A sermon from the dying to the living

There once lived in Basrah a prolific and profoundly spiritual worshipper whose fear of the Hereafter caused him to become physically weak, and whose constant crying made him skinny and sick. When he was on his deathbed, his family gathered around him, and they all began to cry.

“Help me sit up.” He said. He addressed his father first: “O my father, what is making you cry?”

“My son,” began his father, “I remembered that I will lose you, and that I will be alone after you die.”

The worshipper then turned his gaze towards his mother and said, “O my Mother, what is making you cry?”

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What to do upon death: When signs of death start showing up

By Dr. Abdulhayy ‘Arifi rahimahullah

WHEN SIGNS OF DEATH START SHOWING UP
The blessed Companion Aboo Sa’eed Khudri radiyallahu anhu narrates that the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasallam said, “Prompt the dying among you to say (the kalimah): Lã ilãha illallãh (I declare that there is no god but Allah).” (Muslim)

The blessed Companion Ma’qil Ibne Yasãr radiyallahu anhu narrates that the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasallam said, “You should recite Soorah Yãseen over the dying among you.” (Musnade-Ahmad, Aboo Dãwood, Ibne Mãjah)

IN THE AGONY OF DEATH
Turn the face of the dying person towards the Qiblah. Let him or her make the following prayer, “O Allah, forgive me and have mercy on me and have me join higher companions.” (Tirmizi)

RULINGS

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A good sealing state: Husn Al-Khatima

By Mufti Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf

The final state of a person at the time of death is what matters in the Hereafter. In this article, we discuss some of the causes for both good and evil sealing states, and how a person’s inner traits will dominate at the time of death.

In a hadith transmitted by Ibn Abi ’al-Dunya in his Commanding the Good and Forbidding Evil from Abu Umama (Allah be pleased with him) the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said to his Companions (Allah be pleased with them): “How will your situation be when your women become tyrannical, your youth become transgressors and you abandon striving and jihad in the path of Allah?” They asked, “Will that really occur? The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Yes, by the One in whose hand my soul is, something even worse than that will occur.” They said, “What could be worse than that, O Messenger of Allah?”

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At the face of death

A heart-touching story… learn from it.
This is something that is very personal and important to me. I hope that you will learn and benefit from it. Let me begin by saying “Bismillah.” When I first started University, I had met another Muslim brother. We had become good friends, but this friendship was not like any other ordinary friendship, I would have done anything for him, he was like my real brother.

During our last year of University, this brother of mine announced that he was engaged and that he was to be married after he graduates this year and finds himself a job. I was glad for him and so was he. He talked non stop about getting married, I was sort of getting jealous of him, because the brother had it made for him, finishing school, getting married and especially coming from a wealthy family.

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ISLAMIC DEATH: The Final Return

A police officer in a Muslim country wrote the following letter to a Shaykh describing the events that led to his return to Allah. He recalls: Seeing accidents and crash victims was a normal part of my day, but one incident was different.

My partner and I had parked on the shoulder of the highway and began to chat. In a random second, the scene shattered to the hideous sound of metal bodies becoming one. We threw our heads back to see what had happened: a head-on collision, the result of a vehicle slipping into the lane of the oncoming traffic.You couldn’t describe the carnage. Two young men sprawled in the first car, both in critical condition. We carried them gently away from the car and rested them on the ground.

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