Today, let's pretend I'm your accountability partner. My goal is to get you to a state of self awareness and accountability to yourself irrespective of who is watching or not watching.
Imagine this…
Saturday morning… 3am. You're awake.
You make ablution.
You read a page of the Qur’an and consult Tafsir Ibn Kathir for understanding. You unroll your mat. You perform Witr/Tahajjud/Qiyamu Layl. You’re in your final Sujood.
Something happens.
You remain in that position till Fajr.
Your family / your neighbours wake up. They knock.
Innalillahi wa inna illahi rajiun.
Alternatively
Saturday morning… 3am. You're awake.
You wash your face.
You order another bowl of peppered snail. You order water. You need to pee again. You feel less drowsy now. You refill the wine glass.
You see someone grabbing a girl's butt. She slaps him. You see a man rush towards the scene.
Someone is fighting.
You see bottles flying. You hear a gunshot. The music stops.
You feel blood on your arms.
Everyone is running.
Someone calls your name.
Innalillahi wa inna illahi rajiun.
This begs the question…
Should you do it just one time?
Should you drink alcohol just one time or commit Zina just one time or collect a bribe JUST ONE TIME?
DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE NEXT SECOND? THE NEXT MINUTE? YOU CAN GUESS … BUT YOU CAN'T BE 100% CERTAIN.
Anyone could be in any of either situations.
No one is too young for the grave.
A priority we all should have is to be closer to Allah.
When we face this fact, our first question would be…
“Why?”
It sounds like a no-brainer but we still need to ask ourselves our ‘WHY’ so we are guided with the correct intentions.
I'd present to you, a Hadith.
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “When Allah wills good for His slave, He sweetens him.” He was asked, “What is this sweetening?” He said, “Allah guides him to do righteous deeds before he dies, then He takes (his soul) whilst he is in that state.” Narrated by Ahmad, 17330; classed as saheeh by al-Albani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 1114.
There is no better end to a life than one which Allah ends when he is pleased with his slave.
The next question would be…
“How?”
How do we get to this stage where Allah is pleased with us?
Another Hadith.
Al-Bukhari (6502) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah says: ‘Whoever takes a close friend of Mine as an enemy, I declare war on him. My slave does not draw closer to Me by anything more beloved to Me than that which I have made obligatory upon him, and My slave continues to draw closer to Me by doing nafl (supererogatory) deeds until I love him, and if I love him I will be his hearing with which he hears, his vision with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. If he were to ask of Me, I would surely give to him; if he were to seek refuge with Me, I would surely grant him refuge. I do not hesitate about anything that I want to do as I hesitate to take the soul of a believer, for he hates death and I hate to hurt him.” This hadith clearly and concisely highlights the way to become a close friend of Allah, may He be exalted, for the one who wants to be one of His close friends.”
Did you know ?
A person may continue to appear to do the acts of paradise until his death approaches then he will slack and end up in Jahannam.1 This is a reference to a Hadith which is explained in the footnotes. Our intention needs to always be purified so we can perform pure acts for the sake of Allah and end in a good state.
I'm sure we all have this knowledge at the back of our minds- death is a real situation that we need to always plan for.
My tip for you today is:
Every action you take and every decision you make should always be guided with the thought “If I die in that place, would I be satisfied to meet Allah in that state?”
Guard your heart.
Guard your actions.
May Allah take our souls only when he is pleased with us.
Aameen
Fee Amanillah ❣️
“There follows a great hadeeth which was narrated by al-Bukhaari (3208) and Muslim (2643) from Ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him). Some people were confused about the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) “one of you may do the deeds of the people of Paradise until there is nothing between him and it but a cubit, then the decree overtakes him and he does a deed of the people of Hell and enters it. And one of you may do the deeds of the people of Hell until there is nothing between him and it but a cubit, then the decree overtakes him and he does a deed of the people of Paradise, and enters it.”
This is an example of what Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) tried to point out of saheeh reports which are not understood properly.
The answer to this is that it applies to the one who does not do deeds with sincerity and faith, rather he does deeds of the people of Paradise as it appears to people only, as is explained in another version of the hadeeth that was narrated by al-Bukhaari (4207) and Muslim (112) from Sahl who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the mushrikeen met in battle and fought. When the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) went back to his camp and the others went back to their camp, there was among the companions of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)a man who killed anyone (of the enemy) who got in his way. They said: No one has done better today than So and so. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “Rather he is one of the people of Hell.” A man said: I am going to follow him. So he went out with him; every time that man stopped, he stopped with him, and when he hastened, he hastened with him. He said: The man was badly wounded, so he sought to hasten his death. He put the handle of his sword on the ground and its tip in the middle of his chest, then he leaned [on his sword] and killed himself. The man went to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said: I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allaah (S). He said: “Why is that?” He said: The man who you said was one of the people of Hell and the people were astounded by that. I said, I will find out about him for you. So I followed him until he was badly wounded, then he sought to hasten his death. He put the handle of his sword on the ground and its tip in the middle of his chest, then he leaned on it and killed himself. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “A man may do the deeds of [the people of] Paradise, or so it seems to the people, although he is one of the people of Hell, and a man may do the deeds of [the people of] Hell, or so it seems to the people, although he is one of the people of Paradise.”
As for the one who does the deeds of the people of Paradise in a real sense, sincerely and on the basis of faith, Allaah is too just, merciful and generous to let him down at the end of his life.”
Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/islamqa.info/amp/en/answers/96989