Zia Sheikh – The shortness of the worldly life compared to the Hereafter Day 17 6222016
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Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulillah.
One of the underlying themes in the Qur
'an is a reminder to the human being
that the life that he is in is
a very short life indeed.
And the main focus that a person should
be striving for is the life of the
hereafter, which is eternal.
And there are many instances in the Qur
'an that kind of remind us about the
shortness of this life.
Allah SWT, He says in the beginning of
Surah Al-Mu'minoon, and this is one of
those examples which show the shortness of the
life.
Allah SWT says, Walaqad khalaqna al-insana min
sulalatim yumteen Indeed, We created the human being
from the essence of soil.
Meaning, when Allah created the very first human,
he was created from soil.
Or another meaning is that the human, the
nutrition that the mother and the father get,
it is derived from the soil.
So, even when a person eats any animal,
the nutrition that that animal gets is from
the soil, and then we eat that animal.
Or that a person's nutrition comes from the
soil directly in the form of fruits and
vegetables, and then that human being reproduces, has
children, and that is basically how humanity continues.
Or like I said, the first human was
created from soil.
And then Allah says, Thumma ja'allahu nutfatan
fee qarari makeen We created, we made him
a nutfah, meaning a drop in a very
protected environment.
This is the environment of the womb.
Allah created and protected the human being in
that protected environment.
Thumma khalaqnan nutfata alaqatan Then we made that
drop, drop of *.
It was turned into an alaqa.
Alaqa means something that hangs.
Something that hangs.
And what happens is when the egg is
fertilized, the egg embeds itself into the wall
of the uterus.
It basically hangs on the wall of the
uterus.
It embeds itself.
So this is why it's called alaqa.
Thumma khalaqnan alaqata mudgatan Then this alaqa, this
hanging thing becomes mudgha, meaning it becomes like
a chewed, chewed up piece of flesh.
Thumma khalaqnan mudgha ta'ibana And then, from
this chewed up piece of flesh, becomes bones.
Fakasawna al'ibama lahma And the bones become
clothed with flesh.
Thumma insha'nahu khalqan akhar So, after all
of this procedure of approximately nine months in
the womb, Allah SWT says that this fetus,
it becomes a new creation.
It was a drop of sperm which fertilized
the egg, and then it went through all
of these stages, and then it becomes a
new creation, meaning a walking, talking human being
is created after nine months.
Fatabarakallahu ahsanul khalifeen How glorified is Allah, how
blessed is Allah SWT, who is the best
of creators.
The thing is that the birth of a
baby, it's so commonplace.
Everybody is having babies, everybody has children, new
babies being born every single minute.
But it becomes, because it's so commonplace, it's
an everyday thing and everybody takes it for
granted.
The reality is that it's a miracle that
happens every day in front of our eyes.
And maybe just for the immediate parents, they
feel that wonderful nature of a new life
that has come into their family.
It's more special.
But because we see this all the time,
we just say congratulations to the parents and
so on, but that's pretty much what we
think about it.
But it is a miracle that happens in
front of our eyes every day.
So the creator of this miracle, Allah is
saying, Fatabarakallahu ahsanul khalifeen How glorious and blessed
is Allah SWT, who is the best of
creators.
So, this creation is mentioned, the baby is
born, it's mentioned, and then the very next
ayah, Allah SWT says, Thumma innakum ba'da thalika
la mayyitoon Indeed, after that, you're going to
die.
Okay, what happened?
The baby is born, he grows up, he's
going to start walking, he's going to start
talking, then he's going to be big enough
to go to kindergarten, and then from kindergarten
he's going to go to grade school, and
then middle school, then high school, high school
graduation, then college, and he's going to start
a job, he's going to get a family,
he's going to get a wife, he's going
to get kids, he's going to have all
this life.
But Allah SWT skipped all of that, and
said in the very next ayah, after the
baby is born, Thumma innakum ba'da thalika la
mayyitoon After that, you're going to die.
So, this basically tells us the shortness of
the life, and the purpose of our life
is death itself.
It's not that we focus on this life
to such a degree that we forget about
our hereafter.
We understand that this life is temporary, it's
fleeting, it's just like a person waiting at
a station, waiting for his train to take
him, and the train is basically the angel
of death.
So, the shortness of the life is emphasized,
but Allah SWT is just skipping the whole
life itself, and telling us that you're going
to die one day.
All of the life is irrelevant if you
haven't prepared for your death.
Thumma innakum yawm al-qiyamati tuba'athoon And
then on the Day of Judgment, you're going
to be resurrected.
So, this is one example of how Allah
SWT shows the shortness of the life.
If you think about how He described the
procedure in the womb, how it was created,
it's longer than the actual description of life
itself, where there is no description of the
life.
Towards the end of the Surah, and I'm
doing Surah al-Mu'minoon here, Allah SWT describes
the exchange that will take place between the
people and between Allah SWT on the Day
of Judgment, and how they're going to be
punished, and part of the conversation is also
the shortness of this life.
Allah SWT says, fa-itha nufiqa fi suri
fa-laa ansaba baynahum yawma idhi walaya tasa
'aloon When the sur is blown, when the
trumpet is blown, then there will be no
relationship between people, and neither will they ask
each other.
On the Day of Judgment, as other verses
indicate, the father will run away from the
son, the son from the father, the husband
from the wife, the wife from the husband.
All relatives that used to be close to
each other, they're going to run away from
each other, because they don't want to help
each other, because everyone is going to be
worried about themselves.
In another verse, al-akhilla'u yawma idhim
ba'duhum li ba'din a'du illa'l-muttaqeen The
close friends, al-akhilla', this is the plural
of khalil, khalil is one who is a
very close friend.
On the Day of Judgment, they're going to
be enemies of each other, except for the
people of taqwa.
So, fa-laa ansaba baynahum, there's not going
to be any relationship between the people, and
neither will they ask each other, or will
they be able to ask each other for
anything.
The only thing that will matter is the
person's own a'mal, fa-man thaqulat mawazinuhu fa
-ulaika hun muflihun The person whose deeds become
heavy, then those people are going to be
successful.
fa-man khaffat mawazinuhu fa-ulaika allatheena khasiroo
anfusahum fee jahannama khalidoon Those people whose deeds
become light, those are the ones that were
at a loss, they are losing out on
the Day of Judgment, and they're going to
be in the hellfire forever and ever.
So, we see this again and again mentioned
in the Quran, the weight of the deeds
that are going to be done.
The good deeds, bad deeds being weighed, and
this is something that, especially the Christians criticize
Islam for, that how come you focus so
much on deeds, and the fact that your
deeds are being counted, your deeds are being
multiplied, and you're getting good deeds.
Why is it?
Can you not just rely on the mercy
of God, or the grace of God, as
the Christians call it?
The answer to that is that the Prophet,
in particular he said, that none of you
will enter Paradise, except through the mercy of
Allah SWT.
The Sahaba said, wala anta ya Rasool Allah,
not even you, O Prophet of Allah.
The Prophet SAW said, wala ana illa in
yata thammadani Allah bi rahmatin min, not even
me, except if Allah SWT, He covers me
with His mercy.
So, even the Prophet SAW relied upon the
mercy.
So, why then the mention of deeds all
the time, and the deeds being weighed?
Because deeds are part and parcel of the
human existence.
Good deeds, and doing good deeds to each
other, doing good deeds with each other, being
a good practicing human being, is what makes
the human existence beautiful in this world, and
the cognizance that all of these deeds are
being counted, good and bad are being counted,
and the person will be held accountable for
them on the Day of Judgment, makes a
person aware.
It makes him cautious that my deeds are
being recorded, there's an angel on the right
side, there's an angel on the left side,
and I will have to see what I
have done with my own eyes on the
Day of Judgment.
It's not something that will be swept under
the rug.
So, that's why Allah SWT, He makes us
recognize that we are going to be held
accountable for our deeds, good or bad, so
that's why we need to be careful.
Other than that, if we were to compare
our deeds with the mercy of Allah SWT,
and all that He's given us, then our
deeds are really irrelevant, in the great scheme
of things, they are irrelevant in comparison to
the eyes that He gave us, in comparison
to the ability to walk, the ability to
talk, the ability to remember things, the ability
to digest our food, the ability to taste
our food, and all of the things that
Allah SWT blessed us with, these are nothing
in comparison to the deeds, nothing in comparison
to these blessings that Allah SWT has given
us.
So, after that Allah says, The fire will
be singeing their faces, and they will be
kalihoon, this has two meanings, kalih, one of
the meanings is that when you have an
animal, whose head has been put into the
fire, and the fire is scorching the skin
and the flesh off, and only the bones
are remaining, this is one of the meanings
of kalih, and another meaning of kalih is,
absan shadeed, abas means frowning, a person who
obviously when he is in pain, he is
going to be grimacing in pain, he is
going to be frowning, so this is another
meaning of kalih, so while they are going
to be punished, this is going to be
their state, Alam takun ayati tutla alaykum fakuntum
biha tukadhiboon, Allah SWT is going to ask
them the question, that weren't our ayat recited
upon you, and you continue to reject them,
so the khatibs and the lecturers, they used
to come and tell you about the verses
from the Quran, and you used to hear
them being recited in taraweeh, and you used
to have translations of the Quran, and yet
you continued to reject these verses that were
recited upon you, they will say, Rabbana ghalabat
alayna shikwatuna wakunna qawman dhaleen, meaning they will
make an excuse, that our bad luck overtook
us, this is just our bad luck, the
reality is they are not going to even
admit to their mistake, and they are going
to refer to it as bad luck, and
they will say that we became misguided, wakunna
qawman dhaleen, Rabbana akhrijna minha fa inu'udna
fa inna dhalimoon, fa laqsa'u fiha wa
la tukadhiboon, they are going to say, Oh
Allah, take us out from here, and if
we come back here again, meaning if you
give us a chance, we go back to
the world, and then if we end up
back here again, then really we are going
to be wrongdoers, that we are going to
be truly in the wrong, if we make
the same mistake twice, but really there is
no opportunity to make that same mistake twice,
because we only get one chance to get
it right, Allah SWT is going to say
to them, ikhsa'u fiha wa la tukadhiboon,
go back, go back and do not talk
to me, innahu kana fareequm min ibadi yaqooloon,
Rabbana aamanna faqfilana warhamna, wa anta khayrun rahimeen,
fattakhathumuhum sikhriyan, hatta ansawkum dhikri, wakuntum minhum tadhakoon,
there was a group of people, that used
to always turn to me, and they used
to make dua to me, they used to
be always in submission, and humbleness to me,
and you people, instead of following their footsteps,
and taking a lesson from them, you used
to make fun of them, and you used
to joke about them, fattakhathumuhum sikhriyan, meaning you
used to joke about those people, hatta ansawkum
dhikri, wakuntum minhum tadhakoon, and you spent your
life in ridiculing them, to such a degree,
that you even forgot to remember me, in
the course of making fun of them, so
death overtook you, while you were joking and
laughing, about these people, and as for those
people Allah says, inni jazaytuhumul yawma bima sabaru,
annahum humul faizoon, those people that you used
to make fun of, today I'm going to
reward them, and give them what they deserve,
and they are successful people, annahum humul faizoon,
now the exchange takes place, about the shortness
of the life, Allah SWT is going to
ask them, kam labithtum fil ardi adada sineen,
Allah is going to ask them, how long
did you stay in the earth, maybe a
few years, adada sineen, the response will be
from those people, labithna yawman, aw ba'da yawmin,
fas'alil aadeen, maybe the worldly life was
just like a day, or part of a
day, ask the ones that were counting, ask
the angels, because it seems to us, the
people, the criminals will say, that the life
just passed us by, and it seems like
one day, it was either one day, or
part of a day, and it's easy to
basically think about, and talk about, what is
going to happen on the Day of Judgment,
but us, who are sitting here, 35 years
old, 40 years old, 50 years old, if
we reflect back on our past life, what
does it feel like?
It feels like just a day, that went
by, like a flash, if you were to
be asked, what's your life story, how long
is it going to take us, to describe
that life story, 15 minutes, an hour, 2
hours, not more than that, so this is
what our life is like, to understand what
our future life, is going to be like,
we need to reflect upon, the life that
has passed us by, so these people are
going to say, that we lived in the
world for, maybe a day, or a part
of a day, so Allah SWT is going
to respond, yes, it was a short time,
you only stayed for a very short while,
if only you knew, so in comparison to
the hereafter, when you compare, something finite, meaning
something that is limited, to something unlimited, there's
no comparison, so the worldly life, limited, the
life of the hereafter, unlimited, eternal, never ending,
so the comparison between them, is nothing, you
cannot do it, it's impossible to compare, between
the two, so Allah SWT is saying, that
yes, it was a very short time, but
you didn't realize it, you should have taken
that short life, and made a benefit out
of it, by worshipping me, and then finally,
did you think, that you've been created, as
a wasteful, for a wasteful thing, abath means,
something you do, for no reason whatsoever, so
do you think, that you were created for
no reason, and that you're not going to
return back to us, so this selection of
verses, amongst many many others, should impress upon
us, that this life that Allah SWT has
given us, short, but very very valuable indeed,
valuable in the sense, that our success in
the hereafter, is dependent upon this life, the
more we are inclined towards, making our hereafter,
and beautifying our hereafter, it is dependent upon,
what we do in this worldly life, if
we waste this life, then our discussion with
Allah SWT will be, like these people are
having a discussion, and if not, if we
benefit from this life, and we take care
of it, and we cherish it, and we
regard it as being valuable, and we make
sure we are obedient to Allah SWT, then
we will be amongst those people, who are
faizun, and successful, and these are the ones
that we should be, looking up towards, and
following in the footsteps of, I pray that
Allah SWT gives us, tawfiq to understand and
practice, what has been said and heard.