Facing Our Mortality: A Call for Self-Reflection
PREPARATION FOR THE DAY OF DEPARTUREHow foolish is the one who does not prepare for death, knowing that he does not know when it will strike.
Even more foolish is a person who has approached seventy years of age and does not prepare for the battle of death.
Youth say when we reach old age we will stop sinning, then what should an old person say?
By ALLĀH! It does not make sense for an old man to laugh or joke (too much). He comes towards this world when this world has rejected him. This only weakens his abilities and his intellect.
What is left for a sixty year old man?
If he hopes to reach seventy, he will only be able to do so with much hardship. If he attempts to stand up, he must push with his hands off the floor, and if he walks he will become overly breathless. He sees the pleasures of this life but is unable to enjoy them.
If he eats his stomach will hurt because of indigestion (and con stipation). If he has sexual relations he will harm his wife. And if he becomes sick, it takes him too long to regain his strength. He lives just like a captive.
Then if he hopes to reach eighty, he will crawl to it like a baby.
The eighth decade is full of hardships for he who reaches it.
A wise man is he who understands the nature of time. Before puberty he is a child and is not accountable for what he does. Some children do however, possess great intellect that urges them to earn nobility and sciences from a young age.
When he reaches puberty, he must then know this is the period for fighting against lusts and gaining knowledge. And when he has children, he must work hard to earn sustenance. And when he reaches forty, then he is going downhill towards his inevitable abode.
It is as if a person climbs a staircase until he reaches forty, then climbs down.
Once he reaches forty, he must pay most attention to the afterlife, and must prepare for departure. Although this also applies to a twenty year old, a youngster is easier to come back than an older man.
Once he reaches sixty then ALLĀH has left him with no excuse. He must wholeheartedly attend to gathering his goods to travel, and he must understand with each additional day he lives through, is an extra gain that he had not planned for, especially if he becomes weaker. Then the older he gets, the more active (in worship) he must become. When he reaches eighty, then nothing remains except de parture, and all that is left is sorrow over carelessness or worship inspite of weakness.
We ask ALLĀH for a full alertness that repels oblivion away, and we ask HIM for good deeds that prevent us from guilt on the day of departure.
And ALLĀH is the Guide.
[Ibn al-Jawzee's Captured Thoughts: Page 587-589]
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