Preparing for death Author Sherif Mohammed

Preparing for death
Author Sherif Mohammed



http://www.dawanet.com/nonmuslim/intro/misc/death1.html


more detail article go to the above.....



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Death is a very well-known fact. It has always been indisputable. No one has ever doubted death. although human beings rarely agree on anything, they have never disagree on their mortality.

Death is mentioned in the Quran almost everywhere. The word "Death" and its derivatives "die, dying, dead" is found more than 160 times in the Quran. The Quran has put a lot of emphasis on death. Why is it that the Quran is consistently reminding the believers about their own mortality while they already known this fact for centuries ?? To understand why we have to take a close look on the verses which mention death in the Quran and reflect upon them. Let us explore some of these verses:

"Every soul shall have a taste of death" (al-Imran 3:185)
The verse is clear and emphatic. The massage it conveys to us is: Make no mistake about death, it is foregone conclusion. Every soul shall taste it no matter what. Listen now to full verse:
"Every soul shall have a taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgement shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have succeeded. For the life of this world is but goods of chattels of deception" (al-Imran 3:185)
This verse represents one of the important Tenets of Islam which is the fact that there is another life after death. Thus, for us death is not the end of the world it is just the start of an ever-lasting life. The other fact in this verse also states with no uncertainty is that the true measure of success is not in this life. Success is not having a huge sum of money, or a large family, or a prestigious job, or an impressive title, or a degree from a respected university, or a big house, or a nice car, all these are nothing but goods of decepty. The real success is to be saved from the hell fire and be admitted to paradise. Anything short of this is a mere deception.
In another verse which conveys a similar meaning is:

"Every soul shall taste death. And We test you by evil and by good by way of trial. To Us must you return." (al-Anbiyaa 21:36)



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To sum up, I would remind myself and my dear brothers and sisters that death is a reality and we have to always be prepared for it. Please, don't assume that we will live for too long. we usually think that we will live for too long especially if we are young and healthy. This is not true. Young people die everyday and for a variety of reasons. I myself have 2 friends who died in their twenties. One was about 24 the other was 27 and this one was very healthy indeed. i graduated in the class of 1986, so far I have been told of 2 the graduates of my 1986 class who already died. No one has immunity against death. No one is too heathy to die, or too young to die or too wealthy to die or too powerful to die or too famous to die.

The question that we should always ask ourselves is not whether we are going to die, it is what preparations are we making to die as good Muslims ? We should always be ready, we should always struggle to improve ourselves until we become the best persons we can be. We should humble ourselves in our progress. Read the Quran more and reflect upon what we read more, we should help others, we should pay more in charity we have to get rid of our greed and selfishness. We have to love to others what we love to ourselves. And also we have to sacrifice for the sake of allah by spending from our wealth, our time, our efforts and if the need arises by our lives. We have to remember to repent everyday and if possible during and after every prayer.

Finally, the best way to remember death is to read the Quran. We have to read Quran everyday. This is major source of spiritual power in Islam.