Your Provision for Leaving
Since 2012-11-27
My dear brother: we need so much to have a reflective pause about the fact of death; this bitter fact by which man leaves one life to another and departs from one home to another.
Brother: Where is your Provision for Leaving?
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
All Praises and thanks be to Allah, we praise Him and seek His help and forgiveness and seek refuge in Him from the evils of ourselves and the evils of our actions, whomever Allah guides is not to be misled, and whomever He misleads is not to be guided. I testify that there is no god but Allah alone Who has no partners, and that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger, prayers and peace of Allah be upon him.
My dear brother: we need so much to have a reflective pause about the fact of death; this bitter fact by which man leaves one life to another and departs from one home to another.
It is the fact that has bewildered minds... it has shattered the aspirations of immortality... it has forced people, though of different ranks, to see life as a transient passing-by station… where there is neither immortality nor settling.
A party of people has understood life… so they believed in Allah as their Lord, in Islam as their religion, and in Muhammad as their Prophet and Messenger. They have known from their religion that life is an afflictive journey through which a believer travels to his Lord hoping for provisions that conduct him to Him victoriously and unscathed.
Another party of them has understood the triviality, shortness and mortality of life. They, however, have lost their way. They have taken life as their settling place. They are satisfied with it as a home. They do not prepare provisions for the journey of retribution! They are in contradiction, disorder, contrast and torment.
My dear brother: from which party are you?
Have you prepared provisions for leaving?
You are but a passer-by
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, commends you to be a passer-by. He has said: "be in this world like a stranger or a passer-by", [Reported by Al-Bukhari]
«كن في الدنيا كأنك غريب أو عابر سبيل» رواه البخاري
Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, to whom the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has given the previous advice used to say: "If you enter into the evening do not wait for the morning, and if you enter into the morning do not wait for the evening, and take from your health for your illness, and from your life for your death." [Reported by al-Bukhari]
«إذا أمسيت فلا تنتظر الصباح، وإذا أصبحت فلا تنتظر المساء، وخذ من صحتك لمرضك، ومن حياتك لموتك» رواه البخاري
Brother: Whether you consider yourself as a passer-by or as an immortal resident, in the end you will leave and in all cases you will pass by it!
Wishing for immortality is but a transient shadow... {And We granted not to any human being immortality before you (O Muhammad): then if you die, would they live forever?} [Surat Al-Anbiyâ' 21:34]
{وَمَا جَعَلْنَا لِبَشَرٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ الْخُلْدَ أَفَإِن مِّتَّ فَهُمُ الْخَالِدُونَ} الأنبياء: 34
Transliteration: Wama jaAAalna libasharin min qablika alkhulda afain mitta fahumu alkhalidoona
This is how Allah has created life… and this is how He wished life to be... {Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will perish. (26) And the Face of your Lord full of Majesty and Honour will remain forever.} [Surat Ar-Rahmân 55:26-27]
{كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ (26) وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ} الرحمن: 26-27
Transliteration: Kullu man AAalayha fanin (26) Wayabqa wajhu rabbika thoo aljalali waalikrami
Everything, no matter how long they will live, is departing. The brightness of life, no matter how shining it is, is vanishing; its column, no matter how straight it is, is leaning.
O you who have forgotten his day of leaving
I see you inattentive to the separating death
You do not refrain by the travelers to decay
They left the whole world as it is
Leaving it with only a piece of cotton and cloth
They did not inhabit an empty house
They are underground dead and are shunned
By a friend and an uncle who were faithful formerly
Tomorrow or the day after you will be beside them
Lonely lying in tomb
This who you wish his intimacy will shun you
You will not see one faithful to your promise
Be ready for death because it is
Near and let away wishes and hopes
A person entered upon to Abu Dharr, He looked around the house and said: O Abu Dharr: Where are your belongings?"
He said: We have a home to where we direct our good belongings.
He said: You must have some belongings as long as you are here.
He said: The owner of the house does not let us stay in it!
Ponder, my brother, in such noble understanding of Abu Dharr in saying: "The owner of the house does not let us stay in it"
The house is the world and the owner is Allah. Allah Almighty has said: {"O my people! 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."} [Surat Ghâfir 40:39]
{يَا قَوْمِ إِنَّمَا هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا مَتَاعٌ وَإِنَّ الْآخِرَةَ هِيَ دَارُ الْقَرَارِ} غافر: 39
Transliteration: Ya qawmi innama hathihi alhayatu alddunya mataAAun wainna alakhirata hiya daru alqarari
Is there a wise man who decorates a passing-by place knowing that he is soon to leave it?!
Some people entered upon a righteous man and scrutinized his house saying: “We see your house as that of a jaunted person”. He said: “Jaunted? Not really, but I will be really expelled.”
'Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz said: "The world is not your House of settlement, Allah has ruled that it will perish, and that its people will depart, so, may Allah have mercy on you, make the best of this journey, And take a provision with you for it, and the best provision is At-Taqwa (piety, righteousness)"
Better than the previous words are the words of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: "what am I with this world? What have I to do with this worldly life? I and the world are like a traveler who stayed under the shadow of a tree and then he has gone away and left it" [Reported by At-Tirmidhi and Ahmed, authentic]
«ما لي وللدنيا إنما مثلي و مثل الدنيا كراكب ظل تحت شجرة ثم راح و تركها «رواه الإمام أحمد والترمذي، صحيح
Brother: You are, anyway, involved in such leaving. Your days drive you to that and your steps make you nearer to it. In this life you are obliged to pass and you are a subject to a destined death.
Your death is a separation between one life and another. It is not the end of your journey. It is just a move to a new world, the intervening stage. A stage of the terror of the tomb and the questions inside it, resurrection and its conditions and the longevity and magnificence of retribution… {"Did you think that We had created you in play (without any purpose), and that you would not be brought back to Us?"} [Surat Al-Mu'minûnn 23:115].
{أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ عَبَثاً وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ} المؤمنون: 115
Transliteration: Afahasibtum annama khalaqnakum AAabathan waannakum ilayna la turjaAAoona
To understand such fact, my brother, Allah has sent the prophets and messengers. All of them agreed on such a fact as they said: {"O my people! 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."} [Surat Ghâfir 40:39]
{يَا قَوْمِ إِنَّمَا هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا مَتَاعٌ وَإِنَّ الْآخِرَةَ هِيَ دَارُ الْقَرَارِ} غافر: 39
Transliteration: Ya qawmi innama hathihi alhayatu alddunya mataAAun wainna alakhirata hiya daru alqarari
Do not be negligent because you have not been created in vain. If you see people use their acumen in this worldly life, use yours for the Hereafter. Think about your departure. Make all your concerns for the afterworld. Remember that death comes suddenly, so be prepared for its suddenness!
Think about the moment when you are dying. What will be your final deed and what is your state, then!
Contemplate on people when they are carrying you on their shoulders… burying and bidding you farewell. They possess neither hurt nor benefit for you. How are you meeting your Lord that day?!
How will you enter the intervening stage alone?
How will you respond?!
Will you be happy then or sad?!
Present your deeds, and look at what you have performed: {Nay! Man will be a witness against himself [as his body parts (skin, hands, legs, etc.) will speak about his deeds],} [Surat Al-Qiyâmah 75:14]
{بَلِ الْإِنسَانُ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ بَصِيرَةٌ} القيامة: 14
Transliteration: Bali alinsanu AAala nafsihi baseeratun
Ibn Aj-Jawzi, may Allah have mercy on him, advised his son saying: "This who thinks about the worldly life before his existence sees a long period. If he thinks about it after dying, he sees a long period; and will know that stay in tombs lasts for a long time. If he thinks about the Day of Resurrection he will know that it is fifty thousand years. If he thinks about staying in Paradise or Hell, he will find it everlasting. When he rethinks about staying in this worldly life, say sixty years, he finds that he spends thirty years in sleeping and about fifteen years in juvenility. If he calculates the rest, most of it is spent in lustrous desires, foods and gains. If he derives the deeds for the Hereafter, he will find a lot of hypocrisy and inattentiveness. In what cost do you buy the eternal life? The price is this few hours!!"
You are driven and wound up by the stages of the road... Whenever one hour passes a stage passes.
We walk to death each moment
Our days are wound up and they are stages
Death is the real true that
Is not valid if mistaken by wishes
How ugly is remissness in the time of youth
And how it is when grey hair covers head
You leave the world with provinces of righteousness
Your life is days that are little
One of the righteous ancestors wrote to one brother of his: "My brother you think that you are staying. You are, however, always walking. You are driven strongly. Death is heading to you. This worldly life is wound up behind you. Your spent life will not return to you till the Day of mutual loss and gain (i.e. loss for the disbelievers as they will enter the Hell-fire and gain for the believers as they will enter Paradise)."
Your provisions in this journey
My brother... you whose heart is certain of the long travel and knows that you are to return to Allah and stand before Him, do not make your deeds in contradiction to your faith. Do not let negligence decay and weaken it till it makes you forget your provisions and your death.
Negligence has made some people forget their provisions for the travel, so Allah has told them upon coming to Him: {Now We have removed from you your covering, and sharp is your sight this Day!"} [Surat Qâf 50:22]
{لَقَدْ كُنتَ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مِّنْ هَذَا فَكَشَفْنَا عَنكَ غِطَاءكَ فَبَصَرُكَ الْيَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ} ق: 22
Transliteration: Laqad kunta fee ghaflatin min hatha fakashafna AAanka ghitaaka fabasaruka alyawma hadeedun
Al-Fudayl Ibn 'Ayyâdh said to a man: How old are you? He answered: sixty years. So the man said: To Allah we belong, and truly to Him we shall return.
Al-Fudayl said: Do you know its explanation? You are saying: I am a slave of Allah and I will return to Him. This who knows that he is a slave of Allah and that he will return to Him has to know that he is to be standing (before His hands). This who knows that he is to be standing has to know that he is to be asked. This who knows that he is to be asked has to prepare an answer for the question.
The man said: What to do, then?
He said: It is easy?
He said: What is it?
He said: to do good in what is remaining so the past is to be forgiven. If you do badly in the remaining time, you are to be punished for both the past and the rest.
You, brother, are also a slave of Allah and to Him you are to return: {O man! Verily, you are returning towards your Lord with your deeds and actions (good or bad), a sure returning, and you will meet (the results of your deeds which you did).} [Surat Al-Inshiqâq: 6].
{يَا أَيُّهَا الْإِنسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَدْحاً فَمُلَاقِيهِ} الإنشقاق: 6
Transliteration: Ya ayyuha alinsanu innaka kadihun ila rabbika kadhan famulaqeehi
Do well for the rest of your life, so Allah will forgive your past. Your Lord is the Oft-Forgiving the Most Forbearing. He is the One Who forgives and accepts repentance and the Most Generous. He loves the repentant. He changes their sins into good deeds. He forgives misdeeds and faults.
Start, brother, a true repentance to Allah. Show to Him your determination for obedience, your regret for disobedience and your love to His religion. Invoke Him by His mercy, as no one is more merciful than Him, and by His charity and graces. Show to Him your weakness and your dire need for Him.
Know that whatever your sins are He forgives all sins.
Hurry, brother, for repentance; because it is the first provision for leaving, without which you cannot gain any provisions.
Take the initiative before the sudden death and the advent of regret and torture.
{Say: "O 'Ibadi (My slaves) who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, verily Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (53) "And turn in repentance and in obedience with true Faith (Islamic Monotheism) to your Lord and submit to Him, (in Islam), before the torment comes upon you, then you will not be helped. (54) "And follow the best of that which is sent down to you from your Lord (i.e. this Quran, do what it orders you to do and keep away from what it forbids), before the torment comes on you suddenly while you perceive not!" (55) Lest a person should say: "Alas, my grief that I was undutiful to Allah (i.e. I have not done what Allah has ordered me to do), and I was indeed among those who mocked [at the truth! i.e. La ilaha ill-Allah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah), the Quran, and Muhammad SAW and at the faithful believers, etc.] (56) Or (lest) he should say: "If only Allah had guided me, I should indeed have been among the Muttaqun (pious and righteous persons - see V. 2:2)." (57) Or (lest) he should say when he sees the torment: "If only I had another chance (to return to the world) then I should indeed be among the Muhsinun (good-doers)} [Surat Az-Zumar 39:53-58]
{قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعاً إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ (53) وَأَنِيبُوا إِلَى رَبِّكُمْ وَأَسْلِمُوا لَهُ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَكُمُ الْعَذَابُ ثُمَّ لَا تُنصَرُونَ (54) وَاتَّبِعُوا أَحْسَنَ مَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكُم مِّن رَّبِّكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَكُمُ العَذَابُ بَغْتَةً وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَشْعُرُونَ (55) أَن تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ يَا حَسْرَتَى علَى مَا فَرَّطتُ فِي جَنبِ اللَّهِ وَإِن كُنتُ لَمِنَ السَّاخِرِينَ (56) أَوْ تَقُولَ لَوْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ هَدَانِي لَكُنتُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ (57) أَوْ تَقُولَ حِينَ تَرَى الْعَذَابَ لَوْ أَنَّ لِي كَرَّةً فَأَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ} الزمر: 53-58
Transliteration: Qul ya AAibadiya allatheena asrafoo AAala anfusihim la taqnatoo min rahmati Allahi inna Allaha yaghfiru alththunooba jameeAAan innahu huwa alghafooru alrraheemu (53) Waaneeboo ila rabbikum waaslimoo lahu min qabli an yatiyakumu alAAathabu thumma la tunsaroona (54) WaittabiAAoo ahsana ma onzila ilaykum min rabbikum min qabli an yatiyakumu alAAathabu baghtatan waantum la tashAAuroona (55) An taqoola nafsun ya hasrata AAala ma farrattu fee janbi Allahi wain kuntu lamina alssakhireena (56) Aw taqoola law anna Allaha hadanee lakuntu mina almuttaqeena (57) Aw taqoola heena tara alAAathaba law anna lee karratan faakoona mina almuhsineena
Brother: Repent before the closing of the door of answering. Be watchful as the time of neediness is near. How good is the worry of the one who turns unto Allah in repentance! How good is the arrival of the absent! How beautiful is their standing before the door!
I did badly and did not do well and come to you repenting
How a servant escape from his lords
He wishes forgiveness so if he is disappointed
No one on earth is to be more disappointed
Brother: Your tomorrow is near, so see what you have sent forth for it... {O you who believe! Fear Allâh and keep your duty to Him. And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the morrow, and fear Allâh. Verily, Allâh is All-Aware of what you do} [Surat: Al-Hashr 59:18]
{يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَلْتَنظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ} الحشر: 18
Transliteration: Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo ittaqoo Allaha waltanthur nafsun ma qaddamat lighadin waittaqoo Allaha inna Allaha khabeerun bima taAAmaloona
Ibn Kahthîr, may Allah have mercy on him, said: {And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the morrow,} [Surat: Al-Hashr 59:18]
{وَلْتَنظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ} الحشر: 18
Transliteration: waltanthur nafsun ma qaddamat lighadin
Means: "Hold yourselves responsible before being held responsible. See what you have saved of good deeds for the day when you are being presented and will stand before your Lord. Know that He knows about all your deeds and conditions and that not a secret of you will be hidden from Him."
Ibrâhîm At-Tayymi, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "I imagined myself in Paradise eating its fruits and drinking from its rivers. Then, I imagined myself in Hell eating from the tree of Zaqqûm (a horrible tree in Hell), drinking from its pus, and struggling with its iron chains and collars.
I said to myself: O my soul: what is that do you want?
It replied: I want to return to the worldly life so that I may do righteous good deeds.
I said: You are where you want, so act accordingly."
Know my brother that the best provisions in traveling is the provisions of piety {And take a provision (with you) for the journey, but the best provision is At-Taqwa (piety, righteousness). So fear Me, O men of understanding!} [Surat Al-Baqarah 2:197]
{وَتَزَوَّدُواْ فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ التَّقْوَى وَاتَّقُونِ يَا أُوْلِي الأَلْبَابِ} البقرة: 197
Transliteration: watazawwadoo fainna khayra alzzadi alttaqwa waittaqooni ya olee alalbabi
It is a comprehensive word for all what He loves and what satisfies Him of abiding by His obligations, committing to His orders and avoiding His prohibitions and hurrying to His prayer niche.
Correct, brother, your path… and exert efforts to know the fact of your deeds... Where do you look?
Where do you walk? What do you say?
What are your wishes and thoughts?
O you with the heart oblivious about mentioning death
Soon you will be grilled among the dead
Mention your place before arriving
And repent to Allah from foul playing and pleasures
Death has it due time
So mention the misfortunes of days and hours
Do not rely on the world and its adornment
Death O you wise is to come
Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "This man who is unaware about being prepared to meet his Lord and to acquire provisions for the Hereafter is like a sleeper, and even worse. The wise knows the promise and warnings of Allah… but he is kept apart from the fact of realization and is unable to set himself right by the negligence of the heart; which is his long heedlessness. He has a long rest in. He is indulged in lusts and is captured by traditions and communicating with sinful people. He is satisfied with imitating the people who waste times. He is lying with sleepers. Whenever the negligence in his heart is uncovered by a reproof of truth, he responds by an exhortation from Allah to the believer's heart, and he sees the quick expiration of this worldly life, so he rises in determination saying: {"Alas, my grief that I was undutiful to Allâh (i.e. I have not done what Allâh has ordered me to do),} [Surat Az-Zumar 39:56].
{يَا حَسْرَتَى علَى مَا فَرَّطتُ فِي جَنبِ اللَّهِ} الزمر: 56
Transliteration: ya hasrata AAala ma farrattu fee janbi Allahi
He reforms his past in the rest of his life. He revives what has died and faces the obstacles of what has gone.
Brother, make piety your provisions. Be cautious of negligence ;which makes you forget the reality of your travel… it lures you with the adornment of life and makes you wish the false staying.
Peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet, Muhammad and upon his family and companions.
By: Abu Mohamed Ibn Hassan Al-Faqîh
Translated by Wathakker.net website
With little modification
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