“Whose ummah are you from?”, the angels shall then ask. They shall say, “We are from the ummah of Muhammad صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم.” The angels shall say, “We ask you by means of an oath upon Allah! What actions did you do in the world?” They will explain, “We had two habits by which we reached this rank through the grace of Allah: we would shy from disobeying Allah even in seclusion, and we were pleased with the small amount of rizq bestowed upon us by Him.”^[1]

  اللہُ اَکْبَر O those who love Allah’s Messenger. The Day of Judgement will be 50,000 years long. People will exit their graves and head towards the plains of Maḥshar. Imagine the scorching copper surface, and the sun blazing overhead at a mile and a quarter’s distance. Then the book of deeds will be given to people in their hands, accountability will take place, and people must cross the Bridge of Ṣirāṭ. This bridge takes 1500 years to cross; it is as thin as a hair and sharper than a sword.

On one hand people will be caught up in these horrifying difficulties, and on the other, those that remained pleased with the decree of Allah and avoided disobeying Him will be flying into Paradise from their graves. They will not feel the scorching heat of that Day, or be held to account, or have to cross the Bridge of Ṣirāṭ.

سُـبْحٰـنَ الـلّٰــه - How fortunate will those people be. If only we too became like them. If only we were pleased with divine decree and were dutiful in obeying Allah. If only we saved ourselves from sinning in both public and private.

How to please Allah

The Proof of Islam, Imam Muhammad al-Ghazāli رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه elucidates, “From amongst all the rewards Allah will bless His servants with on the