Death, a Divine Plan

The Quran (3:185) says: “Every human being is bound to taste death.”

This statement of the Quran is a universal reality. Wealth, strength, power, knowledge—nothing can save a human being from death. Every being that takes birth in this word will definitely die after spending a fixed period here. No person, throughout human history, has been able to protect himself from death.

If it were the case that an individual is born by chance and dies by chance, then some people would die, and others would live forever. But the fact that nobody is an exception with regard to death proves that death is not an accident or a matter of mere chance but that it is part of Nature’s planning, part of God’s creation plan.

That death is a plan of God tells us that both life and death are purposeful phenomena. And when it is accepted that behind life and death is the Creator’s plan, it becomes incumbent on us to discover the purpose of creation and to lead our life in line with it. In this is hidden the secret of a person’s success.

The phenomenon of death tells us that material wealth and worldly glory cannot be the true goal for a human being. A person’s goal can only be that in which both life and death appear meaningful.

The Prophet Muhammad said: “Remember death much because it demolishes all desires.” (Sunan Ibn Majah 4258). This means that we should not make our plans based on the desires of the present world, but, rather, on the reality of death.