Chapter on Preparing for Death and Curtailing Hope

from behind them a barrier until the Day they are raised» [23:100]. In the exegesis from Mujahid: the barzakh (barrier/intermediary realm) is a partition between this world and the Hereafter, in which the dead person is confined until the Day of resurrection and rising.

So God, exalted and glorified, has informed us that the request for return will not avail him, and that he is confined in the barzakh (barrier), verified, from which there is no sending back to the realm of sovereignty. He warns us, blessed and exalted, against being deluded by this world and failing to prepare for His encounter, so that death comes upon us suddenly, and he calls out to us with anguish, yet the stumbling cannot be rectified and return is not possible. He alerts us so that we repent while tawba (repentance) is still accepted, and the stumbling can still be rectified, and supplication is still answered, so that we may be prepared for the encounter with Him, exalted and glorified, and watchful for the descent of death.

The Chapter on Preparedness for Death and Shortening of Hopes

You said: Tell me about preparedness [for death] — what is it?

He said: Preparedness is of two aspects:

One of them is obligatory, and it is that which those who feel remorse at death regret — namely, that the servant repents with a pure tawba (repentance) from sins and transgressions, such that if he were told, "You will die at this very hour," he would not find anything requiring repentance from it for which he would ask for a reprieve from his appointed term. If he finds within himself a sin requiring repentance, then he is not prepared for the encounter with his Lord, because he will not be consulted regarding the extraction of his soul, and death may come upon him suddenly.

If death comes to him while that sin is with him, he cannot be sure that God will not be wrathful with him. How then can one who persists upon what angers God be prepared for the encounter with God, while he cannot be sure that death will not come upon him at any moment, death being instantaneous? So let him fear the encounter with God while persisting upon what He detests , and while he is heedless of what has passed.

The fearful ones hasten to tawba (repentance) before death overtakes their souls, lest something intervene between them and repentance. They feel a remorse that neither diminishes nor do their stumbles lessen, and they turn back [in repentance] to their Lord. Therefore they hasten to repentance out of caution and apprehension of the sudden onset of death while in a state of heedlessness. This, then, is the preparedness that God, exalted and glorified, has made obligatory upon His creation.

The second aspect of preparedness is supererogatory: that one exert the utmost effort of heart and body, and expend what one possesses of worldly goods — withholding only what one has greater right to retain — until, were he told "You will die tomorrow," he would have nothing further to add to his deeds.

As was narrated from Mansur ibn Zadhan: that he used to strive with such exertion that, were he told "You will die tomorrow," he would not have been able to increase anything in his deeds. This preparedness is what God, exalted and glorified, deserves from His creation more than what they give, because His right can never be fully rendered, His blessing can never be adequately repaid, and His grandeur can never be [sufficiently] exalted. What impels you to prepare for death and to cut short procrastination is the shortening of hope.

I said: How does one attain the shortening of hope?

He said: Through fear of being seized suddenly while in a state of heedlessness, for the servant's soul is a loan — he does not know when the One who lent it will send for His loan and take it back. When he fears being seized, he despairs of [long] hope in this world, awaits [death], and hastens [to act] during his remaining term, being ever watchful for the descent of death.

I said: How does one attain the fear of being seized?

He said: Through knowledge of the indeterminacy of one's appointed term, and [the knowledge] that the One who grants respite does not await him, nor consult him, nor forewarn him of the greatness [of what is to come].

I said: Through what does one attain this knowledge and this admonition?

He said: Through persistent dhikr (remembrance) and reflection upon the indeterminacy of the appointed term, the descent of death at the moment of its arrival, the cutting short of one's lifespan, and the remembrance of the dead — those whom death came upon suddenly.

How is the obscurity of the appointed term, so that I may reflect upon it with knowledge of the greatness of knowledge thereof?

He said: Do you not know that death has no fixed time known to the servant, so that he would fear at that time and feel secure at all other times? It does not descend upon servants in winter alone and not in summer, so that he would fear in winter and feel secure in summer, or befall servants in summer alone, so that he would feel secure in winter; or in a known month of the year, so that he would feel secure during the rest of them; or at night, so that he would feel secure during the day; or during the day, so that he would feel secure at night; or in the evening, so that he would feel secure in the morning; or in the morning, so that he would feel secure in the evening; or in one hour and not another.

And it has no fixed time of one's lifespan, so that it would seize those of twenty years and he would feel secure before that, or seize those of thirty years and he would feel secure at twenty years.

And it has no known cause to the exclusion of other causes—such as fever, or disease of the belly, or floods, or drowning, or some of the other means in which destruction occurs.

It is therefore incumbent upon the intelligent person in general, by the command of God, Exalted and Glorious, that since death has no known time, he should not feel secure from it at any time of all times; and since it has no known time for its descent from one's lifespan—neither in youth nor old age, neither in childhood nor maturity, neither in young age nor senility—and since it has no known cause, he should not feel secure from it in health or in sickness, neither in town nor in travel, neither in settled land nor in desert, neither on land nor at sea.

So whenever the servant remembers death with his qalb (heart) emptied of everything except its remembrance—since it has no fixed time, no known cause, and no known lifespan—along with his remembrance of the enormity of what death brings of tribulations, whether the punishment of God or the mercy of God, Exalted and Glorious; together with taking admonition from those who passed before him—those above him and those below him, and those of his like and his peers—and the greatness of their acquaintance with death and the suddenness of death, and that it shall descend upon him as it inevitably descended upon those who passed before him—

Then when his knowledge of that grows great, his hope is shortened; and when his hope is shortened, his heart becomes wary of death.

So when his heart is wary of death, he watches for death. And if he is watching for death, hastening toward preparing for it and racing toward good deeds before He delivers his soul to its Master.

Likewise, it is narrated from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may God be pleased with him, that he said: Whoever watches for death hastens toward good deeds.

And it is also narrated from ʿAlī that he said: What has ruined you is only two things: following hawā (caprice) and prolonged hope. As for caprice, it diverts from the truth; and as for prolonged hope, it causes one to forget the Hereafter. He spoke truly, may God's mercy be upon him.

If two who are absent from you — you consider that one of them is arriving quickly, within your day or your night or the next morning, and the other you consider will arrive in a month or a year — you would prepare for the one you consider is coming upon you quickly. If he had entrusted you with a bequest, you would hasten to carry it out before his arrival surprises you, lest his blame or his punishment befall you, and you would prepare for him along with that kindness and benevolence. And if [damaged] you would strive to escape his displeasure, or his blame, or lest your standing with him be diminished.

What points you to this is what has been narrated concerning Kaʿb ibn Mālik, may God be pleased with him, when he stayed behind from the expedition of Tabūk. He said: No, it was said to me: The Prophet, peace be upon him, is about to arrive. So I began to reflect and sought the help of every person of sound judgment among my family on how I might apologize to him so as to escape his displeasure.

Likewise, one whose heart is overcome by the awareness that death is coming upon him quickly, and that the news will come to him with certainty at death — of his destruction or his salvation — he hastens to seek the pleasure of God, Exalted and Glorified, and to appease Him by apologizing to Him with what He will accept, and to purify his heart and his body from acts of disobedience, so that he may meet Him in a state of purity.

And what confirms this Salaf-based view is that one who has passed sixty years of age, generally among the sinners, witnesses death approaching, and so he attempts to make up for what he has missed. If young people hastened to this witnessing by way of contemplation, they would have stood firm upon the path.