Smiling Tears Sailing Down My Cheeks

Allah Ta’ala says in the Quran that every soul shall have the taste of death. This is something that we cannot avoid, it is a harsh reality that one day each one of us will leave this worldly life and return to Allah Ta’ala and be judged for our deeds. Although some of us may fear our final return, we find in a hadith of Rasulullah (S) that he has said “Death is a gift for the believer.”

A believer is such that he spends his day and night in the pursuit of Allah’s pleasure.  At every moment he checks himself to see whether or not he is doing something that would cause the displeasure of his Rabb. When he commits a sin out of forgetfulness, he immediately returns to Allah and makes a sincere repentance, with hope in Allah’s mercy knowing that He has said in a hadith qudsi, “Oh Son of Adam, so long as you call upon and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind.” It is for the mu’min who strives for perfection for Allah’s sake, that perfection is unattainable, yet still remaining firm on this struggle for the rest of his life and making tawbah when coming up short, for a believer like this death will be a gift and the angels will come to him and say, “Fear not nor grieve, but receive glad tidings of Paradise which you have been promised. We have been your friends in the life of this world and are (so) in the Hereafter. There you will have (all) that your souls desire, and there you will have (all) for which you pray. A gift of welcome from the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Surah Fussilat). He will then be taken to finally meet with his Beloved and to live in the eternal manifestation of His pleasure, and will be rewarded with such an unimaginable reward that is spoken about in the Quran, “No person knows what is kept hidden for them of joy as a reward for what they used to do.” (Surah Sajdah).

Some of us may feel that we do not live up to these standards. That we live in such a state of heedlessness that we spend our lives gratifying our nafs and pleasing our own selves, that we forget the purpose of life is to please Allah Ta’ala. If this is our state then it is high time we wake up from our sleep and realize that our breaths are limited, and we only have a short time left to shape ourselves into such believers. We need to take the initiative in developing a proper relationship with Allah, and know that when we make an effort, Allah Ta’ala will definitely make the way towards good easy for us. Another thing is that Rasulullah (S) has said, “A person will be with whom he loves.” If we do not have anything to show for ourselves, then the least we can do is develop love for those who are the Beloveds of Allah. If we try to live our lives in such a manner that it has some similarity to the life of Rasulullah (S) and our mashaaikh, then we can only hope that this will attract the love and attention of Allah Ta’ala as well, and that inshaAllah we will be counted amongst such people on the Day of Judgment.

I pray to Allah that He grants all of us a husn al khatimah, an easy reckoning, forgiveness for all of our shortcomings, and acceptance of all of our meager efforts. Aameen.

– Salika

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Tags: Allah, Apostle of God, Hadith, Last Judgment, Mercy, Qur'an, Rabb, Repentance in Islam

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