Death For Everyone

Everyone is going to take a fateful leap into the other side of death. Wise is he who learns this reality in advance, controls his desires and works for the life after death, and the unwise is one who follows his desires and pins all his hopes on God, without any preparation.

An old man once lamented that life for him was reduced to nothing but a waiting period for death. I replied that life is a wait for death for everyone, although most people are unaware of this reality. In this matter, the difference between the weak and the strong is only that the old accept the reality compulsively, whereas the healthy and strong can learn of it only when they reflect upon it. For the old, death is a compulsive discovery; for the young, death is a discovery consciously arrived at.

An American businessman did business with great success all his life. Finally, when he reached 90 years of age, he felt that his body and mind had both become aged. Now the next stage for him was only death. He expressed his feelings thus: “I am going to take a fateful leap into the unknown.”

This is the fate destined for everyone born into this world, whether weak or strong, rich or poor, white or black, educated or illiterate, powerful or powerless. Everyone is going to take a leap into the other side of death, even those who do not believe in the life after death. Wise is he who learns this reality in advance. It is this reality which has been thus expressed in a Hadith: “The wise man is one who controls his desires and works for the life after death and the unwise man is one who follows his desires and pins all his hopes on God.” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 2459)