Moutasem al-Hameedy – Always Remembering Death
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Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala addresses his creation in
the Quran with a clear statement
saying to
them
Allah says spend from what we provided you
with.
Spend from what you have in your possession
before
death comes to you,
before death jumps on you,
before death
surprises you,
before death
pulls you out of this creation,
And when that moment comes, the person who
is not ready
for death,
the person who has not been prepared
or who has not prepared for that moment,
inevitable
certain moment of leaving this world
and leaving everything behind,
including the bright future and the plans the
person had in mind.
Because death when it comes it interrupts your
plans
and it takes your hopes
and it breaks
all of the
ambitions that you had in this life.
So the person who is not ready when
death jumps on them they turn to Allah
and they say, oh Allah,
save me.
Save me for a little while, for some
time.
Give me a little extra time so I
fix my affairs, so I get ready for
this moment and then Allah says and Allah
will never.
Allah will never delay a soul or a
person beyond their time.
Allah is not is not going to give
you more time when death comes.
It's a final decision you're going to leave
whether you are ready or not.
And this is why Allah
says in the verse that we quote every
Friday at the beginning of every
Allah says die not
except
in submission.
Die not except as Muslims. How do you
do that when you are prepared for death?
You have to be prepared for death.
And all of us seem to fall for
the satanic trap
of making us think
that we are different from other people who
died an unexpected
death.
All of us think we are the exception
and that we will get notified
before we die,
or that we will be
ill and sick and our health will deter
deteriorate
before our death, so we get a chance
in order to make up for our mistakes
and be ready for death.
All of us think we are that person
who is going to get notified, who will
get the notice
beforehand about death.
But death often in the lives of people
comes as a surprise,
It catches you by surprise, it catches you
off guard.
That's the nature of death.
And death does not recognize
age or health.
It comes to healthy people.
It comes to young people.
And there are so many reasons
that bring death about.
You could be the healthiest,
and you could be young,
you could be full of energy and hope
and ambition in this life.
You could have bright
plans and you could be a very in
exceptionally
intelligent person, and you think you have something
to contribute,
and you have been brought into this world
to be Allah's gift to the creation.
So death doesn't even cross your mind because
you think it's only gonna come when you
fulfill this mission in life, but
sometimes people are surprised by the angel of
death coming to them when they least expect
it.
So this is why Allah says,
do not die except
in surrender. In a state of surrender that
means you have to be
submissive to Allah.
You have to be obedient to Allah all
the time,
all the time.
So many places in the Quran Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala reminds us, especially when Allah
wants to give us advice
about how to carry ourselves well
and how to make the right choices in
life, Allah reminds us of our inevitable
return to Him.
Why?
Because nothing
brings life to our hearts
more than the remembrance of death.
The remembering of death
brings life to the heart, it awakens your
heart,
it makes you alive,
it makes you vigilant,
it helps you set your priorities right,
it helps you fix your vision
and that's why you will find for example
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
When He talks about debts,
when He talks about the lender, the person
who loans people money,
and sometimes these people are in hardship and
difficulty and they are unable to pay off
the debt on time,
Allah
says,
So when someone like this that you have
loaned money to
and they are still in hardship,
give them more time.
Give them a great give them this grace
period and time. Give them delay them more.
Allow them more time
in order to pay. That's a great thing.
Then Allah subhanahu wa'am,
Then Allah says in the
following
verse,
and fear a day
on which you will return to Allah.
You will be brought before Allah.
Then every person
will be given and will be rewarded based
on the actions that they put forth in
this life.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
understood that very well.
And he told it to the companions
and he gave a golden advice.
He says,
He says, increase
in the remembrance
of death.
Remember your departure from this world often that
means it should always be on your mind.
And the Prophet
said,
Death whenever death is remembered
or is mentioned, a time of joy it
would take this joy away.
And the purpose is not to take the
joy away but it's just to put things
in perspective.
Because we humans have this proclivity. We have
this dangerous
tendency
to get too attached to this world,
which Allah created as a resource.
Allah created this world full of utility to
help us take this path to Allah,
Build our path and our journey to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Allah provided us with
food, so that we can can sustain ourselves.
Allah provided us with clothing,
so we can
protect our bodies and our chastity.
Allah provided us with families,
so we can reproduce and continue the human
race, and we can take care of our
families, and we can get reward from that,
and we can build the good that is
in our life because of this. And Allah
gave us a lot of utilities that we
are meant to use to make our path
to Him, but never get too attached
to them. They are utility.
These are things that you use
and then dispose of,
and your heart should never get attached to
things that you dispose of. And 1 of
the good analogies about
the pleasures of this life, the assets of
this life
is the toilet paper.
It has utility, but you don't get attached
to it. You use it, then you discard
it.
You dispose off of it because that's what
matters of this life, they don't have more
value than toilet paper.
They don't
have value
more than toilet paper. The only value in
them
is in as much as you milk
good out of them in this sense, you
bring about goodness for the sake of Allah
in this life.
Once you get attached to them,
beyond their utility,
then you have given them your heart.
You have given them the rights of Allah.
You have started to worship them, because that's
what worship is.
Worship is that obsessive love.
Worship is that attachment.
When you believe your happiness,
your well-being,
and your prosperity
is contingent
on the matters that Allah created to serve
you.
To serve you in this world so you
can worship Allah, the things that are created
to help you, the tools,
the toolkit that Allah provided and made available
to you, so you can use to make
it to Allah,
you start to worship it.
And that's when we lose, so that's because
of this proclivity, because of this tendency, Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala created us and he knows
the weakness that we have.
And thus Allah wants to help us. That's
what these are what the teachings of Islam.
This is the main purpose to help us
navigate this world
safely without losing our results. It's a road
map.
It's the map that shows us exactly how
to navigate
the alleyways
of this life and
the maze of this and the intricacies of
this life.
So we don't lose our sense of direction
in the details
and in the attachments of our ourselves
to things.
So this is why the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam says,
keep death on your mind. Allah doesn't want
to spoil our joys but Allah wants to
put our joy in perspective.
Put it in its right place so we
don't worship these joys.
And when you start to treat these joys
as tools that get you to Allah, you
will start to tap into the ultimate joy
of this life which Allah promised in the
Quran.
Whoever does righteousness and good in their heart
and in their external actions, like their heart
is pure and good and full of goodwill
and love of Allah.
And then that translates as a lifestyle in
terms of actions and choices in this life.
So the heart is full of faith and
that's what how we go through this life.
Allah says male or female, we shall give
them a goodly life.
We shall provide them with a pleasant life.
High quality of life here in this world.
And then in on the day of judgement,
we shall recompense them according to the best
of their deeds.
That's Allah Al Kareem, the most generous.
That's Allah Al Raheem, the most
merciful, and bountiful,
and benevolent.
That's Allah subhanahu. That's that's the 1 that
we're dealing with. That's the 1 that we
were created for. That's the 1 that we
are supposed to be attached
to. Not the matters of this world, the
toilet paper.
We shouldn't be attached to that. So what
does help us? 1 of the most powerful
mechanisms is to remember
that everything
that you have in this world, including your
family,
including your loved ones,
you will depart ways with it.
And Jibril came 1 day to the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam and he said, You Muhammad
Ahbib and Sheikhs.
Oh Muhammad,
love whoever you want.
You will depart from them.
You will be
departed from them. You will leave them.
So that's why we are supposed to remember
death.
And in many occasions in the Quran, Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala wants us to remember death.
Why?
Not to spoil our joy again but to
upgrade our life.
Because when you worship Allah
and when you utilize the things, the halal
things that Allah put in this world
as means and stepping stones that help you
get closer to Allah, you will find the
real joy in this life.
Allah promised.
Allah promised in the Quran.
Woman
who is more truthful in their promise than
Allah? Allah promised in the Quran, he says,
women
and decree.
And whoever turns away from My remembrance,
remembrance that means that Allah is on your
mind,
that you live this life and Allah is
on your mind.
So that you remember Him with your tongue
and with your actions you're seeking Him,
and he's always in your heart.
Your life becomes about Allah. Allah says whoever
does not do this, whoever fails to do
to do this and turns away from this,
We shall, as a promise from Allah, we
shall give them a life that is full
of tightness and misery.
So what about all of those people who
turn away from Allah and they seem to
be leading a happy life? These are the
lie these are the lies of the modern
time.
These are the lies of these people,
who are living their life intoxicated.
No human being can live a life of
true joy
if the heart is void of Allah.
It's impossible.
It defies human nature
in its
essence.
And no 1 is more truthful than Allah
when He says,
He who turns away from my remembrance, from
living for me, that's what it means. Whoever
turns away from that, We shall give them.
Is like when you quarter something and squeeze
it to the point that the chest cannot
breathe.
That's the life of someone who turns away
from Allah. So what about the joys? These
are surface joys
that are intoxicating.
And the Muslim scholars have always said the
joy that you'll find with people who don't
worship Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, they are not
true joy.
These people are intoxicated
with the
alcohol of this dunya and the love of
this dunya. And the moment,
the moment anything takes away this joy like
for example, when they sit alone
by themselves, when they don't have something to
keep their attention going, when they don't get
something that gives them this dopamine rush,
when they don't have entertainment,
or when they are
challenged by life with the loss of a
loved 1,
when they are hit with a calamity, they
lose all hope. All of that misery that
is hidden that is hidden within them, comes
up to the surface,
drowns them, and they become depressed.
And then they have the guts to tell
everyone in the world
that we are living the most, the happiest
life on earth.
You are a liar.
You're a liar whoever says this is a
liar. They are deceiving themselves and they are
deceiving their fellow human human being
their fellow human beings.
Because Allah who created humans is telling us
if you live a life away from Allah,
you will only have misery and tightness in
your chest.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallamu Alaihi Wasallam taught
us the adkar of the morning and the
evening.
And you will find many of the adkar
of the morning and the evening revolving
around
Allah, His greatness,
His grace,
His glory, His beauty, His generosity,
His kindness,
and also His might and His power.
In order to give direction to our hearts.
And the second main theme that is usually
there in the Adkar is that
the mention of life and death. As a
reminder, you're supposed to wake
up every morning reminding yourself
that you are alive
as a gift from Allah and you can
die at any moment. So you say,
Oh, Allah, we have risen in this morning,
and with your help we make it to
the evening.
By your grace, we we we come to
life, and by Your decision, we leave this
life.
That's you're supposed to say this in the
morning. And you say,
Alhamdulillah, glory and praise are due to Allah
who
gave us who held who gave us life
after he caused us to die in the
night.
So you realize that you are you are
so close to death,
And this frames your day and keeps you
in check throughout the day. And as I
said, many places in many places in the
Quran you will find that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala when dealing with family, when dealing with
divorce,
when dealing dealing with financial issues, Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala always reminds us about what? About
what?
And fear a day on which you will
return to Allah. Your return to Allah keeps
you in check. You want your heart to
be alive, keep remembering your departure.
We were not created for this life, we
were created for the akhirah.
And Allah created us for jannah
but we have to make it there.
We have to earn
We have to earn the right into Jannah.
And if we fail to do this,
we will lead ourselves to the hellfire.
There's no other choice. No matter how joyful
your worthy life seem to be, it's very
short. And we all know it's very short.
And death could come at any time. If
you are old or young, rich or poor,
you know, death could come to you at
any time.
At any time how many people?
I
I heard a story from someone about his
relative so it's a it's a really direct
story about a person
who worked hard throughout his life in order
to build a beautiful castle for himself and
his family. It was his dream in life.
And he did
work on
getting the finances and working hard and building
businesses and so on and so forth. And
eventually he was building that castle
and
again he resorted to financing and all of
that stuff
the day
the day he was supposed to move into
this
palace or castle or whatever,
into this mansion,
the night before he passed away.
No 1 expected that healthy, young,
and he made the transition.
Your dream doesn't have to be a big
mansion or anything. All of us have hopes
in life, it's human nature.
Shift your hope to be with Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
And remember death often.
It will keep you in check and it
will help you fix your ways.
It's not don't feel pity for yourself. Allah
knows what he's doing with his creation, and
he's running our affairs in the best possible
way ever.
Allah When
you say Alhamdulillah, you know that Allah knows
what he's doing, that Allah is doing the
best for you. It's just a question of
whether you make the right choices, whether you
understand this and appreciate it and act in
gratitude.
We are in safe hands.
We have the best plan for our life,
but we have to align ourselves with it.
We have to have good thoughts and beliefs
about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and things will
start to fix themselves.
We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to guide
our hearts and open
the basira and the insight in our chest
so that we worship him alone. Today Insha'Allah
we have guests from,
Aurora Masjid.
Alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed this beautiful community
and I've been there a couple of times.
May Allah reward them in the past few
years.
They've done a tremendous work in that community
and recently
they have, purchased a building that once was
a church.
So they purchased the building and it's right
in downtown
Aurora.
And they've done great work in the community
along with their imam,
Sheikh Rif Atz,
Zalakhel who is actually the chair of the
imam council in Canada.
May Allah reward them all. So they are
our guests today
and they their closing
is next week I believe and they have
to pay or make the full down payment.
So let's help them out inshallah, subhanahu wa
ta'ala, and consider this to be a contribution
for the sake of this great Dawah effort.
Make sure that you do this for the
sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and as
a means inshaAllah to prepare ourselves
for death. So may Allah reward
them and help them, and may Allah make,
grant them success in their endeavors, help them
with whatever you can, be generous to them,