The Natural Instincts of Men And Women

Man was endowed 'with numerous and various natural instincts.  This fact was – acknowledge by psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, biologists, historians   and all the Prophets that were sent by Allah.

The first of these natural instincts is:

Man’s love for life, and his strong fear of old age and death. (The Survival Instinct)

If someone should hold a child of two for example and pretends like he is about to throw that child from a balcony or a veranda.  You will see that child screams and cries out of intense fear for death and danger. This is so because everyone including this child was born with the inherent quality to fear death.   This instinct   was given to us by Allah _ so that we would avoid committing suicide.      Therefore whenever a person commits suicide this behaviour of his or hers is considered abnormal. Any society in which suicide occurs a lot, such a society is spiritually empty  and  this  abnormal  practice  is  a  sign  telling  us  that  the society  is on its way to destruction.  It is not the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad it to pray over the dead bodies of people who commit suicide. In a Hadith narrated by the Sahaabi, Thabit bin Ad-Dahhak the holy Prophet (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) has said,

"Whoever commits suicide with a piece of iron will be punished with the same piece of iron in the hell fire".  

Narrated Jundab: The Prophet (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said, “A man was inflicted with wounds and he committed suicide and so Allah said: My slave has caused death on himself hurriedly so, I forbid paradise for him."[1]

In another Hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah, the Holy Prophet (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) has said:

"He who commits suicide by strangling himself, shall keep on doing so in the hell-fire (forever) and he who commits suicide by stabbing himself, shall keep on stabbing himself in the hell-fire."[2]                                     

The quality of hating,  old age and death is so inherent in Mankind that even our father Adam (‘alaihis salam), was deceived by Iblees and ate from the forbidden tree after he was assured by Iblees that he, Adam would live forever if he should eat from that particular tree.  And Iblees said,   

“Your lord did not forbid you this tree save you become angels or become one of the immortals (ever-living).”[3]

The Shaitaan deceived Adam (‘alaihis salam) by promising him immortality because he knows that man hates old age and death instinctively.

Mankind’s fear for old age is so strong at times it leads a lot of men and women to undergo numerous amounts of plastic operations in order to look many years younger than they actually are. Even though these people at times suffer excruciating pains as a result of these plastic operations they bear the agony with patience because of their intense anxiety to look younger. Old age has affected a lot of people psychologically, in that they become miserable, loose their confidence, feel unwanted and retarded. They try to fight these feelings by dating young people who are sometimes half their age. Unbelievers are more affected with old age than Muslims  because  their  societies and families reject them;  also because  this  world  is  their  paradise  and  they have nothing  in the  hereafter  to  look  forward  to. Thus our beloved Prophet Muhammad (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) has said,

"This world is a prison for the believers and paradise for the unbelievers."[4].

Of  all  the people  in  the world  the Jews  are  the  most vehement in their desire for long  life.  Thus Allah said,

"And verily you will find them (the Jews) the greediest of Mankind for life and even greedier than those who do not believe in resurrection (idolaters etc.), every one of them wishes that he could be given a life of a thousand years. But the grant of such life will not save him even a little from (due) punishment. And Allah is All-Seer of what they do."[5]

On commenting about their cowardice Allah said,

"And if they fight against you, they will show you their backs, and they will not be helped.”[6]