Every
soul shall taste death. (Al-Imran 3 :
186).
Today
is a public Holiday as it is All Saints
Day; in other words such a day in the life of a Christian
where he commemorates the Saints and also the dead in general. And it
is not a coincidence that Allah has guided me to deliver this sermon
today (a sermon which I prepared beforehand and which applies exactly
for today).
The
world we live in is only ephemeral. One day or another, death will
overtake us. We must then leave behind all our wealth, families, and
friends. The only luggage we will bring with us is our actions and
the intentions behind these actions.
The
Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said that there are three things that
accompany a deceased to his grave: his family, his riches, and his
actions. Of these three things, two come back, his family and
his wealth. Only his actions accompany him. (Bukhari,
Muslim).
On
02 July 2000, I received from Allah this revelation in poetic
form (in French) on the subject of
death: “Death
is your Last Journey/ Travel”.
“Death
is a journey,
So
get ready,
No
need for luggage,
Or
yes, take with you:
Your
pious actions, the love of Allah
Destination:
the afterlife
Death
is your last journey.”
In
this extract, Allah mainly mentions the spiritual baggage of the
believer, where he shall arm himself with his good deeds, his pious
actions and his love for Allah. The pious will be very lucky. His
obedience to Allah and His Messenger, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), and to
the Messenger of His epoch - if his epoch was the time when Allah
sent a Messenger and Reformer to revive Islam, like in this present
era - will be like a fiery light for him, which shall illuminate his
way. His path to the afterlife will be easy compared with the
unbeliever or the hypocrite who had during his stay on earth ignored
Allah and His commandments.
Allah
says in the Holy Qur’an concerning the disbelievers and
hypocrites: “O
Prophet, fight against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be
harsh with them; And their refuge is Hell, and wretched is the
destination!” (At-Tauba 9:
73).
All
the prophets of Allah and their followers and the believers who
followed them thereafter have always faced the infidels and the
hypocrites. The latter cause so much chaos and create so many
obstacles for the prophets and believers, forgetting that they are
themselves humans and subject to death and that after death they will
have to confront Allah and His wrath. The divine wrath is great for
the disbelievers and the hypocrites, those who associate deities/
partners with Him, the One God, and those who go against the true
faith to take the wrong path and help the disbelievers to finish
Islam and the chosen servants from Allah. These people forget that
they are mortal and will have to face a terrible judgement.
Death
of a scheming Enemy
An
example of it is the recent death of a doctor belonging to the Jamaat
Ahmadiyya of Mauritius. He died on Monday 29 October 2018 and his
death left the Jamaat Ahmadiyya in a state of shock. He was the
brother-in-law and cousin of the ex-so-called Amir of the Ahmadiyya
Muslim Association of Mauritius.
These
people made evil plots to expel me from the Nizam-e-Jamaat in
the year 2000. They held a meeting on 25 December 2000 when
I was in Rodrigues. Their evil schemes were indeed before the sight
of Allah and that brother-in-law of the ex-so-called Amir (the
deceased doctor) spread all kinds of great lies, saying that he
prescribed me some powerful anti-depressants and psychotropic
medicines, and stated that those who take such medicines are like
drugged people subject to hallucinations. He falsely stated that this
was my case also. And this so-called doctor even stated that it was
because I was taking these medicines that I was taking hallucinations
as divine revelations. God Forbid!
And
he, along with the collaboration of a pharmacist in the Jamaat tried
to tarnish my reputation and state of health in the Jamaat by
spreading false rumours that I was taking those
medicines and that was why (as per their evil schemes) I was saying
that I am receiving revelations. But the world had witnessed some
time back (in the year 2014) how the pharmacist who humiliated me –
by saying that I came to him in his pharmacy presenting to him these
doctor’s prescriptions (of anti-depressants etc.) to seek those
medicines – was in turn humiliated. That
pharmacist’s license was revoked by the Ministry of Health (since
2012) and both the Pharmacy Board and the ADSU
(Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit) conducted inquiries on him and came to
inspect his pharmacy. They cancelled his license.
And
now, the doctor who pretended to be a great defender of the
Nizam-e-Jamaat, despite being a doctor, but when his hour came, he
could not save himself – suffering a massive pain – and he just
died. This death shook the Jamaat Ahmadiyya on Monday 29 October
2018, and the next day at 5.00 pm, they did his funeral and burial.
Like Allah says in the Quran, the punishment of the criminals,
the Zaalims (wrongdoers) shall be atrocious,
be it on earth and much more so in the hereafter. And verily, the
deceased person was a great enemy of the Divine Manifestation of the
age.
The
signs of Allah
We
all know that nobody can escape death. It has been decreed for all of
us, that come what may, death shall overcome us one day. But this
does not mean that when mentioning these facts/ anecdotes, we are
rejoicing over the death of a person. This is not the case. But
sometimes, there are signs of Allah upon such deaths. When Allah
seizes the culprits, He seizes them in a forceful/ painful way. That
person was a doctor working for the government (public hospital) and
on his own (private consultations). His profession was to save lives,
but when death overcame him, he could not save himself.
Verily,
our life is in the Hands of Allah. Therefore, beware O those who
hatch evil plans against Allah and
His Khalifatullah, as well as those who spread false statements and
mock the signs of Allah. The machinery of Allah is On, and
there is no escape from it for these kinds of wrongdoers. This year
marks eighteen years since those people first persecuted and mocked
us. Therefore, beware!
“The
departure is fixed.
Destination:
Eternity
Get
ready,
It’s
ready to grab you
At
all times and in all places.”
From
our birth on earth, what is certain is that a day will surely come,
in which there is no doubt where our soul will leave our body,
rendering it inert, a corpse and that it will return to its Creator.
This final day of departure is therefore an absolute certainty. For
Allah has told us that every soul shall taste death. This present
world is only temporary and it is the hereafter which is eternal for
us. This departure for the afterlife is different for each person.
Everyone has his own day of birth. Today, with technological
advances, parents can know what day their children will be born,
because now births are caused by caesareans, and parents accompanied
by doctors can establish a specific day for the birth (and sometimes
despite their plan, the divine plan intervenes concerning the birth
in question). But we cannot say the same for death. Even someone whom
the doctors have condemned him, that he will not live long, even that
one does not know the day and the exact time during that day when his
death will occur, except of course for a criminal who has been
condemned to death (i.e. who has received the capital punishment) by
the judge or a dying person whose family with the doctors’
approval, disconnects an artificial machine at the hospital to allow
him to die in peace. But besides those exceptions where death comes
by the push of people - or even a suicide that is reprehensible in
the eyes of Allah - death is uncertain for the rest of humanity.
Allah says:
“It’s
better to prepare yourself,
No
need for Visa,
Or
yes indeed: Laa Ilaaha Illallahu
Muhammadur
Rassullullah,
To
return to your Allah.
The
takeoff will be violent:
Tearing
of the soul from the body.
More
suffering and agony
To
infinity, if you come loaded with your sins,
(But)
Bliss,
If
on earth, you sowed
Sweetness,
Love, Faith and Kindness.
Your
place is reserved
Since
you were born.
In
a plane without a window
Lying
on the back,
Head
facing the Qibla.
Destination:
the afterlife.
Do
not forget.
Get
ready ;
Because
if the term is fixed,
Neither
the day nor the hour you can guess.
Live
while thinking about this journey
Which
can at any age lead us
At
the gates of paradise
Or
in that cursed place (i.e. Hell).
Prepare
to turn the page.
Death
is your last journey.”
Prepare
for your Journeys
Nowadays,
man’s trip to another country requires a passport and a Visa. He
gets ready for it days before, so that his journey goes well. As for
death, the believer, who has the fear of Allah in his heart, must
prepare himself physically, mentally and spiritually for this final
journey to his Creator. He must prepare for this during his entire
life. Old and young, death is guaranteed for everybody at any moment.
Death does not have the same expiry date set for everyone. Our
salvation to all lies in our attachment to Allah. The fear of Allah
and obedience to His prophets and all His commandments reassure our
spiritual survival and we must die with the Shahada on
our lips. The Shahada is like
spiritual food that revives the soul of a believer. This
pronunciation of the Shahada at the
moment of his death allows the individual to feel close to Allah and
hope in His mercy. It applies to the believer. And not for the
unbeliever who has for all his life renounced Allah but who at the
time of death accepts the supremacy of Allah. This was the case for
the Pharaoh at the time of Hazrat Musa (as). Throughout his life he
took himself as a god, and persecuted Musa (as) but when death
threatened him at the time of drowning, he finally accepted Allah but
it was already too late.
Allah
says in the Qur’an: “And
We took the Children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his
soldiers pursued them in tyranny and enmity until, when drowning
overtook him, he said, ‘I believe that there is no deity except
that in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the
Muslims.’ [Allah says]: Now? Whereas before you had rebelled and
were of the corrupters!” (Yunus 10:
91-92).
The
moment when our soul must leave us is very painful. It is around this
that all our actions is concentrated; all the ultimate progress of
faith is revealed there itself. It is at this very last moment that
everyone must preserve his faith for it is at this precise hour/
moment that Satan tries his very best to remove this faith (of ours).
Those who succeed are those whom Allah delivers from Satan’s tricks
and whom Allah (swt) helps to pass away in the state of (true) faith.
According
to Mu’adh Ibn Jabal (ra), the Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “Anyone
who dies, bearing witness with the certainty of his heart that there
is none worthy of worship but Allah (Laa
Ilaaha Illallah) and
that I am His Messenger (Muhammadur
Rasullullah), will be
forgiven by Allah.” (Musnad Ahmad).
Narrated
by Zadhan Abi ‘Umar: A companion of the Prophet (ra) informed me
that he heard the Prophet (pbuh) saying, “Whoever
breathes his last with the words ‘There is no god but Allah’ (Laa
Ilaaha Illallah) enters
Paradise.” (Musnad Ahmad).
We
must then be always ready to face this moment and prepare ourselves
to live in the other world where life is eternal. The Holy Prophet
(pbuh) advised Abdullah, son of Hazrat Umar (ra), to live in this
world only as a traveller or stranger; a traveller who does not care
about the different pleasures that may come his way, because this
path is very painful, and he may not arrive at his destination (if he
lets himself be attracted by those temporal pleasures).
This
is why Muslims must beware of being caught in the traps of worldly
affairs and must avoid relationships that may prevent them from
reaching their real destination. They must often think of death,
which will preserve them from the temptations of this world. However,
this does not mean that those who, for example suffer, must wish for
their death as a means of escape. These people, as well as the rest
of us (all mankind, all Muslims), must often recite this prayer: “O
Allah, grant me life as long as it good for me, and grant me death
when it is better for me.” Ameen.
This
prayer is complete because life and death are in the Hands of Allah
and it is Allah Who will guide us to the best life and the best
death. We just need to ask Him to be guided and to live in the right
path until our last breath of our life, and we must also make the
necessary efforts in that direction. Insha-Allah, Ameen.
---- Friday
Sermon of 02 November 2018----23 Safar 1440 AH delivered
by Hadhrat Muhyi-ud-Din Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb
(atba) of Mauritius.