Book Name:How To Spend Days And Nights?
How can a person prepare for the afterlife when his worldly desires never come to an end? How ignorant and astonishing is that Muslim who is certain that this world is finite and the Hereafter is eternal, yet he is busy with the concerns of making this temporary life better, while forgetting about the eternal life!"[1]
Dear Islamic brothers! It is true. We are so engrossed in worldly worries that we do not find any time to reflect upon the afterlife. All we think about is earning for this world. We never think about working towards Paradise, making the Hereafter better, and striving to illuminate the grave! Such heedlessness! Just reflect on how long this world will last. Who knows if this is the last night of our lives? Who knows if Sayyidunā Malak al-Mawt عَـلَيْـهِ الـسَّـلاَم will arrive in the next moment and we will not even live to see tomorrow!
Even if we live for a hundred years, we will have to die one day. We will have to depart this world, leave behind all that we have earned, enter the grave, and face the consequences of our deeds.
صَلُّوۡا عَلَى الۡحَبِيۡب صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلٰى مُحَمَّد
Dear Islamic brothers! A good, understanding, and wise person is one who removes the veil of heedlessness and becomes busy with the preparations for the grave and the Hereafter. Sayyidunā ꜤAbdullah b. MasꜤūdرَضِىَ اللّٰهُ عَـنْهُ would say whenever he would sit with people:
O people! With the passing of days and nights, your lives are also decreasing. Your deeds are being preserved. Death will come suddenly, so the one who sowed good deeds will soon reap them with enthusiasm, and the one who sowed evil will have to reap it with regret. Everyone will reap what they sowed.[2]
Imām Ibn Abī al-Dunyāرَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه writes: