At Death’s Door
Death is the most certain stage in life. Every one of us definitely has to pass through this stage. For every being that is 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 that he will never visit again and will be entering a world that 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 he was on earth.
Life is an unreliable thing, whereas death is absolutely certain. We are alive only because we have not died as yet. And we do not know when death will happen. Every moment, we are advancing towards death. We are closer to death than to life. People think that they are alive, but actually they are dead. We have no idea of when death will arrive. It can arrive at any moment. In fact, it actually keeps arriving at every moment, and so, it is more appropriate to say that it has already arrived, rather than to say that it will arrive sometime in the future. This is why a saying of the Prophet Muhammad tells us to count ourselves among the dead, or the ‘people of the graves’.
Death nullifies everything. It is the most serious 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. But the fact is that death is not the end of our lives. Rather, 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 towards 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 about trying to fulfil their desires and satisfy their egos. Others are overwhelmed by the fear and the love of God.
In this world, the difference between these two types of people may not be apparent in all respects, but this is not so as far as what is going to happen after their deaths is concerned. He who lives in God and in 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.
