Destroyer of Attachments

The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said: “Remember death much because it demolishes all desires.” (Sunan Ibn Majah 4258). It means that if someone remembers the reality of death with full seriousness, his life’s focus will change completely. His life will now become Hereafter-oriented, in place of worldly-oriented.

A worshipper of the world is engaged at every moment in seeking to earn what are conventionally thought of as the profits of this world. He derives great pleasure from this obsession. He thinks that his constant busy-ness will bring him the worldly glories that he hankers after. But if he is a seeker of truth and comes to know that he is going to face a day, sooner or later, when he will have to leave behind all his worldly wealth, he will lose his interest in this preoccupation. He will witness a new awakening. He will realize that if the material wealth that he has earned is not going to accompany him after death, he must change the direction of his life and the focus of his activities. Such is the transformation that awareness of the reality of our own death can bring.

Similarly, if someone gets angry with a person and seeks to exact revenge from him, remembrance of death can work a miracle in him. He will think, “When my revenge cannot harm anyone in the eternal sense except myself, why should I waste my time in vengeful activities? I shouldn’t stoop to this level. I will have to face serious consequences for this after I die, in the Hereafter.”

Remembrance of death thus works as a powerful mechanism for self-correction and self-restraint. It can help us avoid negative actions and to engage in positive actions. Remembrance of death makes one realistic about life as well as serious about it. It reminds us that one day we must leave this world of men and enter God’s world. This reminder becomes a very potent means for our self-correction.