These Sleepers!

In a tradition Prophet Muhammad wondered: “That those who should be running away from hell are sleeping and those who should be striving to attain such a precious thing as Paradise are sleeping.” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 2601)

The punishment of Hell will be terrifying, yet man remains oblivious of this. The blessings of Paradise will be utterly delightful, yet man does not show any interest in them.

This, without doubt, is the strangest thing in the world.

People are fast asleep, only to wake up when the sparks flying out of the fires of Hell make further sleep impossible. People are oblivious of what is going to happen on the Day of Judgment, only to be shaken awake when devastation will strike them, and they cannot escape from it.

Everyone seems to be unconscious. Every person is so completely lost in his own self that it is as if there is no power that is superior to him, although death daily announces that everyone must face a reality someday that nothing can counter. Truly, man is totally dependent, although he imagines himself to be immensely powerful.

People make promises but promptly forget them. They neglect to fulfill others’ rights. They decline to acknowledge the Truth when it appears in front of them. They constantly blame others while refusing to recognize their own mistakes. They ignore the ‘small’ and flatter the ‘big’. They subordinate their life to their desires, rather than to principles. They are crushed by those more powerful than themselves, and, in turn, they oppress the weak. They make themselves, instead of God, the centre of their concerns and attention. Instead of living in the desire for heaven and the fear of Hell, they live in the desire and fear of this world.

Doing all this, man forgets that he is leading himself closer to Hell and that he is proving himself unfit for Paradise.

Man has no interest in what should be for him the matter of greatest interest. He is the least fearful of what he should be most fearful of!