The World Is Left Suddenly: What We Send Ahead Before the Step

Occasion: Transcription of a khatira delivered at Orleans Masjid in Louisiana on 6 December 2016 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace upon the servant of Allah, His Prophet and Messenger, our master and our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and upon his family and Companions, and abundant peace. To proceed. May Allah greet you, bless you and bless through you, and I ask Allah to keep your gathering constant for you, and it is an honor for us to stand before our brothers.

He began his talk with a supplication for the mother of one of the brothers who had passed away: that Allah envelop her in His mercy, settle her in His Paradise, raise her rank, forgive her sin, overlook her slips and pardon her, and make her among those to whom the nation of the Prophet ﷺ bears witness for righteousness on the Day of Resurrection, and among those brought near, and give her the best of dwellings in the Hereafter, and strengthen the hearts of her family, make them steadfast, and inspire them with patience and good deeds.

We Came Down to a Land to Gain from It a Witness for Us

Then he said: We came down to a land with nothing in our hands except to gain from it something that will be a witness for us before Allah on the Day of Resurrection. The wealth of this world that everyone who came before us gathered was left in this world itself, and people departed to another world with neither little nor much. We lived long dreaming of having shops and money and capital and projects, and we lived long nights hoping very great hopes: that this branch would grow and have a branch in such-and-such a place, and that we would aspire to develop this money so that it becomes such-and-such. Then, after security and after life and after time, the ways of Allah the Exalted in creation come upon us, going forward, without anyone being able to turn back His decree.

And once again we remind: if we come down to a land, we should leave it after the angels have counted for us the greatest number of good deeds from it, and if we live in a land, we should depart from it after the angel has recorded for us the greatest number of good deeds.

The Parable of the Life of This World

One of our brothers asked me today about the interpretation of the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: ﴿إِنَّمَا مَثَلُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَاءٍ أَنزَلْنَاهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الْأَرْضِ مِمَّا يَأْكُلُ النَّاسُ وَالْأَنْعَامُ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا أَخَذَتِ الْأَرْضُ زُخْرُفَهَا وَازَّيَّنَتْ وَظَنَّ أَهْلُهَا أَنَّهُمْ قَادِرُونَ عَلَيْهَا أَتَاهَا أَمْرُنَا لَيْلًا أَوْ نَهَارًا فَجَعَلْنَاهَا حَصِيدًا كَأَن لَّمْ تَغْنَ بِالْأَمْسِ كَذَٰلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ﴾ (“The example of the life of this world is but like rain which We send down from the sky, and the plants of the earth mingle with it from which men and livestock eat, until, when the earth has taken on its adornment and is beautified and its people suppose that they have capability over it, Our command comes by night or by day, and We make it as a harvest, as if it had not flourished yesterday. Thus do We explain the signs for a people who give thought”).^[1]

And the example is of utmost simplicity: water descends from the sky and meets land suitable for cultivation, and likewise a human being comes out of a woman's womb to be in a land suitable for living. And the water mixes with the soil of the earth, and likewise you and I mix with the waves of life and what is in it: ﴿فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الْأَرْضِ مِمَّا يَأْكُلُ النَّاسُ وَالْأَنْعَامُ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا أَخَذَتِ الْأَرْضُ زُخْرُفَهَا وَازَّيَّنَتْ﴾ (“and the plants of the earth mingle with it from which men and livestock eat, until, when the earth has taken on its adornment and is beautified”). And when the water comes down upon the earth, what does it do? It makes things grow. The plant has its splendor, its luster, its beauty and its brilliance, so when you look at it, it pleases you, and then it does not take long before it grows greater in itself and shines and appears more beautiful and better and more abundant. Likewise the life of this world appears in your eyes better and more beautiful the more you have power over it and mastery of it, and the more you are mighty in yourself through it and capable within yourself of doing something.

Suddenly, Without Introductions

But at some moment, with no way of warning and without any introductions, something unforeseen happens. Either this world departs without introductions: so-and-so was a billionaire and went bankrupt, and Allah knows best how, but between evening and morning, in less than a second, the news comes. Or his wealth does not leave him, but was loyal to him, faithful to him more than the faithfulness of his children and his wife, yet it is he who betrayed it, so he moved to another abode and left it behind. He did not go to finish counting all the goods in the shops, nor did he find an opportunity to count the accounts precisely, nor did he find time to arrange his affairs with his own hand and say: This is for so-and-so and this is for so-and-so and this is for so-and-so; rather, death snatched him away.

﴿مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ فَيَقُولَ رَبِّ لَوْلَا أَخَّرْتَنِي إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ فَأَصَّدَّقَ وَأَكُن مِّنَ الصَّالِحِينَ﴾ (“before death comes to one of you and he says, ‘My Lord, why did You not delay me for a brief term so I would give charity and be among the righteous?’”).^[2] We want only an opportunity to do the good we were so often called to and did not do. And do you know why? Because Allah the Exalted placed from the beginning a law in which He said: ﴿كَلَّا إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَيَطْغَىٰ﴾ (“No! Indeed, man transgresses”).^[3] And I ask: O Lord, when does man transgress? ﴿أَن رَّآهُ اسْتَغْنَىٰ﴾ (“because he sees himself self-sufficient”); as soon as he sees himself as having become self-sufficient through a little money in his hand, he feels strength, might, protection, authority and power, and so he considers himself in need of no one. And unfortunately the first one we do without is the one who gives us the first and last support in life, indeed at death, indeed after death, indeed at the gathering, indeed on the Day of Resurrection, indeed even in Paradise: and that is Allah.

So we forget Him in buying and selling, we forget Him in spending our time at times in amusement, we forget Him when we feel protected and treat our wives in ways other than what pleases the Lord of the worlds, we forget Him when we are undutiful to some of our children, and when we forget our fathers and our mothers, and when we cut our family ties. We forget Him, we forget Him, we forget Him. Until the last reminder comes, after which there is no reminder, and you say: Allah is the Greatest! I had forgotten You! And how? The Angel of Death is standing there quite simply, you suddenly find him standing. So you say to him: Well, could you go and come back after just five minutes? Only five minutes? I cannot.

The Story of the Man with Sulaymān, Peace Be upon Him

Do you remember the story of the man who was with our master Sulaymān? A very charming story: they say that the Angel of Death entered upon our master Sulaymān and kept looking at a man sitting with him. The man, the guest, asked our master Sulaymān: Who is this? He said to him: The Angel of Death. He said: He is looking at me, so please command the wind to carry me far away. So the wind carried him. And after a little while the Angel of Death returned, and Sulaymān asked him: Why were you looking at that man? He said: I was astonished, how could he be sitting here when I had been commanded to take his soul in another place?

And do you know what escapes us, dear brothers, may Allah honor you? To use our reason in what we do.

“Measure Out for Your Foot Its Place Before You Step”

And among the proverbs of the Arabs is a proverb of utmost simplicity with which I will conclude. They say: “Measure out for your foot its place before you step.” That is, before you put down your foot, look where you will put it. And before you step toward the Hereafter, look at what you have sent ahead for the Hereafter. Before you sell, before you buy, before you deal with your patient because you are a doctor, before you deal with the student you have because you are a teacher, before you deal with your colleague at work, and in every dealing: try to evaluate your deeds with a scale somewhat different from the one we were raised on and are accustomed to and which predatory human life, which speaks with the tongue of the jungle, dictates to us. Try to weigh with a different scale. Whose scale? The scale of Allah; because He is the only one in whose hand is salvation, and He is the only one who will save you.

And if you weigh your deeds by the scale of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, and then make a mistake, your likeness is that of a man who set out intending the masjid and got lost on the way. But as for the one who was heading in another direction from the beginning and then says to his Lord: O Lord, I did not reach the masjid! It is said to him: You were heading in another direction, and you want Me to bring you to the masjid? Your will is entirely different from what I willed for you. But the one who came intending the masjid and got lost, so he picked up the phone and said: I am lost, folks; we excuse him and say: How much time do you have? I have ten minutes. So we wait for him, and we stop the whole world to wait for him, because he intended us but made a mistake, and did not intend to make a mistake, and that is the state of human beings.

The Closing Supplication

And on this night I want to leave this place having left behind me a righteous supplication from your tongues that Allah accept us. And he concluded with a supplication for those present: May Allah honor you with a good tongue, and honor you with bodily well-being, and with blessing in your wealth, and with the delight of your eyes in your children, and with your wives being pleased with you. And he supplicated for the masjid's school, that Allah bless it and those who run it and those who spend on it, and grant them blessing for this place and what is in it and around it.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat Yūnus, verse 24. It was recorded in full because the speaker referred to it and recited it. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn, verse 10. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-ʿAlaq, verses 6–7.