Agonies of death

Discussing the agonies of death, Hujjat-ul-Islam, Sayyiduna Imam Muhammad Bin Muhammad Ghazali عَـلَـیۡـهِ رَحْـمَـةُ الـلّٰـهِ الۡـوَالِی has stated: The throes of death is that pain which directly attacks the soul, surrounding all the body parts; this severe pain affects even those internal parts which are deep inside the body; this agony of death attacks the soul directly. Then they spread all over the body in a way that the soul is pulled out from each and every vein, muscle, part and joint. Furthermore, the soul is pulled out even from the root of every hair and from every part of the skin from head to foot, therefore, no one can imagine the intense pain of that time.

The pious saints have added: The agony of death is more severe than being attacked by a sword, cut by a saw and cut with a pair of scissors, because when the body is attacked by a sword, it feels pain due to its connection with the soul. So just ponder seriously, how painful will it be when the sword strikes the soul directly? Furthermore, one can ask for help when he is injured with a sword because his tongue and body still have energy whereas a dying person’s voice and cry die out due to the pain, because the pangs of death overpowers his heart at that time. It then saps out the entire energy from his body leaving no strength in any part of his body, even none of his body parts is left with the strength to ask for help. It even surprises him by overpowering his sense of thinking and understanding and leaves him dumb and the rest of the parts of his body paralysed. At the time of death throes, if a person wants to weep, cry or ask for help, he cannot. If there is any strength left in him, it will only enable him to make a low gurgling sound from his throat and chest or the sound of burping of a cow. His body begins to turn dusty in colour, that is to say, he was made of dust and dust manifests itself at the time of death. The soul is extracted from every vein, with the result that the pain spreads throughout the body, internally and externally. His eyeballs roll upwards, lips dry up, tongue shrinks and fingers turn blue.

Do not ask about the state of the body from which every vein the soul has been extracted, because if a single vein of the body is pulled, it gives terrible pain. Just imagine if the whole soul is not extracted from just one vein but from every vein, so how painful would it be? Then gradually every part of the body is overcome by death. First the feet grow cold; then the shins and calves