NOT THAT DEATH IS DEATH, NAY, IT IS LIFE!

The souls of all men come forth from God.

The bodies of all are compounded alike.

Good and evil, alike it was ours.

                                                                           (Imam Ghazali)

In the beginning, I find it worthwhile to quote the Last Words of Imam-E-Ghazali (RA) here.

Imam Ghazali woke up one early morn­ing and as usual offered his prayers and then en­quired what day it was, his younger brother, Ah­mad Ghazali replied,” Monday.” He asked him to bring his white shroud, kissed it, stretched him­self full length and saying “Lord, I obey willingly,” breathed his last.

And underneath his head rest they found the following verses; composed by him, probably, during the night.

”Say to my friends, when they look upon me, dead.

Weeping for me and mourning me in sorrow.

Do not believe that this corpse you see is myself.

In the name of God, I tell you, it is not I,

I am a spirit, and this is naught but flesh.

It was my abode and my garment for a time.

I am a treasure, by a talisman kept hid,

Fashioned of dust, which served me as a shrine,

I am a pearl, which has left it’s shell deserted,

I am a bird, and this body was my cage.

Whence I have now florin forth and it is left as a token.

Praise to God, who hath now set me free and

Prepared for me my place in the highest of the heaven.

Until today I was dead, though alive in your midst.

Now I live in truth, with the grave – clothes dis­carded.

Today I hold converse with the saints above,

with no veil between, I see God face to face.

I look upon “Loh-i-Mahfuz” and there in I read

whatever was and is and all that is to be.

Let my house fall in ruins, lay my cage in the ground,

Cast away the talisman, it is a token, no more.

Lay aside my cloak, it was but my outer garment.

Place them all in the grave, let them be forgotten.

I have passed on my way and you are left behind.

your place of abode was no dwelling place for me.

Think not that death is death, nay, it is life.

A life that surpasses all we could dream of here.

While in this world, here we are granted sleep.

Death is but sleep, sleep that shall be prolonged.

Be not frightened when death drawth night,

It is but the departure for this blessed home.

Think of the mercy and love of your Lord,

Give thanks for His Grace and come without fear.

What I am now, even so shall you be.

For I know that you are even as I am.

The souls of all men come forth from God.

The bodies of all are compounded alike.

Good and evil, alike it was ours.

I give you now a message of good cheer.

May God’s peace and joy for evermore be yours.”

Ghalib, in one of his Ghazals says:

Maut ka ek din mu’ayyan hai

Neehd kyon raat bhar naheeh aati

Means, if death is destined and its date is definite then why am I so disturbed that sleep evades me all night.? If death has a fixed date and no one on earth can avoid it then why am I so anxious and worried that make me to suffer from sleeplessness?

In the Indian classic, the Mahabarata, there’s a passage where a great sage is asked: ‘Sir, of all of the things you’ve observed in life, what is the most amazing?’ And he responds: ‘That a man seeing all around him die, never thinks that he will die.’

What is death?

Does a life vanish or become extinct when it ap­proaches? Does death mean complete extinction of life and no longer to exist? Or is it simply a de­parture from this world and disappearance in this world?

Death is the great mystery. We don’t know its reality except the fact that it is the end of a life or absence of life or the permanent ending of vital processes in a cell or tissue. We don’t know what happens when we die!

A monk asked a Buddhist saint, “What happens when you die?” The Buddhist saint re­plied, I don’t know.” The monk said, “What do you mean. Aren’t you a spiritual guru?” And the Bud­dhist saint replied, “Yes, but I’m not a dead one.”

Socrates said: ‘To fear death, gentlemen, is nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not. For it is to think that one knows what one does not know. No person knows whether death may not even turn out to be the greatest of blessings for a human being and yet people fear it as if they knew for certain that it is the greatest of evils.’

Life is a great gift from God but sadly we never notice it till we (May Allah protect us all) meet some serious accident or illness, then only we realise its value and worth. When a man finds himself on the verge of death then he repents and realizes not having appreciated it fully!

Life is a wonderful gift, and what matters is how you lived your life and how you planned it. Did you waste it on eating, drinking, sleeping and entertaining, thus lived just a mechanical life or you used this precious life, which in other words means time also, for gaining the knowledge of God and your own being, and for your aims and objectives in this world? Did your tuition help you in intuition? Did your sight take you to insight?

There is a Buddha’s quote:

‘I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old. I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health. I am of the nature to die. There is no way to es­cape death. All that is dear to me, and everyone I love, are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them. My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand.’

Who can tell us what the death is and what happens after the end of this life? Who can tell us the reality?

None. Because no one returns after pass­ing. But everyone knows it we all are impermanent here.

Only God knows what happens after death because Allah and only Allah, knows the ab­solute unseen . Nevertheless, the Prophet received revelation from Allah about some specific things especially during Mehraj which was a holy event when Prophet Muhammad PBUH was called by Allah in the holy night to Arsh and the Prophet met Allah. Mehraj is a series of events which oc­curred that night called Shab-e-Mehraj including visit to Mosque Aqsa. But it is Allah only who has absolute knowledge of unseen and no proph­et had absolute knowledge of the unseen, except what Allah Subhana Wata’ala revealed, showed and informed to prophets, especially to our be­loved prophet Hazrat Muhammad about some unseen things, as Allah willed. That also includes the knowledge about the events and happenings which take place after death.

It is said that in his will to Imam Hasan (peace be upon him), Hazrat Ali (peace be upon him) said, “My son, know that you have been cre­ated for the next world and not for this world, and for annihilation and not for stay, for death and not for life; you are in a transient place, a place which is a path to the Hereafter… You are driving away a death from which no one can run away and which none of its seekers can miss. It has to be experi­enced, so beware lest it catches up with you while you are in a bad state.”

However, everyone knows that death is certain and every life has to die and death is as true as death itself.

Allah Almighty says, “Every self will taste death. You will be paid your wages in full on the Day of Rising. Anyone who is distanced from the Fire and admitted to the Garden, has triumphed. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of de­lusion,” (3:185)

Here I shall be very much in place to quote Imam Al-Gazzali (R.A.). He says in his book ‘ Kimiya-sa-adat ’ that:

While asleep you assume your dreams to be indisputably true. Once awake, you recognize them for what they are, i, e., baseless chimeras. Who can assure you then of the reliability of the notions, which when awake, you derive from the

Only God knows what happens after death because Allah and only Allah, knows the absolute unseen . Nevertheless, the Proph­et received revelation from Allah about some specific things espe­cially during Mehraj which was a holy event when Prophet Muham­mad PBUH was called by Allah in the holy night to Arsh and the Prophet met Allah. Mehraj is a series of events which occurred that night called Shab-e-Mehraj including visit to Mosque Aqsa. But it is Allah only who has abso­lute knowledge of unseen and no prophet had absolute knowledge of the unseen, except what Al­lah Subhana Wata’ala revealed, showed and informed to prophets, especially to our beloved prophet Hazrat Muhammad about some unseen things, as Allah willed. That also includes the knowledge about the events and happenings which take place after death.

senses and from reason? In relation to your present state they may appear real, but is it not possible that should they enter upon another state, which will bear the same relation to your present state as the latter does to your condition when asleep? With awak­ening into the new state you might recognize that the conclusions of reasons are themselves no more than chimeras of their own brand.

Al-Gazzali later suggested that, that state might be death. He says that when we would be awak­ened to life after death, it would be a true though different existence. He further says that:

After my confidence in sense perception and reason got shaken, I was overtaken by sophistication for quite some time. Then Allah cured me of this disease and my condition improved. I developed confidence in axiomatic truths, but this was not due to any logistic or empiricism but was something intuitional.

I feel pleasure to include a reference from a book entitled ‘In­strument for understanding Qur’an’ written by Jinab Dr. Rafiq Sahib. Commenting on the subject, Dr. Rafiq says: ‘In medical terms, we are aware of the two states of minds, con­scious and subconscious states. As you know, normally in the majority of people, the major portion of mind remains in subconscious state and only a little portion attains conscious state or else you can say that the ma­jor portion remains in darkness and only a little portion gets enlightened. It is the conscious portion of mind that is utilized by man; therefore, the major portion of his mind remains unutilised.

If you talk of neuro-anatomy and physiology of human brain, you will agree with me that the modern medical science has as yet succeeded in knowing the anatomy and physi­ology of only a few centers of brain; which is not even a tip of an iceberg. The mystery of tremendous ocean of brain potential remains unexploited even to day to the scientists of med­icine.

 But the same does not hold true about the great Muslim re­search scholars, as I call them. Allah-Tabarak-Wa-Ta’ala took them forth from the depths of darkness into the light, which enlightened their sub­conscious state, converting that into conscious state. With this enlight­enment their ratio of conscious state and subconscious state got reversed. Their conscious state of mind became so powerful that gave them immense vision, which could penetrate all the curtains that otherwise lie between the reality and the mind, the Qalb and the external eyes.’

Indeed, there are rewards for good deeds and faithful, and tor­ture for bad deeds and infidel.

Last moments of Hasrat Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (R.A.)

Just before his demise, he turned to the rest of his sons and said,

“Move away from me. Right now, you seem to be before me, but in reality you are not the only ones here. With the exception of yourselves, there are other creations of Allah here as well. Give enough space for them. Show respect to them. Give way. This is now a place of exalted pardon and forgiveness. Do not crowd this place”.

After saying these words, he would continue saying, “And may there be peace, blessings and Allah’s Mercy upon you. May Allah forgive us all and may He bestow His Mercy upon us.” This was his reply to the greet­ings of the Angels that had present­ed themselves before him. It is stated that he replied to their greetings for a full twenty-four hours.

Sheikh Abdur Razzaq (ra) and Sheikh Moosa (ra), both sons of al-Ghawth al-A’zam (ra) state:

“Sheikh lifted both his hands towards the sky and said, ‘May there be peace, blessings and Allah’s Mer­cy upon you. Repent sincerely from your hearts and join the Sawaad-e-A’zam (Huge Jamaat or Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat). It was for this reason that I was sent. In other words, I was sent to command you to follow and be obedient to our Beloved Proph­et Muhammad(pbuh) . Always be gentle. He then said, ‘The distance between you, I and all the creation is like the distance between the skies and the earth. Thus, you should not think of anyone equal to me, or think of me equal to any other.”

It is further reported that his son, Sheikh Abdul Aziz (ra) asked him about his disease. On this he said:

“Surely no one, neither any man nor any jinn, nor any angel knows or understands my disease. The knowledge of God is not dimin­ished by the command of God. The command changes but the knowledge does not change. The command may be abrogated but not knowledge. God causes to pass away and establishes what He pleases, and with Him is the basis of the Book:

Yusuf Ali: He cannot be questioned for His acts, but they will be questioned (for theirs).

Qur’an 21:23”

It has also been reported that his son Sheikh Abdul Jabbar (ra) asked him: “Which part of your body gives you pain?” He replied :

“All my organs are hurting me except my heart. There is no pain there, for it is with Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He).”

His Last Moments

Then death came to him, as he was saying:

“ Seek help in the words: There is none worthy of worship but Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, the Ev­er-Living, Who has no fear of passing away. Glory be to Him Who exults in His omnipotence, and subdues His servants with death. There is none worthy of worship but Allah. Mu­hammad (pbuh) is Allah’s Messen­ger.”

Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) passed away in 561 AH (1166 AD), at the age of ninety-one (or ninety-two according to another nar­rative).

Rumi says:

“….The human seed goes down into the ground like a bucket,

and comes up with some unimagined beauty.

Your mouth closes here, and imme­diately

opens with a shout of joy there.”

One of Rumi’s best poems is “When I Die”, which is believed he wrote just a few days before his death.

“When I die,

when my coffin

is being taken out,

you must never think

i am missing this world.

Don’t shed any tears,

don’t lament or

feel sorry,

i’m not falling

into a monster’s abyss.

When you see

my corpse is being carried,

don’t cry for my leaving,

i’m not leaving

i’m arriving at eternal love.

When you leave me

in the grave,

don’t say goodbye,

remember a grave is

only a curtain

for the paradise behind.

You’ll only see me

descending into a grave,

now watch me rise,

how can there be an end

when the sun sets or

the moon goes down.

it looks like the end.

it seems like a sunset,

but in reality it is a dawn.

When the grave locks you up,

that is when your soul is freed.

Have you ever seen

a seed fallen to earth,

not rise with a new life?

Why should you doubt the rise

of a seed named human!

Have you ever seen

a bucket lowered into a well

coming back empty?

Why lament for a soul

when it can come back

like Joseph from the well!

When for the last time

you close your mouth,

your words and soul

will belong to the world of

no place no time.”

Lalded, a great mystic poet of Kash­mir, says:

Ameyn tAkeyn poniy zan shemAn

Zuv chum bramAn gara gatshaha.

Means, cups of unbaked clay con­sume water. I run to waste. I long for abode.

Would God I were to reach my home!

She compares her life with water, and time with the cups of unbaked clay which, she says, are slowly consum­ing the water (life). She invokes God to take her to her real home (hereaf­ter).

Water in my unbaked earth­en plates,

Seeps in and none collects ‘

yearn and yearn

To return Home.

‘Aamen Taaken Poune Zan Shamaan’

‘Zoo Chom Bramaan Gare Gazsce Ha’

[Water is leaking from my unbaked pots. I am yearning to go home]

R.c. Temple has translated this verse as:

[Water in a cup of unbaked clay, whirling

And wasting, my dizzy soul

Slowly is filling to melt away.

Oh, how fain would I reach my goal].

For mystics, ‘home’ means hereafter. Because their only aim is union with God and it matures only after death. Their abode means para­dise and the Master of that ‘house’ is God.

In the above verse Lalded says that water is leaking from my unbaked pots.

She has employed symbol­ic terminology in this verse (Vakh). Pots mean ‘Days and Nights’ or Time in this verse, while water a metaphor for life. She wants to convey that life is ‘leaking’, (the vicissitudes are con­suming her time). She yearns for hereafter so that her meeting with her Lord is possible.

It will be in place to mention here that people of this world are cat­egorised in four types, and they are:

One, a man who dislikes death be­cause he remains too attached to this material world and does not want to leave it. Since meeting with God is possible only after death, so detesting death is tantamount to dislike meet­ing God. So God too dislikes meet­ing such a person; hence, this type of man is counted as infidel.

Second, is a person who too does not want to die, but that is not because of his profuse temptations for this material world, but that is because of his nervousness about ac­countability that is going to take place after death, and this man is worried about his little wherewithal. This man is counted among faithful but of less­er degree.

Third, is a person who craves for death because he yearns for meeting God. Such a person remains less attached with this material world. This man is counted as a saint and pi­ous person.

Fourth, is the highest de­gree in spiritual cadre. Such a per­son subjugates his every wish to the will of God. He neither yearns for life nor craves for death. He remains completely obeyed to the will and commands of God. He feels happy in whatever state God places him. If God wishes his living, he wishes to live and if God wishes his death, he wishes to die.

Once Hazrat Abu Hurairah (RA), a close companion of prophet Mohammad (SAW), asked someone, ‘where are you going?’ ‘The man re­plied that he was approaching to­wards market. ‘If possible buy death for me’, Abu Hurairah asked.

Hazrat meant that he did not like to live in this material world and if death is possible even at a cost, he did wish to buy it.

Another companion of proph­et (SAW) named Hazrat Kha­lid-bin-Mehdaan (RA) did say that if I come to know that by touching any particular thing a man could die in­stantly, believe it I would be the first person to touch it provided someone does not prove faster than me.

Note:

(I feel it my moral obligation to men­tion that in order to make this write-up a comprehensive one I needed to google for some references and infor­mation. So collected it from some posts on internet. I express my gratitude to the concerned.

I also consulted some books for this purpose, like the famous Publication “Ahya-e-Aloom” by Imam Ghazali (If anyone wants to read this book, he must seek permission from some reput­ed Aalim. That may help him to reap a good spiritual harvest from this book, otherwise its study may disturb him), I also took help from the famous Pub­lication of Hazrat Abul Hassan Nadvi titled “Tarikh Dawat o Azimat”, and also went through the literature about Rumi and some literature of Shivism and Vakhs of Lal Ded and other books/literature in this regard.

May be, I continue to write on this very subject in future also, InshaAllah. My topic will be ‘What happens after death?’)

The author is a freelance writer and columnist