What Should We Really Fear?

Written on 5th December, 2006

What Should We Really Fear?

What we should fear, we fear not.  What we should not fear, we fear off.

In reality we should fear what will happen after we die and will be raised on the Day of Judgment.  We should fear that we could die any second.   We have absolutely no control over the timing of our death.  It will overwhelm you and you will not even realize it.   Even at the anointed time of death, you hope against hope of living one more second, one more minute, one more hour, one more day, one more year and so and so forth.  The reason is your fear of the unknown.    The fear of moving into a previously unchartered territory, a place from where no one has ever come back and told the tale.  This territory is terrifying only for those who do not believe in the Youm-e-Aakhirat.  Who do not have Imaan over the fact that there is life after death.   Who do not believe in the Rahmat of Allah, the Merciful and Benevolent.   And this gift or knowledge is acquired only by believing in the mortality of this world and all the desires and attractions, which come attached as a package with it.

Yes, we fear the loss of our desires, our habits, our taste of materialistic lifestyle, and our way of life, our enjoyments, and our comfortability factor and the numerous attractions of this world.   And this fear is so deep and strong that we completely ignore the fact that all these may just vanish in a fraction of a second.   This is precisely why we postpone doing things.  We have become prisoners of our habits, our desires, our comforts and our joys of this world.   Can we go ahead and do Tark-e-Duniya when we are in the midst of enjoying the best the life has to offer.   The more we get used to the comforts of life, the more difficult it will be for us to divorce that lifestyle.   Therefore, we force ourselves into an illusion, that we will do it later; we still have time; what’s the hurry; we are still young; when we get old we will do it.  We talk as if we are in control of our life and not Allah, The Supreme Power.   We immerse ourselves to practicing rites (rasumat), torturing our brothers and sisters, demanding dowries, black magic, conducting marriages and other functions in great style, pomp and naked exhibition of wealth.  Even if we are not doing any of these, we believe we are not mentally prepared to undertake this tough and arduous path of complete Taqwa and Tawakkal.   We pamper our desires.  We give it the wings to fly and soar high.  We let our desires fly so high that we forget that the higher we fly, the greater will be the danger of falling.  The greater the height, the disastrous will be the result of such a fall.

Outside we preach and inside we breach.  We believe in marketing ourselves; in presenting ourselves in the best possible manner.   Our exteriors look magnificent, beautiful, strong and highly desirable.   But unfortunately our interiors are in a dilapidated condition, breaking apart, highly afflicted and corroding. Our concentration is sadly on the Hole (the earth which is like a deep bottomless pit) and not on the Soul.  We believe in inhaling that entire world has to offer.  We make, willingly or unwittingly, pacts of friendship with everything, which is a sure passport to hell.  But sadly we forget to exhale our ego, our desires, our existence and our enjoyments.

In the end, my brothers and sisters, let us shake off this cloak of darkness and bask in the brilliant illumination of the Divine Light.  Let us realize that we all have become past masters in living in illusion; in deceiving ourselves.  Let us remove the cobwebs from our eyes and make it possible to have the Vision, which we should desperately seek.   Let us wake up from the deep sleep and discard the thought that we will just not be dying right now.  We desire, we hope, we believe that we will just be living a little bit more.  Nothing can be so far removed from the truth. 

So fear DEATH and HEREAFTER.  And do not fear the loss of this world and its package of comforts and desires.