Causes of a Bad End (2/2)

(4) Weakness of faith

If there is some weakness in a person's faith, that weakens his love for Allah. The love of this world becomes stronger in his heart and takes over until there is no room left for love of Allah, except for the smallest trace, which has no apparent effect in counteracting the nafs or in restraining it from committing sin or urging it to do acts of obedience. So the person indulges his desires and commits sin, and the darkness of sin piles up in his heart and keeps on covering up what light of faith is present, although it is weak.

When the stupor of death comes, the love of Allah grows weaker in his heart because he sees that he is departing this world which is so dear to him; his love for this world is so great that he does not want to leave it and it hurts him to depart from it. Allah sees that in him. There is the fear that hatred may displace the love of Allah in his heart, and that weak love may turn to hatred. If his soul departs at this moment of great danger, his end will be a bad one and he will be doomed for eternity.

The reason for this bad end is love of this world, being content with it and rejoicing in it, whilst also being weak in faith which means that one's love for Allah is weak. This is a chronic problem which may affect most people. If a person's heart is overwhelmed with some worldly matter at the point of death, this is what will fill his heart and mind, leaving no room for anything else. If his soul departs at that point, his heart will be filled with that worldly matter and his face will be turned towards it, and that will form a barrier between him and his Lord.

It is narrated that when Sulaymaan ibn 'Abd al-Malik entered Madeenah as a pilgrim, he said, "Is there any man here who met a number of the SahaabaW They said, "Yes, Abu Haazim." So he sent for him, and when he came, he said to him: "O Abu Haazim, why do we dislike death?" He said, "All your effort has been for the sake of this world and you have neglected the Hereafter, and you hate to leave that for which you have striven to go to that for which you have made no preparations." He said, "You have spoken the truth."

Then he said, "I wonder what is stored for us with Allah?" He said, "Check what you have done in accordance with the Book of Allah (i.e., refer your deeds to the Book of Allah and see how far did you follow the Book)." He said, "Where will I find it?" He said, "In the aayah,

“'Verily, the Abraar [the pious believers of Islamic Monotheism] will be in Delight [Paradise]; And verily, the Fujjaar [the wicked, disbelievers, polytheists, sinners and evildoers] will be in the blazing Fire [Hell].” (Qur'an, Surah Al- Infitaar, 82: 13-14)."

He said, "And where is the mercy of Allah?" He said, "The mercy of Allah is close to those who do good." He said, "I wonder, how will I appear before Allah?" He said, "The one who does good is like the one who has been absent when he comes back to his family, but the evildoer is like the runaway slave when he comes back to his master." Then Sulaymaan wept loudly, and said, "Advise me!" He said, "Beware lest Allah sees you where He has forbidden you to be and does not find you where He has commanded you to be."

Siddeeq Hasan Khan quotes from Al-Ghazaali in Al-Ihyaa that a bad end may be on one of two levels, one of which is more serious than the other. The more serious level, which dooms a person to Hell, is when the heart is overwhelmed with either doubt or denial at the time of the stupor and terror of death, and the soul is taken when it is in that state. This forms an eternal barrier between the person and Allah, and condemns him to eternal banishment and everlasting torment.

The second level is when a person's heart, at the moment of death, is overwhelmed with love for some worldly matter or desire, which appears in his heart and overwhelms it, leaving no room for anything else at that moment. If the soul is taken at the moment when it is overwhelmed with love for this world, the matter is serious, because a person dies as he lived. At that point the feeling of sorrow and regret will be great indeed, unless faith and love for Allah were firmly implanted in his heart for a long time and were supported by righteous deeds which will cancel out this danger that was posed to the heart at the time of death. If his faith was equivalent to an atom's weight (or a small ant), he will be brought forth from Hell sooner.

If it was smaller than that, he will remain in Hell for a longer time, but so long as there was even the tiniest speck of faith, he will eventually be brought forth from the Fire, even if it is after thousands of years. Everyone who believes in Allah and in His Attributes and deeds, but he has the slightest misconception, whether that is because of imitating others or because of his own personal opinion, is exposed to this danger.

Asceticism and piety are not enough to ward off this danger; nothing can save a person from this except belief in the truth according to the Qur'an and Sunnah.