The Fiqh of travelling from the Flight Home to the Enduring Home (2)

Content

1- Chapter on: [Statement about the reality of the Flight Home]

2- Chapter on: [Provisions that should be observed before death because of its connection to it]

3- Chapter on: [What should be done for those who about to die]

4- Chapter on: [Death, and the exit of the soul]

5- Chapter on: [Things that should be done with the deceased after their death]

6- Chapter on: [Washing the deceased, shrouding them, prayer at them and their burial]

7- Chapter on: [The Grave]

8- Chapter on: [The Resurrection]

9- Chapter on: [The Gathering]

10- Chapter on: [The horrors of the Day of Judgment]

11- Chapter on: [The state of the people on the Day of Judgment]

12- Chapter on: [The Intercession]

13- Chapter on: [The Accounts]

14- Chapter on: [The Scales]

15- Chapter on: [The Basin]

16- Chapter on: [The Gathering for the Enduring Home]

17- Chapter on: [The Path]

Chapter on: [Statement about the reality of the Flight Home]

   It is a suffering life and its comforts are plagued. Its new (things) decay and its kingdom perishes. Its love cuts off and its good gets snatched. Those who are attached to it are either in temporal blessings, in depressed curses or suffer deaths and afflictions. It is not an Enduring Home but a temporary enjoyment that makes its owner proud:

{يَا قَوْمِ إِنَّمَا هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا مَتَاعٌ وَإِنَّ الْآَخِرَةَ هِيَ دَارُ الْقَرَارِ}

“O my people! Truly, this life of the world is nothing but a (quick passing) enjoyment, and verily, the Hereafter that is the home that will remain forever.” [Ghafir: 39].

The meaning of "quick passing) was repeated in the Qur'an many times to explain the reality which many people neglect.

   A person has two conditions in this world:

1. A past condition which had passed and a person does not know what Allah Almighty will do with it.

2. And a remaining condition which he does not know the destiny of Allah therein.

O Lord! (We ask for) Your Mercy! Make us desire the Hereafter and show asceticism in this world

There were many Hadiths reported to explain the value of this world, for instance, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Were this world worth a wing of mosquito, He would not have given a drink of water to an infidel.”[1]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “By Allah, this world (is so insignificant in comparison) to the Hereafter that if one of you should dip his finger (and while saying this Yahya pointed with his forefinger) in the ocean and then he should see as to what has stuck to it”[2]

The Messenger of Allah ((peace be upon him)) happened to walk through the bazaar coming from the side of 'Aliya and the people were on both his sides. There he found an “asak[3].” He took hold of his ear and said: “Who amongst you would like to have this for a dirham? They said: We do not like to have it even for less than that as it is of no use to us. He said: Do you wish to have it (free of any cost)? They said: By Allah, even if it were alive (we would not have liked to possess that), for there is a defect in it as its ear is very short; now it is dead also. Thereupon Allah's Messenger ((peace be upon him)) said: By Allah, this world is more insignificant in the eye of Allah as it (this dead lamb) is in your eye.”[4]

   In this Hadith is the greatest statement of the value of life as the Prophet (peace be upon him) presents it with a cheap price of a dirham then without any price as he said: “Who amongst you would like to have this?” and the companions (may Allah be pleased with them) objected, even if he was in the best condition as when he was alive. Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) took an oath for them (he is the most honest), that the world is less to Allah Almighty than this asak to them.

   The narrations that state the pettiness of the world, its shame and demise are many. That is not excluding the many who chase it, those who are absorbed in its pleasures, those who are proud of its comforts…We ask Allah for peace, tranquility and eternal forgiveness in this world and in the Hereafter.

   Therefore, Ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Prophet (peace be upon him) grabbed part of my body and said: Be in the world like a stranger or a passerby, and count yourself among the inhabitants of the grave.”[5]

   Ali ibn Abu Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The journey of this life is a passing by and the life of the Hereafter is approaching. Each of them has children so be among the children of the Hereafter and do not be among the children of the world because today there are deeds without reckoning and tomorrow (there will be) reckoning without deeds.”[6]

   How beautiful are the words of the poet:

 
  And another saying: