Towards the True Companion

The Quran says that when the tyrannical Pharaoh of Egypt ordered the death of his believing wife, she uttered the following prayer (66:11):

“My Lord, build me a house in nearness to You in Paradise and save me from Pharaoh and his misdeeds. Save me from all evil-doers.”

This is a prayer expressed in the words of an ordinary believer. The very same prayer was expressed by the Prophet Muhammad when he was near the time of his death in these words: “O God, the most noble Companion!” (Allahumma al-rafiq al-a‘la). (Sahih al-Bukhari 4463)

In terms of their essence these two supplications are synonymous. The first is a prayer in the words of a believer or momin; the second is a prayer uttered by a prophet by virtue of being God’s messenger.

These two supplications are actually an expression of a devout believer’s feelings with regard to death. When the moment of death arrives, a believer’s feelings are moulded in the form of a supplication like the above. At that moment, a believer should feel that on being separated from the people of this world, he should acquire the closeness of God; that when he is lifted from the company of people, he should be blessed by being admitted into the company of angels; that when death cuts himself off from his people, he should not become alone but, rather, that he should enter the lofty company in which he obtains the blessing of being in God’s neighbourhood.

The above-mentioned prayers are an expression in words of the inner spiritual feelings of a person who has deep trust in God. Such a person desires that the next phase of life will prove to be better for him than the present phase. He hopes that in the world after death he will be granted a higher level of the blessings that he had received from God in this present world. Death for him is to come out of an imperfect world and a means to enter a perfect one.