellness. We need exercise, outdoor activities, sunlight, clean water, and healthy foods. And we need spirituality and ibadah to maintain our souls. Allah (swt) has given us our bodies as an amanah, a trust, and the way we maintain our bodies will have a direct impact on how effectively we will travel through this dunya.

10. Last, but definitely least on my list of necessary items for making a journey, is a good pair of shoes. Sure, it depends on where you’re going. If you’re going to hike Mt. Everest, you’ll need hikinig boots, whereas if you are planning on going to Fiji, you’ll need some excellent flip flops. However, I think we’d all agree that no matter what category your shoes fall into, you’ll want them to be rugged and sturdy so that they will endure all the abuse that a trip will put on them as well as soft and gentle so that you will feel comfort throughout the duration of your journey. In a similiar vein, a good pair of shoes is like a good heart for the Muslim traveler. Our hearts are at the epicenter of our physical existence and they are also a central component of our spiritual well-being. Our hearts, like our traveling shoes, must be strong and sturdy to battle through all the trials and tribulations that this dunya will bring our way. As Allah (swt) reminds us in the Qur’an: “Did you think that you would enter al-Jannah without Allah testing those of you who fought hard (In His Cause) and remained steadfast?” To endure the tests that Allah (swt) puts in our path to examine our level of iman, we must have strength of heart. On the other hand, our hearts must also be soft and gentle. We must be forgiving and loving toward our families and friends. We must rush to tell those we love how we feel. We must be excited about showing our love for those around us and for our world. Our hearts must melt when we talk about the Prophet (pbuh) and his life and legacy. We must cry easily when we reflect on death and our return to Allah (swt). Islam is the middle path, and it requires a heart that is both sturdy and soft, just like a traveler’s good pair of shoes.

All these are the necessary ingredients for our travels through this dunya. We must pack our bags and change our views about this life. We must detach ourselves from the trivialities of this life and attach ourselves to the eternal ramifications of the hereafter. As Allah (swt) reminds us in the Qur’an,

O people! The promise of Allah is surely true so do not let the life of this world deceive you nor be deceived by the Deceiver.
(35:6)

We must realize that our time is limited, that we must rush to please Allah (swt) so that we are not one of those who, when our death approaches us, we plead with Allah (swt) for just a few more moments, or one more day to pray two more rak’ah or say subhan’Allah a few more times. We must begin our good journey toward al-jannah today. The time is now. The time is now. The time is now.

 

~ by raggiungere on March 8, 2007.