At Death’s Door
Every person is travelling from life to death. Death means entry into a world based on the eternal consequences of our actions in the life before death. The only one who lives in the consciousness of God and the Hereafter can save himself.
Death is the most certain stage in life. Every one of us has to pass through this stage. For every being bestowed with life, the arrival of death is a must. Every living creature will one day die. Every eye that sees will one day lose its light. Every tongue that speaks will one day fall silent. Every person will one day be brought to stand before Death’s door. At that moment, the world will be behind him, and in front of him will be the everlasting Hereafter. He will be leaving a world he will never visit again and entering a world he will never be able to come out of. He will be removed from the field of action and taken to where he will have to face the eternal consequences of his actions while on earth.
Life is unreliable, whereas death is inevitable. We are alive only because we have not died as yet. Moreover, we do not know when death will come. Every moment, we are advancing toward death. We are closer to death than to life. People think that they are alive, but actually, they are dead. We have no idea when death will arrive. It can arrive at any moment. It keeps arriving at every moment, so it is more appropriate to say that it has already arrived rather than say it will arrive sometime in the future. This is why a saying of Prophet Muhammad tells us to count ourselves among the dead, or the ‘people of the graves’. (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 5002)
Death nullifies everything. It is the most severe event of our lives. If death were simply the end of life, it would not be that significant. If death only meant that we would no longer exist as beings that walk, see, and hear, it would, despite all its terrors, be simply an event that occurs at a particular moment rather than an issue with eternal implications. However, the fact is that death is not the end of our lives. Instead, it is the beginning of a new and eternal life. Death means entry into a world based on the eternal consequences of our actions in the life before death.
Every person is travelling from life toward death. For some, this journey is for the sake of this world. For others, it is for the sake of the Hereafter. Some people spend their lives drowned in the things of this visible world. Others live in the things of the invisible or spiritual world. Some people spend their entire lives rushing to fulfil their desires and satisfy their egos. Others are overwhelmed by the fear and the love of God.
The difference between these two types of people may not be apparent in this world, but this is not so far as what will happen after their deaths. He who lives in God and the consciousness of the Hereafter is saving himself, while he who lives in worldly pleasures and the desires that his ego constantly hankers after is destroying himself.
