What is a Good Ending

For our own success and our own well being Allah subhanaw taala commands us what is translated as all believers. Be mindful of Allah be conscious of Allah as he deserves, have Taqwa of Allah as is his right upon you, and do not die except in a state of submission in the state of Islam in a state of worship. May Allah subhanaw taala allow us to live upon taqwa and Islam and Imana to die upon it as well along I mean,

one time in a classroom setting, a teacher asked what is a good ending? What does it mean to have a good ending, and of course, without more contexts, the responses were diverse.

A good ending, in what sense? A good ending for this class for this whole class, for your program for your diets for your habits, for your life, what is a good ending? Oftentimes, when you explore the writing of fiction, and the documentation of history, you'll find that many people are looking for a certain type of feeling at the end of a novel, or a movie or TV show. They're looking for people living happily ever after they're looking for the main character to have succeeded. They're looking for some kind of conflict resolution. They're oftentimes looking for happily ever after marriage. In their perspective, they're looking for some kind of success or hero versus villain. And

these are very common tropes. We know this is very common in script writing, in books and in movies. The reality is in Islam, when you talk about human experiences, and you talk about the purpose of life, and you talk about what it means to have a good ending, what does it mean to have a good ending? You find that, in conclusion, in short, a good ending in Islam is not always about worldly or material success. Again, a good ending in Islam is not always about a worldly or material success. How do we know this? We know this throughout the Quran, the emphasis on the purpose of life and what it means to leave this world in a good state. But of course, let's talk about lived

reality. Look at the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

It is true that some of them struggled for many years, and they succeeded with battle after battle after battle after battle. But let's look at the very first decisive battle in Islamic history, the Battle of budgeter, you find that despite the fact that the Muslims and they were much smaller number, were given a worldly success 313 over versus over 1000 of the Qureshi pagans, they were given a worldly success and Allah subhanaw taala tells us in the Quran that he sent down the angels to assist them. The Battle of bedded was a very decisive one historically. But we also know that some people were martyred. Does that mean those who survived their ending is good, and those who

died as martyrs or shahada, their ending was bad. Of course not. Those who left the shahada are also successful, they're also experiencing a good ending. And the reality is when you look at the different types of shahada martyrdom in Islam, as we mentioned previous what was before, it's of many different types, the highest ranking, the most rewarding yes is on the battlefield, like the example of the companions here. But there are over 30 different types of shahada mentioned authentic hadith amongst them, the one who dies in a fire the mother who dies while giving birth, the one who dies due to drowning, the one who dies due to a stomach cancer, and on and on, there are many

examples. The point is that leaving this world, leaving this world on its own does not mean that this was a bad ending, meaning the ending of life. The cut off of future ambitions and goals and dreams does not mean this person had a bad ending, not from the Islamic perspective whatsoever. A good ending can be like the example of the man in New York City over 15 years ago, came he came to the masjid after a short prayer had just finished. And his friend told him where to go, he came late. He arrived to the masjid he's like, I'm ready to become Muslim. There's a sense of urgency.

Anyways, they helped him he embraced Islam. They give him some materials to start with. And he's like, I will be back for the first prayer tomorrow morning. Fajr prayer. They gave him some of those books that people have when they first become Muslim, and they wanted to teach him swallow the very next morning.

As they were leaving the Masjid. I don't know how far from the masjid but as one of the Messiah told us firsthand, that brother who just embrace Islam was hit by a vehicle and he passed away. May Allah have mercy on him. He did not pray a single prayer, but he died with sincerity and humility in his heart and ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. gave him the blessing of becoming Muslim and his slate is now clean. Because this is an act of Toba from * coming to the truth coming to Allah subhanaw taala we don't know how we'll leave this world. We don't know how

We will depart from this life what is a good ending? We have examples of good endings when people are tested with hardships, may Allah alleviate our hardships and our brothers and sisters. But as they are experiencing hardship, they hold on to their faith. There are people who lose their faith in times of hardship. They want to worship Allah only when things are going well in a material sense. The worship Allah on their terms, may Allah protect us from any kind of fitna, Aloma me. So the reality is when you look at the lived human experience, and the stories of the Quran, and they are almost 23 or 24% of the Quran, in terms of the number of verses, you find that the people have

certain prophets, they're ending is mentioned explicitly, like prophet who died his Salam Prophet saw the How to his Salam. Yes, there were some believers, but for the most part, people rejected the clear evidence that this is a prophet of God, the message that he came with, and Allah subhanaw taala told us how he gave them an opportunity through these prophets, and then they were punished when it was known that none of them no matter what they would not believe anymore, they were punished. And their punishment, their ending is detailed in the Quran for a reason. These are lessons for leader nations, these are lessons for us. You look at the example of new or how to his

salon. Yes, he had a good ending in terms of being saved and the believers who are less than 100 with him were saved by his own son chose to flee to a mountain thinking with some pride that I'm going to be safe on this day. So are we in jeopardy now, Simoni Minalima go to go to a mountain that will save me from this flood

and your headaches and I was pleading to his son to ride with us it come manner ride with us.

And Allah subhanaw taala told us the waves came in between them.

And he became amongst those who drowned with the disbelievers. So when you look at the examples of good endings, you see a really interesting case study of Surah told budaj Now in the Madani must have in the print that is very common. It's one page and the surah proximately. One page, and you'll have within it references to three different nations, three different people. Amongst them, you have a reference to fit around. But specifically, the one I want to talk about is the people of the ditch. These were Muslims, they submitted they believed in Allah subhanaw taala, because of a miracle that they saw on the young boy, so long story, I think we had a hook on this before they

became Muslim, and the king told them he threatened them. If you don't leave this faith, you will all be killed. Whoever refuses to let go of this faith will be killed.

And they dug a ditch for them lit and kindled a large fire, and they were threatened, they held on to their faith and they died. And Allah subhanaw taala details, their history, their story, their experience in the Quran, for us to recite until the end of times and to learn from

you would look at a story like this and say they were killed. Is this a bad ending? No, they were all Shahada. They're all martyrs. So sometimes we need to take a step back and redefine what it means to have a good ending. The longest and most detailed single story in one sequence in the Quran, the story of use of Allah His Salam. Pretty much most people know the story. Yusuf Ali salaam story is detailed in the entire Quran. Once and it is in Surah Yusuf, his actual story is found only once, and it is in Surah Yusuf, you find that what looks to be a happy ending, that he succeeded the dream came true. He was given a position as a minister his family came, the brothers admitted

confessed what they did to him that they tried to hurt him harm him kill him.

When you look at the ending of the story, some people say, Well, this is a happy ending. This is an example that's rare in the Quran, a happy worldly ending. But if you take a step back and you look at the rest of the story, you see what before that ending, you find a Prophet Yusuf Ali salaam suffered a lot, struggle with so much his own brothers, your own family, throwing him into the well, the hardships he went through in the palace of the minister, being accused of certain things, being thrown behind bars and he was innocent. Prophet Yusuf Ali said I went through many struggles and hardships before what we see as a worldly success or worldly victory. And at the end of the day, the

point of all of this is to say, Happy material endings are not the goal. In Islam, we see comfort at times. But comfort is not guaranteed in this life. May Allah protect us. May Allah make us grateful for all the comforts that we have. May Allah alleviate the fears of those who are suffering and struggling around the world, we find that a happy material success is not the goal in Islam. And in fact, there isn't a concept in Islam of the pursuit of happiness in the sense of materialism, there's a pursuit of contentment, tranquility in the heart, and a person can be content with very little and a person can have a lot and be very miserable and empty inside looking for more and more

and more. We see in the Quran we seen the Sunnah, we seen the books of history

An emphasis on where you came from and where you're headed, who are you at the end of the day. And so I want to just mention these three quick reminders when it comes to where we came from and where we're headed. Number one, if you want to have some humility, in a moment in which there's some pride, if you ever felt any kind of pride whatsoever, may Allah protect us. Think about where biologically you came from. Think about the reality that we come from nothing. We come from things that we don't like to talk about. And the soul was given to us as a blessing from Allah subhanaw taala. We are souls with vehicles with bodies intertwined. And this will bring some humility. If you

want to have more humility, think about death and where your body is headed and where your soul is headed. Think about the reality that the body will deteriorate.

And this will bring some humility.

However, in between birth and death, these two reminders of humility is the tests of the state of the heart is the test that you will not become an arrogant person because you have a job because you think you're better than others. Because you have a certain home you live in a certain city because of your ethnicity, your language doesn't really matter. There is no reason or permission or excuse or room in Islam to ever think you are better than other people to look down on other people. The Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam defined this as Kibet as arrogance. And the second part of arrogance is to reject the truth when it comes to that when it comes to you accept this is true, I must change

and the reality is oftentimes we don't accept the truth when it comes to us. May Allah subhanaw taala protect us and forgive us. Hello atta Allen inszone phenol Mina de la mia Quinn che and metacoda Allah Subhana Allah tells us in Surah Tadahiro Surah, till in sun, a reminder about time or humanity, the two nicknames for this surah I'm also Palatine reminds us that there was a period of time in which we were not even mentioned, we were not mentioned we did not exist you do not walk on this earth. So if Allah blesses you with a job if Allah blesses you with any kind of privilege, or test of this life, and you know that others don't have this test, or this privilege, or this

blessing, don't ever look down on others, for as quickly as it came to you. And as you quickly came into this world, it can leave you as well. May Allah subhanaw taala grant us humility. There's a young brother that asked me recently, what are some signs that our ending in life is a good ending, and when you leave this world you left in a good state? Generally speaking, most of us know that yes, towards the end of one's life. If you're being righteous, you're taking care of your prayers, your character is good, you're not committing sins, you see the shahada at least once towards the end of your life, or as the last statement, you know that these are good signs. In addition, some of

the scholars say is dying as a Shaheed, we mentioned, there are many different types of Shahada. Another is the Janaza prayer itself, that it was decreed for this person to have a janazah prayer for at least 40 5060 100 people to come and pray. There's a specific Hadith that mentions those who die and 40 people pray janazah upon them, they will be forgiven in that state, meaning the one who died will be forgiven. Another thing that is mentioned is that often times when those who pass away and they are righteous, they are being washed or they're being buried, that sometimes people are smelling something good coming from them something that they cannot fully describe. And there are

other examples as well. But the end of the day all comes down to their Taqwa their righteousness, their consistency. What did they do in their last moments their last days? May Allah subhanaw taala Have mercy on us on what we did Isaiah uses, Rahim Allah Allah what all the Allahu is considered by some scholars because of how righteous he was. And he was a descendant of Akbar. He was considered to be like the fifth of the rightly guided Hoda and Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Rahim Allah, He, within two years of being the Khalifa, he changed so many things, reformed so many policies. And in fact, there were so many injustices during the Omiya dynasty that he repealed that he changed. At the end of his

life, he was in a way poisoned and slowly was dying at the end of his life. On his deathbed, his wife who reports this story, his wife, Fatima Rahim, Allah and her brother, they were both there. And they reported and this is found a number of books of biography, that at one point at the end of his life, he said Leave leave the room completely. And in one report, he says a welcome to these faces that I see faces that are neither the faces of humans nor Jin meaning it's as though he was seeing something else and Allah knows best. But then in particular in the narrations that we find is that he kept repeating one specific if he kept going back to this one verse, in one of the narration

said he would repeat it and another he said he mentioned it. What is this verse that he says as he passes away? Ticket Darro claro tuna Jhabua De La Nina you read do not renew one fill all the water for sada wala Kiba Toulon motel clean,

that eternal home in the hereafter. We reserve meaning last sponsor reserves for those who are not looking for tear

Renu or corruption in the earth. And the ultimate outcome is only for the righteous and what typically is only for those who have Taqwa God consciousness. He mentioned this idea. And then they heard silence, meaning he stopped repeating it over and over and over and eventually went into check. And in fact, he had passed away at Ohio law. What's interesting about this is, it's really, really remarkable if you are just to think deeply about it. Allah subhanaw taala is linking arrogance, pride, corruption, tyranny, to all types of crimes in this world. And you will find that an increase in arrogance amongst humanity or a society or an individual, you will find an increase

in immorality and injustice and abuse in just one family. You can observe such a thing, that if the head of the household is arrogant or has pride in their hearts, that there will be some immorality, there'll be some corruption, there'll be some impact of their oppression or their abuse. May Allah protect us and grant us humility. So increased arrogance leads to increased crime in the world, may Allah protect us. And the second is that your position in the next life is proportionate to how much humility you live upon in this life. And Allah subhanho wa Taala says, Well, if we were to lean more to clean, the good outcome, the ultimate outcome is for those who have Taqwa, those who are afraid

of breaking the laws of Allah, those who are so mindful of Allah subhanaw taala they're not coming close to the lines, the boundaries that Allah has revealed, and if they accidentally fall into sin, they immediately go back to Allah subhana wa Tada. So every time you find yourself perhaps angry or about to react to a situation or oppress someone or insult someone, remember while our athletes who didn't want to clean the good news for the believers, right after this, Allah subhanaw taala gives us some good news. Mangia Bill has an anti fella who Hi Domina whoever brings on the Day of Judgment whoever comes with a good deed, they will be given much more than it. Many of the good deeds are

multiplied, look at the mercy of Allah. And then woman Jah, A, B, C or D whoever comes with a sin fella use Alladhina amanu sejati lemma CAN WE ARE maroon they will not to be given except that as a compensation or punishment consequence for what they used to do meaning what the sin is for the sin. It doesn't mean it's a light punishment, but the sin is not going to be multiplied unfairly. Everyone who deals with any kind of purification or punishment in the next life, it's because they actually deserve it. And Allah subhanaw taala is Al Hakim, the all wise. So once again, as we go about life as you go about your weekly work, your studies, your education, many of your family are

starting your university classes again, your internships, as many people are raising their children, as many people are doing different things and trying to figure out the next move in life. Remember the promise of Allah subhanaw taala that the believer always has a good ending. The believer always has a good ending so long as they hold on to that Taqwa so long as they hold on to their Eman and Allah subhanaw taala. And if you ever find yourself in a heated argument with a loved one, in a bad situation in terms of conflict, don't let it end on a bad note. Don't let a situation leave with some kind of division or conflict or enmity in the hearts the same way that when you start to your

university classes, your high school classes, you should be looking ahead, you should be looking at the end. What do you want to do? Do you want to celebrate or regret? Do you want to pass or do you want to fail? If you want to pass then focus put in the effort that is required of you. And at the end of your day, every single day. Ask Allah subhanaw taala for forgiveness because we have many shortcomings for morning tonight. And of course thank Allah subhanaw taala for all the blessings that He has given us. May Allah subhanaw taala forgive us ask Allah for forgiveness. He's the author giving the Ever Merciful, a Julio holy how that was done. Fulani, Willa confessed of Pharaoh in the

Hall of voodoo Rahim.