Introduction

On Jan 27, 2010, I felt very uneasy. Upon diagnosis, it was revealed that my blood pressure had shot up much beyond the normal level. Concerned, my family insisted that I be taken to the hospital but as we waited for things to get better, the medication succeeded in bringing the blood pressure under control. During the commotion, I felt as if I would not live beyond this moment. This feeling was familiar because from my childhood itself, circumstances had made me witness death from close quarters.

My earliest memories of death relate to seeing my father breathe for the last time. My father passed away on December 29, 1929 due to an attack of paralysis. His death came as a mighty blow to me, so much so that thereafter I became a silent child. Some years later (1935), I met with an accident myself. I fell down from the terrace of my house and the profuse bleeding that followed rendered me unconscious. Motionless, I lay there for a long time as no one knew of my accident. Upon regaining consciousness, I managed to stand on my feet and limped back to my home. Then in the year, 1984, I met with a serious accident in Delhi when on a rainy night, I stumbled over an uncovered manhole. In order to save myself from falling, I ended up clinging on to the electric junction box. The voltage was so high that I sustained severe burn injuries but by grace of God, came back alive. 

As I began wondering about these events that took place in my life, I felt as if God chose me to guide people about the subject of death. Despite being the eternal truth and a reality that man constantly witnesses during his life, death remains an undiscussed subject.  

Death

It is intriguing to realize how man remains ever so disdainful about the topic of death. A modern research highlights the reason for this indifference; it indicates that the DNA (deoxyribo nucleic acid) of man possesses information of all kind, except about his death. Man therefore, knows some facts consciously and some others unconsciously but the information about his death eludes man’s knowledge.  This is so because death is directly ordained by God. But man remains oblivious of this reality because he does not think about death. Even if people gather at a funeral they choose to talk about the deceased and not the phenomenon called, death.  

Death is such an unfamiliar subject, that people find it strange that I write on the topic of death. Deriding my writings, a person once said this that I am a death-writer. Such a state of affairs is despite a clear Hadith stating that,

“Remember death often.” (Mishkat)

Why did God create man? 

God created man as an eternal being. His case is not of life and death but of life-death-life. It is thought that life ends at death but it is not so because according to the Creation Plan of God, an eternal life awaits man after death. It is not difficult to understand the rationale behind this statement.

More than 99 percent of the human life processes are governed unconsciously. If man needed to think and perform each of these vital functions, he would die. For instance, heart works as a propeller and continuously pumps blood at a staggering average of 72-80 times per minute; now imagine if we were to do this consciously, we won’t be able to concentrate on any other process like breathing, digestion, nervous processes etc. how will one survive then? But the reality is that the human body works, 24X7 without our conscious involvement in its functioning. If for example, our sensory organs were to get switched off; our perception of the outer world would be severed. Such is the incredibleness of creation!

Life and Death

Today I got the news of the death of my younger brother. I am the only surviving sibling now. He was ten years younger to me. I wondered if such an incredible being as man was created only to die and perish. As I reflected over this thought, I realized that we would be grossly underestimating the planning of our Creator if we believe that man has been created to live for 60-70 years and die. Death cannot be the end of man. Man’s case therefore has to be one of life-death-life. It is this realization that makes one realize the true value of God’s blessings. I am reminded here of an anecdote which aptly describes man’s arrogance in matters of life and death. Once, the domesticated buffalo of an elderly milk trader died. As he shared this with his fellow trader (who dealt in iron goods), the latter replied:

“Tumhara to saans ka karobaar hai. Aaya aaya, naa aaya.”

That trader failed to realise that his own case was no different because every man is a case of the proper functioning of vital life processes, failure of any would mark his end. 

Marefat

Thinking about the Creator and reflecting upon His creations leads to marefat or God-realization. Despite the Quran and Hadith laying emphasis on striving for marefat, no one except the mystics dealt with the topic. Unfortunately, the mystics made the concept of God-realisation far too mysterious and hence rendered it unfathomable. According to the Quran,

“I (God) created the jinn and mankind only so that they might

worship (attain marefat) Me.” (51:56)

Mind can realize the greatness of His Creator by giving himself to deep reflection. This is because God instilled the Discovery method in nature, by way of which a man can know and be thrilled by the realization he attains. In other words, potentially God made provision for all his needs and ensured that man realizes this potential in nature and consequently attains marefat, by way of discovery. Despite this, except the Prophets and their companions, no one in history strove to attain God-realization.  The chief reason for this is that man lacks the art of thinking. He does not think and therefore does not discover. If only man were to deliberate over such serious issues, his flippant existence would become far more meaningful.  

Engaging in trivia

Lately, my Poland travelogue was published. A person scornfully remarked that it began with a mere dream and hence tried to undermine its significance. Such people do not realize that they are acting as hypocrites. While they portray themselves to be followers of the Quran and Hadith, such people actually do not follow it. Dreams are the 46th part of Prophethood and enjoy a place of prominence in Islam. According to a Hadith,

“If you say evil about someone and that person is innocent, the evil returns on to you.”  (Musnad Ahmad)

The above Hadith should suffice to make man shudder because speaking negatively of others will seriously affect man’s credibility before God. We must therefore refrain from indulging in spitefulness but ironically, Ulema themselves indulge in such negative fatwa-activism. It is important to note here that fact-based criticism is different from Shariah-based criticism. An analysis can be criticized objectively but a fellow person cannot be declared as a kafir, munafiq etc. because deciding this is God’s prerogative. Such negative thinking permeates the mindset of man because he remains uncognizant of his record and starts taking things for granted.

Conclusion 

I would reiterate that the case of man is one of life-death-life. Alongwith realizing it ourselves, we must facilitate its realization for our fellow-men. The biggest mistake of man is that he takes things for granted and lives as if death will never come his way. He does not realize that death is a point of no-return, where he would be bereft of all relations and possessions of his present life.  

Man’s realm of control is most limited. As I think about it, my sheer powerlessness makes me wonder what made God confine all control to His Being? But I find my answer in the human world itself. Despite his stark limitations, man has the audacity to transgress the bounds and act arrogantly. He does not pay heed to matters relating to death and afterlife. Only when he feels that his interest is directly at stake, does he start thinking. Such a man strays far from the goal of attaining marefat.

The ability to think and reason is a blessing for man. It makes him realize the profundities of life. The discoveries of this life should become means of discovering God but seldom does this happen. For example, even those who discovered the functioning of the heart could only discover its technical aspect; they could not discover it as a means of realizing the greatness of God. Along with the functioning of heart, if they could inculcate gratitude towards God, it would have led them to marefat. They would then have understood that this propelling agent which without any intervention from our conscious mind accomplishes the task of pumping blood is actually a big blessing; were he to do the task of propelling or circulating blood consciously it would have been impossible for man to continue living because he wouldn’t have been able to stop the pump even during his sleep.

Marefat is when man realizes his modesty so much so that the spirit to acknowledge God overpowers his existence. But if man’s thinking is not activated, he would only lead an animalistic existence. No fish for instance, knows why it can’t exist outside water but man knows that fish has gills which can only take dissolved oxygen from water and not the oxygen in the air.  The Creator therefore can be discovered through His creations and this is the task that man must accomplish before his death.

May God grant us wisdom to follow the right path!