Are You Prepared??

She was busy giving the last touches to her science project. Her closest friend Faiza was just about to come and pick her up for school. minutes ticked by and there was no sign of her..
“Isn’t she here yet Zahra?”
“erm…no…I wonder whats taking her so long, she said she was leaving when I called”
“Why don’t u message her? It’s late already!”
” She didn’t reply”
” Ya Allah khair! I hope everything’s Alright”
Zahra stood there looking at the living room wall with her lips pursed. ‘What could have happened?’, ‘Where has she gone?’ she thought to herself, and all sorts of dark possibilities raced into her mind.
*rring riing*
Assalam u Alaykum”
“walaykum assalam” a women’s voice was heard “Zahra,listen….
“What! No…How can…no she’s not dead..pleaase dont!..”

*———————-*

In our day to day routine do we ever stop to think, to ponder over the fact that we are not here forever. This life is transient with all its fleeting pleasures. It has to end and that end is near. It is just like a bubble, a delicate beauty adorned with various colours however short lived, abruptly it goes pop! That hour is not far when we’ll close our eyes and then they are not going to open until the day of judgement! Our wealth for which we worked day in day out, ruining our Akhirah will be taken over and our families, friends and loved ones to seek whose pleasure we fail to remember the pleasure of the Almighty, one day they’ll stop remembering us.
However, The dazzling lights that surround us blind our eyes, the sounds we hear they make us deaf to the reality of this world, over whelming desires, the longing to have more, our lust for materialistic fame and wealth, our futile busy schedules they all make us stick to this world like super-super glue not letting the thought of Akhirah peep in our lives. Yet death, our gateway to that new world in the hereafter is just around the bend. We fail to realize that it is lurking in a corner near us somewhere waiting to approach  anytime now.
Our condition is beautifully pictured in these words of Ibn al Qayyim(rahimahallah):

They do not think about the insignificance of this fleeting life and they do not think about how quickly they pass through towards the Aakhirah which is a dwelling of forevermore. They have been seized by the spur of the moment and their senses have departed them and ignorance and stupidity has engulfed them and their false desires have misled them

Their expectations (of this world) has deceived them and Evil deeds has seized possession of their hearts enticing them to indulge in the delights of this world and fall prey to the desires of the soul, so much (is this desire) that they grapple for it (the dunya) and seek to attain it, no matter which way it is to be achieved. If there appear to them the delights of this world they put at risk their Afterlife as they fly towards it in groups and alone. If there appears to them worldly goods they do not discard it in preference of Allah Rewards, but they are conscious only of that which is visible to them in this Dunya, and of the Hereafter they are unaware.

This world is nothing compared to Akhirah! It is just a short journey…shorter then we think it is. The parable of this Dunya was told to us by Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wassalam) as:

“I have no concern with this world. My association with the world is like a horseman who whilst on his way stops under a shady tree and then departs again to continue his journey.” (Ahmad, Tirmizi, Ibn-Majah)

and at another occasion he said:

“What is this world compared to the Hereafter except like when one of you puts his finger in the sea, so he sees what he takes out (of the sea with his wet finger).”

That’s it! Just a drop out of the gigantic sea!
Allah subhanahu wata’ala has clarified the reality of this world in many places in the Quran. It says:

“Although the life to come is better and more enduring.” (88: 17)

“The day they see it, (it will be) as if they had not tarried (in this world) except an afternoon or a morning.” (80: 46)

Truly, this life of the world is nothing but a (quick passing) enjoyment, and verily, the Hereafter that is the home that will remain forever.” (Ghaafir:40)

Our pious predecessors considered this world to be a prison. They followed the naseehah Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam) gave Ibne Umar (radhiallah anhu):

“Be in this life as if you were a stranger or a traveller on a path.”

Ibn Umar used to say,“If you reach the evening then do not expect to reach the morning, and if you reach the morning then do not expect to reach the evening. Take from your health before your sickness, and from your life before your death.”

That is why the sahaba and those after them never clinged to this earth and were anxious about their akhirah. They walked on this earth, while their hearts where set on the heavens. Umar bin Abdul Azeez (rahimahullah) would spend time each night with scholars discussing the trials of the hereafter. Abu Bakr would wish he were a tree for the fear of answering to Allah. Usman bin Affan cried until his beard was wet when he passed a grave and the books of knowledge are full of such examples.
Ponder over this….
Are we truly aware of this? And have firm faith in the fact that this world is nothing? Like we believe that fire burns and water extinguishes. Is our faith strong in order to get us going and work for it? Strong enough so that one can see Akhirah with his own two eyes?
How many minutes a day do we spend worrying about our eternal home?? How much hours in a week do we toil to send a few hasanaat (good deeds) ahead? Do we ever get homesick….homesick for Jannah? How many times a day do we ask for forgiveness? Do we fear the hell fire like we should because of its severity?? Ever care to think about the grave..from where starts our never ending story? Are we anxious to meet our creator and have we prepared for it anything? If not then its high time we do so because these breaths can be my last, these seconds can be my last.
Is it not time that we come back to the Book of Allah and the sunnah of his beloved Messenger (Sallallahu alahi wasallam)? And wend our ways before we plunge into death?? We must remember and remind ouselves constantly of death– the killer of all pleasures as the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said:

“Remember abundantly the one who cuts off all pleasures (death).” (Tirmzi, Ibn-Majah, Hayat-ul-Muslimeen)
An in another hadith it says:

الْكَيِّسُ مَنْ دَانَ نَفْسَهُ وَعَمِلَ لِمَا بَعْدَ الْمَوتِ

The wise person is he who reckons himself and works for (his life) after death

Also, `Umar said, “Hold yourself accountable before you are held accountable, weigh yourselves before you are weighed, and be prepared for the biggest gathering before He Whose knowledge encompasses your deeds.”

The famous Taba’ee Sufyan at thawri said:

“Work for the sake of this life within the extent of your stay in it, and for the Hereafter within the extent of your stay therein.”

May Allah make us of those who work for the hereafter and pleasure of Allah. Ameen