AT THE THRESHOLD OF ETERNITY
Living Today with the Grave in View
One needs only to reflect: what is the meaning of acquiring something that must be lefl behind within days or years? If a person were content with his rightful share in this world, much of the exploitation, greed, and plunder that afflict human society would disappear.
People live in fear of life, though it is death they ought to be mindful of.
Everyone is on a journey, and every journey ends in death. There is no exception to this rule. Death is the great divider: for some it opens the door to eternal bliss, while for others it becomes the gateway to eternal regret. Blessed indeed are those who, at the moment of death, find themselves standing at the threshold of Paradise. For them, there will be eternal peace, free from fear and sorrow. But how immeasurable is the misfortune of those whom death delivers to the edge of Hell, where they will be confined forever in a realm of fire, regret, and despair.
Those who acknowledge the greatness of God, bow before Him in humility, remain faithful to truth, and treat others with justice and kindness are the ones destined for Paradise. Their lives are shaped by moral awareness, and their actions are guided by responsibility toward both God and fellow human beings. In contrast, those who deny God’s greatness, who deal unjustly with others, who are cruel, arrogant, and intoxicated by pride, preparing for sorrow, regret, and punishment through their conduct.
In reality, Heaven is meant for those who cultivate a heavenly character while living in this world. The Hereafter merely reveals what a person has already become inwardly. Death does not change one’s reality; it only unveils it.
Man spends his life chasing wealth, honour, power, and progeny. He exhausts his energies to secure these things, believing that they will bring fulfilment. Yet death exposes the great illusion of worldly desire. This transient world cannot satisfy the deepest longings of the human soul. What man seeks endlessly here is something that belongs to another world altogether.
One needs only to reflect: what is the meaning of acquiring something that must be left behind within days or years? If a person were content with his rightful share in this world, much of the exploitation, greed, and plunder that afflict human society would disappear. There is, in truth, little difference between gaining something and not gaining it at all, when the final outcome is loss. What value does an acquisition hold if it is destined to slip away almost immediately? Man struggles tirelessly to obtain what he desires, only to lose it the next moment. Life inevitably ends in death, and death strips man of everything he once clung to.
Man lives absorbed in the present and forgets the future that awaits him. He builds his own of others, even though he knows that tomorrow he will enter the grave with empty hands. He drags others into human courts, fabricating false cases and arguments, forgetting that angels are recording his deeds and that divine court. He looks down upon others, imagining himself secure in his wealth, status, and power, unaware that all this worldly greatness is fragile and fleeting.
Soon, the structures of pride will collapse, and no trace of worldly superiority will remain. On that Day, neither wealth nor power will offer protection. Only truthfulness, humility, justice, and God-consciousness will carry weight. Death reminds man that life is not meant for self-glorification, but for moral preparation. Wise is the one who remembers the grave while walking on the earth, and fortunate is the one who lives in such a way that death becomes not a terror, but a passage into eternal peace.
