الموت وحسن الختام
Death and Good Ending
الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى ءاله الطيبين الطاهرين.
أما بعد، فقد قال تعالى: (كُلُّ نَفسٍ ذَائقَةُ المَوتِ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّونَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَومَ القِيَامَةِ فَمَن زُحزِحَ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدخِلَ الجَنَّةَ فَقَد فَازَ وَمَا الحَيَاةُ الدُّنيَا إِلاَّ مَتَاعُ الغُرُورِ) ءال عمران / 185.
ويقول عز وجل: (يَآ أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ) سورة ءال عمران / 102. وقال سبحانه: (وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ) سورة الحجر / 99، وقد قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: “إنما الأعمال بخواتيمها“.
فالآية الأولى فيها بيان لنا أننا لا شك صائرون إلى الموت والثانية أمر بالوفاة على الإسلام والثالثة أمر بالعبادة حتى الموت والحديث يبيّن أن الأعمال بخواتيمها فهنيئا لمن خُتِمَ له بالإيمان والسعادة والخسران لمن خُتِمَ له بالكفر والشقاوة.
Praise be to Allah and may Allah increase the honor and raise the rank of our Master Muhammad sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam.
Thereafter, Allah ta^ala said:
(كُلُّ نَفسٍ ذَائقَةُ المَوتِ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّونَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَومَ القِيَامَةِ فَمَن زُحزِحَ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدخِلَ الجَنَّةَ فَقَد فَازَ وَمَا الحَيَاةُ الدُّنيَا إِلاَّ مَتَاعُ الغُرُورِ)
Verse 185 of Surat Al ^Imran means: “Every self shall die, the slaves will be brought to account for their deeds, he who will be saved from Hellfire and enters Paradise has won; life in this world is just a pleasure which will vanish eventually.”
He also said:
(يَآ أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ)
Verse 102 of Surat Al ^Imran means: “O believers, fear Allah properly (as you should) and do not die but as Muslims.”
[This translation for the meaning of this verse is taken from TIES 5. The first lesson of the book on page 10.]
Allah also said:
(وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ)
Verse 99 of Surat al-Hijr means: “Worship your Lord until you die.”
The Messenger of Allah sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam said:
“إنما الأعمال بخواتيمها“
It means: “The actions with which a man’s life is sealed defines his ending.”
The first verse states that there is no doubt that we shall die, the second verse contains the order to us to die as Muslims, the third verse orders us to worship Allah until we die. The hadith clarifies that the actions with which a man’s life is sealed defines his ending., so congratulations to the fortunate one whose life had ended on Iman (Belief), and the deprived loser is the is one whose life ended while he was a blasphemer.
فمن وفّق في أول عمره وازداد توفيقًا حتى لاقى ربه على حال حسن فهو من أهل العناية ومن كان في شبابه على خير ثم انقلب قبل الموت إلى سوء وضلال ثم مات على ذلك فهذا من أهل الحرمان. وأما من سَبَق له أن كان في أول عمره في فسق وكفر وفجور فأدركته العناية واستقام ومات على الإسلام بعد ذلك فهذا موفق وناج يوم العرض والحساب من غضب ربِ العباد، فالعبرة بالخواتيم.
So the one who was guided at the beginning of his life and his fortune increased until he died on a good status then he will be among the people of righteousness. And the one who was on a good status then deviated to do the bad and was misguided and died on that, then he is among the deprived losers.
However, the one who was a blasphemer, disobedient, and sinner at the beginning of his life; and was guided then died on Islam after that; then he is guided and will be saved on the Day of the Displaying of the deeds and Judgment from the torture of Allah. So what counts is how one’s life ends.
وقد قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: “إن أحدكم ليعمل بعمل أهل الجنة حتى ما يكون بينه وبينها إلا ذراع فيسبق عليه الكتاب فيعمل بعمل أهل النار فيدخلها وإنّ أحدكم ليعمل بعمل أهل النار حتى ما يكون بينه وبينها إلا ذراع فيسبق عليه الكتاب فيعمل بعمل أهل الجنة فيدخلها“ رواه البخاري ومسلم.
The hadith of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam which we have just stated means:
“The one of you will do what appears to be the deeds of the people of Paradise until he will be as close as one cubit from entering it, then he will do the deeds of the people of Hellfire according to what was Destined for him; consequently, he will enter Hellfire. On the other hand, the one of you will do the deeds of the people of Hellfire until he will be as close as one cubit from entering it, then he will do the deeds of the people of Paradise according to what was Destined for him; consequently, he will enter Paradise.”
اعلموا إخوة الإيمان أن من الناس من يعاقبهم الله تعالى بسوء الخاتمة بسبب شؤم المعاصي.
يروى أن أحد العلماء المحدثين واسمه الفضيل بن عياض كان له تلميذ وكان هذا التلميذ يحتضر على فراش الموت فوقف الفضيل عنده وصار يلقنه الشهادتين عند الاحتضار يقول له: “قل لا إله إلا الله” فلا يستطيع هذا التلميذ أن ينطق بها. “قل لا إله إلا الله” فلا ينطق حتى قال هذا التلميذ: “إني بريء منها” ومات على الكفر والعياذ بالله.
الفضيل بن عياض خاف وارتعب وصار يبكي من خشية الله، ثم رأى هذا التلميذ في المنام وإذا به يجر إلى جهنم فقال له الفضيل: “ويلك ماذا فعلت؟” قال له: “يا أستاذي أنا كنت أستغيب إخواني وكنت أحسدهم فوصلت إلى هذه المرحلة ومت على الكفر”.
Know brothers in Islam that some people will earn Allah’s punishment as a consequence for the sins they have committed. It was narrated that one scholar of hadith, whose name was al-Fudayl Ibn ^Iyyad had a student, that student was on his death bed.
Al-Fudayl stood by him and started to teach him to utter the Two Testifications as his soul was departing his body, he was saying to him: Say: “La ilaha illallah”. The student was not able to utter it. He would repeat that again to him: Say: “La ilaha illallah”. Again, the student was not able to say it until he said: “I do not acknowledge it.” He died on blasphemy, we seek refuge with Allah from that.
Al-Fudayl Ibn ^Iyyad got scared and was terrified, he cried out of fear of Allah. Then he saw in his dream that student being dragged to Hellfire, al-Fudayl said to him: “Woe to you, what have you done?” He said: “O teacher, I used to gossip my brothers and envy them until I reached this stage and died on blasphemy.”
ومما يروى: كان أحد المشايخ قوي الحجة سريع البديهة لكن لم يكن صادق النية فأرسل لمناظرة الرهبان (كفار) في بلاد الروم فكسرهم بالحجة والبرهان فخشوا منه أن يسلم الناس على يده فطلبوا من ملكهم أن يزيّن له ابنته ويغريه بها فتضعف نفسه فيطلب الزواج منها فلا يُعطى طلبه حتى يخرج عن دينه، وحصل ذلك فافتتن بها وخرج عن دينه لكن سرعان ما ابتلاه الله بمرض سئم منه أولئك الكفرة الفجرة ورَمَت به تلك المرأة خارج قصرها واشتد المرض ومرت الأيام وما زال يقاسي ما يقاسي حتى مرَّ رجُل من بغداد بقربه فقال له: “وكأني رأيتك قبل ذلك أأنت العالم الفلاني الذي كان يدرس في بغداد؟” فقال: “أنا هو” فقال له: “ما حصل لك” فقص عليه قصته ثم بعد ذلك قال له ذلك الرجل: “ما يمنعك أن تعود للإسلام” فسكت، فقال: “أما زلت تحفظ شيئا من كتاب الله؟” فقال: “ءاية واحدة” فقال له: “ما هي” فأجاب المرتد: (رُّبَمَا يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَروا لَو كَانُواْ مُسلِمِينَ) سورة الحجر / 2. ثم مات.
Among what was narrated is that there was a shaykh, who used to produce a strong proof against the blasphemers; however, he did not have sincere intention. He was sent once to debate some blasphemer monks in the Roman countries, he defeated them with the proofs and evidences; so those monks got scared that people might embrace Islam by his call. They requested from their king to let his daughter wear make up for him so that he will be seduced by her and to make his self get weak and not able to resist that, then he would propose to marry her; in that case the king would not give him that until he turns out of Islam.
This thing did happen and that shaykh turned out of Islam; however, Allah made inflicted with a disease shortly after that; those blasphemers repelled away from him. In addition to that, the woman threw him out of her palace; and he became extremely sick. Days passed by and he was still suffering until a man from Baghdad passed by him and said to him: “It looks like that I have seen you before, aren’t you the so and so scholar who used to teach in Baghdad?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “What had happened to you?” He narrated to him his whole story. After he did so, that man said to him: “What prevents you of re-embracing Islam? ” He kept silent. He said to him: Do you still memorize something from the Qur’an? ” To that he answered him: “One verse.” He said: “What is that verse? ”
The apostate answered by reciting Verse 2 of Surat al-Hijr:
(رُّبَمَا يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَروا لَو كَانُواْ مُسلِمِينَ)
Which means: “Perhaps those who had blasphemed now wish they had believed.”
After he recited that verse, he died
واعلموا أنّ بعض من كَتَبَ الوحي قد ارتد عن دين الله ومنهم من عاد للإسلام ومنهم من مات على الكفر وقد قال الحبيبُ المُصطفى عليهِ الصلاةُ والسلام “بادروا بالأعمال الصالحة فستكونُ فِتَنٌ كَقِطَعِ الليلِ المُظلِمِ يُصبِحُ الرجلُ مؤمنًا ويُمسي كافرًا ويُمسي مؤمنًا ويُصبِحُ كافرًا يًبيعُ دينه بعرضٍ من الدنيا“ رواه مسلم.
فالحمدُ للهِ على نِعَمَةَ الإسلامِ وعلى بِعثَةِ مُحَمدٍ خيرِ الأنام عليهِ الصلاةُ والسلام.
And know that some of those who wrote the Revelation, which came down on Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam died as blasphemers. Some of them re-embraced Islam and some of them died as blasphemers.
The beloved al-Mustafa-Prophet Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam said:
“بادروا بالأعمال الصالحة فستكونُ فِتَنٌ كَقِطَعِ الليلِ المُظلِمِ يُصبِحُ الرجلُ مؤمنًا ويُمسي كافرًا ويُمسي مؤمنًا ويُصبِحُ كافرًا يًبيعُ دينه بعرضٍ من الدنيا“
It means: “Go ahead and do the good deeds, for there will be fitan (discords) like the dark parts of the night, one would be a believer in the morning; yet he will become a blasphemer in the evening; and he will be believer at night; yet he will become a blasphemer in the morning; he would sell out his Religion for the sake of a worldly matter.” (Narrated by Muslim).
We thank Allah for the endowment of Islam and for the Revelation of Muhammad sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, the best human.
اللَّهُمَّ اجعلنا من المقبلين على الخيراتِ المبادرينَ إلى الطاعاتِ والمبَّرات.
اللَّهُمَّ اجعلنا من عبادك الطاهرينَ المتقينَ المتآخينَ المتحابينَ المتوادّينَ. رَبَّنا لا تُزِغ قُلُوبنا بعد إذ هديتنا وهب لنا من لَدُنكَ رَحمَةً إنك أنت الوهاب. اللَّهُمَّ لا تجعل مصيبتنا في ديننا وثبتنا على الإسلام.
O Allah make us among those who are seeking goodness, and who are performing the acts of obedience.
O Allah make us among the pure pious slaves, who love one another for the sake of Allah, who have brotherly connection to one another.
O our Lord, do not deviate our hearts after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from You.
Surely, You are the One Who is generous in giving plenty without expecting or needing any return.
O Allah do not make our calamity in our Religion and make us stay steadfast to Islam.