A Journey to the Land of Eternity

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamîn (mankind, jinn and all that exists). And peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions.

No matter how long man lived in this life and no matter how long he stayed and how much he enjoyed its pleasures and lustrous desires; destiny is one and only, and the end is inevitable; everyone must have an end which is death; and death is inevitable. Allah Almighty has said: {Everyone shall taste death. Then unto Us you shall be returned.} [Surat Al-Ankabût 29:57].

Transliteration: Kullu nafsin thaiqatu almawti thumma ilayna turjaAAoona

One poet said:

Every man no matter how safe he is *** one day will be carried in a coffin

One day all creatures will return to Allah Glorified and Exalted to be held accountable by Him for everything they have committed in this worldly life. Allah Almighty has said: {And be afraid of the Day when you shall be brought back to Allâh.} [Surat Al-Baqarah 2:281]

Transliteration: Waittaqoo yawman turjaAAoona feehi ilaAllahi

It is a day that we have long forgotten; it is the last of our days; a day when throats choke; a day that will be followed by no other day and will have no similar day. It is the great day; the solemn standing before the Hands of the Great King (of everything). It is a day which Allah has written upon every young and old, noble and low. It is the Day of Resurrection, the Day of Judgment, it is Doomsday.

However, before this Day there is a moment when man moves from the home of deception to either the home of rejoice or the home of distress; every one according to his deeds. It is the moment when man casts the last glances on sons and daughters, brothers and sisters; he casts his last looks on this worldly life. His face shows the features of the stupors of death and from the bottom of his heart come out hot sighs and moans. It is the moment when man realizes the lowliness of this worldly life. It is the moment when man feels the agony and the remorse about every moment when he was undutiful to Allah (i.e. he has not done what Allah has ordered him to do); he calls for Him saying: O Lord, O Lord, O {"My Lord! Send me back, (99). "So that I may do good in that which I have left behind!"} [Surat Al-Mu'minûn 23:99-100].

Transliteration: rabbi irjiAAooni (99) LaAAallee aAAmalu salihan feemataraktu

It is the decisive moment and the fatal hour when the Angel of Death approaches to call, I wish I knew is it a call for bliss or a call for hell?!!

O beloved brother:

True estrangement is that of the grave and the shroud. Do you remember lying on your bed while the hands of your family are turning you around; when the agony of death becomes severe and death starts to pull you from every vein? Then you give up your soul for its Creator. And one leg will be joined with another leg (shrouded). Then you will have been put forward so that they pray the funeral prayer upon you; then you are lowered into the grave; solitary and alone. There is neither a mother to stay with nor a father to keep you company or a brother to entertain you.

There one feels a strange home and places. In one moment the slave moves from the home of degradation to the abode of eternal bliss if he is among those who repent and believe (in the Oneness of Allah and His Messenger Muhammad), and work righteousness; or to the abode of hell and painful torment if he is among those who work evil and disobey their Lord Glorified and Exalted.

The pages of deceit have been folded and the slave began to realize the enormity of resurrection. Distractions and temptations are gone and what remained are the consequences. O there is no god but Allah; what an hour when the book of deed is finally folded either on merits or on sins; the heart is throbbing from pain and remorse because of the days when it greatly neglected Allah and the Last Day. Here is the worldly life with all that it includes has ended and its days have quickly passed. Here he is receiving the inevitable and giving up his soul to its Creator; here he is moving to the home of the Hereafter with all its great horrors. In one moment he has become as if he was not a thing worth mentioning… O there is no god but Allah, what an hour when man takes the first step to the Hereafter and receives his new life; it is either a happy life or, Allah forbids, a miserable life.

O there is no god but Allah, what an abode which inhabitants are close and varied; a grave in eternal bliss and blessing and another one in the deepest grades of Hellfire and painful punishment. He calls but no one answers, he implores but no one responds.

Then comes the Day: the Day of Resurrection, the Day of Judgment. On the Day when the earth will be changed to another earth and so will be the heavens; and they (all creatures) will appear before Allah, the One, the Irresistible. The Day when a Maulâ (a near relative) cannot avail a Maulâ (a near relative) in aught, and no help can they receive. When the Shouter shouts; so the dead resurrects from their shrouds and coffins to their Lord barefoot, naked and uncircumcised; there is no pedigree, no ancestry, no power or money.

{Then, when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no kinship among them that Day, nor will they ask of one another. (101). Then, those whose scales (of good deeds) are heavy, they are the successful. (102). And those whose scales (of good deeds) are light, they are those who lose their ownselves, in Hell will they abide. (103). The Fire will burn their faces, and therein they will grin, with displaced lips (disfigured).} [Surat Al-Mu'minûn 23:101-104].

Transliteration: Faitha nufikha fee alssoori fala ansaba baynahum yawmaithin wala yatasaaloona (101) Faman thaqulat mawazeenuhu faolaika humu almuflihoona (102) Waman khaffat mawazeenuhu faolaika allatheena khasiroo anfusahum fee jahannama khalidoona (103) Talfahu wujoohahumu alnnaru wahum feeha kalihoona

It is the Day when Allah gathers those of old, and those of later times. It is the Day that disperses illusions and dreams. It is the Day when books of deeds are published and scales are established. It is that Day when a man shall flee from his brother, and from his mother and his father, and from his wife and his children. It is the Day when man would desire to ransom himself from the punishment of that Day by his children, and his wife and his brother, and his kindred who sheltered him.

O beloved brother

O you who disobey Allah. Imagine yourself while you are standing among the creatures and then your name was called for: where is so and so, the son of so and so: come on to be presented to Allah. You stand up shaking; your feet and all your limbs are churning up out of the intensity of fear. Your color has changed, and worry and sadness and concern have overwhelmed you in a way that Allah only knows.

Conceive yourself standing humbly before the Hands of the Originator of the heavens and the earth; you have held your book of deeds with your own hands, where it includes the tiny and the weighty of your deeds. You are reading it with a blunt tongue and a broken heart; there is shame and modesty inside of you towards Allah, Who has not come down to you as a philanthropist or a shelter. By Allah, how would you answer Him when He asks you about your ugly deeds and your enormous guilt? How would you stand before His hands tomorrow, and how could you look at Him? With what heart would you bear His grand sublime words, and His inquiry and reprimand?

Then how about you if He reminds you of your disobeying Him and committing what He has forbidden; of your disregard to His ordinances and His looking at you; of your heedlessness in this worldly life in obeying Him?

What would you say when He says to you: O My slave! You have not glorified me; have you not been ashamed from Me? Have you disparaged My look at you? Have I not been beneficent to you? Have I not bestowed My Grace on you? What have deceived you against Me?

O dear brother

Remember the righteous when they come out of their graves with faces whitened by their good deeds. They come out with that splendid effect from Allah the Generous. The standing will not grieve them, and the angels will meet them, (with the greeting): "This is your Day which you were promised"…

Remember when the Lord, Blessed be He, the Almighty says to them:

"O My angels, take My slaves to the Gardens of delight (Paradise), take them to the Good Pleasure of Allah. So they have become in a life, well-pleasing. The heavens are opened for them; and round about them will be boys and fair females to serve them. And away from them have gone all sense of fatigue, all agony and weariness."

On the other hand, there is the unjust soul that has deviated from the law of Allah Almighty, the disobedient soul that Allah almighty says about:
O My angels: {"Seize him and fetter him; (30). Then throw him in the blazing Fire.} [Surat Al-Hâqqah 69:30-31].

Transliteration: Khuthoohu faghulloohu (30) Thumma aljaheema salloohu

My anger has intensified on those who lacked shyness towards Me, hence this outrageous unjust soul stood by the flaming fire and enraged inferno. This soul hoped that it would go back into the world to repent to Allah and to work righteousness, but far, how far to go back. Then it will be thrown on its face into the Fire, and plunge into the dark shafts and fluctuate between the deep bottoms of Hellfire, remorse and sighs…

O there is no god but Allah. What a tremendous difference it is between these and those, between those who are in bliss and those who are in Hellfire. Allah Almighty is All True when He has said: {Verily, the Abrâr (the pious believers of Islamic Monotheism) will be in Delight (Paradise); (13). And verily, the Fujjâr (the wicked, disbelievers, polytheists, sinners and evil-doers) will be in the blazing Fire (Hell),} [Surat Al-Infitâr 82:13-14].

Transliteration: Inna alabrara lafee naAAeemin (13) Wainna alfujjara lafee jaheemin

O dear brother

O you, who read this message, slow down a little and hold yourself accountable. If you are among those who hasten in performing acts of obedience and worship, and avoid sins and violations, you should praise Allah for that and ask Him to keep you firm till your death. Congratulations to you for what you are heading to, Allah willing.

But if you are other than that, you should repent to your Lord and return to the true guidance. There is no need for the stubbornness and insisting on committing act of disobedience which will expose you to the torment of Allah. By Allah you are much weaker to tolerate anything of this torment. The firm tall mountains will melt from the severity of the heat if they are exposed to it.

Where are you, O weak man, compared to the mountains? You may be patient to hunger and thirst, to harm and hardships, but by Allah Who there is no god but Him, you have no patience over Hellfire...

Oh save yourself from Hellfire as long as you still have the time before you regret when there no time for regret. And know that patience over the forbidden of Allah in this worldly life is, by Allah, by far easier than patience over the torment of the Day of Resurrection.

Then know my brother that the path of righteousness and commitment does not have the complexity or the suppression of freedom as some people may think. On the contrary, it is all happiness, all pleasure, all comfort and all tranquility. And what does man want in this life more than that... Contrary to that is the life of disobedience and sins, it is all worry, woes and remorse in this worldly life and torment and humiliation in the Hereafter.

So try my brother this path from now, and do not hesitate. By Allah I am one of the sincere well-wishers for you, and I fear for you from the punishment of Allah.

May peace and Allah's mercy and blessings be upon you.


Dar Ibn Khuzaymah

Translated by Wathakker Website

en.wathakker.net