Al Wasillah (In The Footsteps Of The Prophet PBUH)

Your Life Before Your Death

5: Take Advantage of Your Life Before Your Death

This one phrase summarizes it all: "take advantage of your life before your death." Every one of us has a life. That is why we are here right now. Every one of us without a doubt will die. Allah says:

You are going to die and they too are going to die.

And it is as Allah said, the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam passed away and so did the people that opposed him and believed in him. They all have passed away. And the turn came for those after them, and then those after them, until it is our turn.

The Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam therefore reminded us, "Take advantage of your life before your death." This is the greatest of foresight. Hence the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam concluded the hadith with this phrase.

How are we going to use this life before death comes? As for the kafir, he will totally waste it because he will make this life his goal. He will live only to appease and satisfy every desire of his. Then on the Day of Judgment, he will beg Allah to send him back to this life. Allah describes this in the Quran:

When death comes to them, he will say, "O my Lord!"

All of a sudden, when his Lord comes to him he remembers Allah. Whereas throughout all of the years that he lived, Allah was nowhere near him; Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala was the furthest thing from his death. On the Day of Judgment when he is resurrected, he will say:

Oh my Lord! Allow me to go back so that I may do good in the time that I had left.

Allah obviously will say, "Kalla"- no. You have only been allowed one life and you will not be able to go back and change that life. For every good you do you will be rewarded, and for every evil you do you will be punished.

Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala also describes them in the Qur'an as saying on the Day of Judgment: O our Lord, we have seen and we have heard. Let us go back to do good deeds; we are now believers.

They claim to believe in Allah and the Day of Judgment but Allah will not allow this to happen because everyone has only one life. That is what Allah has given and this is what we must make the best of in this world so that we are compensated accordingly in the Hereafter.

Every one of us has a life. That is why we are here right now. And every one of us has to die. Every night when we go to sleep, we enter a state where a part of our soul leaves us. When we wake up, it is only because Allah has blessed us by returning back our souls; hence granting us the opportunity to worship Him, to seek His forgiveness, and to do some more good deeds before it is our last day on earth. Upon waking up in the morning, the Prophet (SAW) used to say,

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّه الَّذِى أحْيَانَا بَعْدَ مَا أمَاتَنَا وَ إلَيْهِ النُّشُوْر

"Praise be to Allah who gave me life after death, and to Him is the final return." Often we do not fully appreciate how great a blessing it is to be given another chance. We become relaxed about death, and we don't fully comprehend or appreciate that at some point – and only Allah knows when – our life will be taken away from us for good, leaving no second chance, no opportunity to make up for the wrongs we have done, and there will be no turning back. We must not forget what a blessing and mercy life is. We should value every moment of life, and use it to our best advantage. This means that we should struggle to qualify for Allah's mercy and get rewarded with peace of heart in this world and Jannah in the next world.

These are the five things that the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam told the man to do. He advised him:

"Take advantage of five matters before five others: your youth, before your old age; and your health before you fall sick; and your wealth before you become poor; and your free time before you become busy; and your life before your death."

This hadith deals with responsibility, wisdom, foresight, long-term planning, and good strategy. Every one of us has been blessed with these five blessings. There is no one amongst us who has not been blessed with these five things. So how do we utilize them? What do we utilize them for? Why do we utilize them?

The wise person is the one who strives to achieve the pleasure of Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala and then expects the best from Allah. The wise one is one who tries to arrive at the goal and then has tawakkul in Allah. Tawakkul does not mean to sit back and say, "Oh, this will happen to me." Rather, you must strive for it. The fool is the one who follows his desires and then presumes that Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala will reward him.

Good things don't just come to us. We have to strive for them, day in and day out. Whether we are at school, at work, or raising a family, we have to excel in whatever we do. We know that we have to work hard, and the harder we work, the better the reward. Jannah is no exception to this. If we strive hard enough, Allah will reward us with the ultimate prize of paradise insha'Allah. The Qur'an says in Surat al-Najm

لَيْسَ لِلْإِنْسَانِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَى

"Man receives only what he strives for" (al-Najm, 53:3).

Brothers and sisters! The wise person is the one who strives to achieve the pleasure of Allah, places his trust in Allah, and then expects the best from Allah. The foolish person is the one who blindly follows his desires and then presumes that Allah will reward him.

These five matters will inevitably be taken away from us, and substituted by the others that the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned.

So dont just sit and waste your youth, your health, your time, your money and your life by whining and complaining and feeling depressed or sad about the things you dont have, about the trails you may be facing, about this or that, instead focus all that on being grateful, content, happy and at peace with the immense and innumerable blessings that Allah has showered upon you and I. We might lose our patience here and there and might get lost on the road to Jannah, but we can always correct ourselves and immediately make that turn and steer right back on the road leading to Jannah and towards Allah.

May Allah (SWT) make us amongst those who are successful in both worlds, we ask that Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala makes us amongst those who can seize these five things, who can take advantage of them before the five will come. Ameen