This life or the next – understanding.
We are two in one. Body (jasad) plus soul (ruh) – which we call in combination a person (nafsu). Nafsu comes from nafas which is from the Arabic for breathing – in and out. When the nafas stops, when the breathing stops and the person dies we will not call it a person – nafsu – anymore, it is now a corpse, a dead body. The body as you know will quickly spoil. If you leave the body one or two days it will start to smell with a bad smell. That is why we must quickly bury the it. The sunnah (prophet example) is to bury him as soon as possible. But the soul (ruh) remains.
Now, your physical age is 30, 40, 50, 60 or whatever. But your spiritual age only Allah knows (Allahu alam). From the time Allah created al arwah which was at one time, all of them. Beginning with Adam until the end of time, He created all souls at one time. When the time comes, the He puts the soul into the womb of the mother.
So, the stages or existences of the soul starts with alam al arwah – the dwelling place of the created souls – and goes to alam -al arkam – in the womb of the mother – to alam ad-dunia – this worldly existence – to alam kubur – the grave (the dwelling place of lifeless bodies) – after that al bakhr – the resurrection of all souls with a reconstituted body ready for judgment – then to the place of assembly for judgment by Allah (swt) – a finally to heaven by the mercy of Allah or may Allah protect us from this, in hell for eternal torment.
According to a hadith of Rasulullah (saw) – he said Allah (swt) will bring the one who has enjoyed this life the most. He has at his disposal anything you can image. Houses, food, cars, companions, everything and all of the best. After he has suffered the pains of death – the rigours of death – even for just a few minutes or maybe one hour they will ask him “Have you enjoyed your life.” and he will say “Not a single minute. I cannot remember”.
If you have the biggest car and the greatest palace but you have a tooth ache you will forget both the car and the house. You cannot stand the pain and it drives all other thoughts out of you head. If someone comes to you with the best gourmet meal you will say “I cannot eat” or with a bigger and better and more luxurious car “I don’t want to see the car”. “I want to go to a doctor immediately. Please Doctor, do anything to stop this pain.”
Harun ar-Rashid (Aaron the Rightly Guided – 763 – 809AD) is the Caliph who made Baghdad a center of knowledge for Islam. He established libraries and universities. He encouraged the search for knowledge of all types. He made Baghdad the ‘kiblat’ of knowledge of that time. They say it was the golden time of Islam.
At the time of Harud ar-Rashid the Caliphate had control over vast regions of lands including present day Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Al Shams – which includes Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, – all of the Saudi peninsula – vast holdings. When the clouds moved in the sky he would say “Where ever these clouds go and drop their rain, the zakat from the crops that they nourish will come to me.”
One day he was sitting in his palace with his very close advisor Abu al-Atahiya who was also a poet. He asked his advisor “Ya Abu al-Atahiya, can you advise me please.”. And he took a drink of water from a glass. So Abu al-Atahiya said “Oh ruler of all believers (Ya Amir al Mu’mineen). If this water gets stuck in your throat and it cannot go down and it cannot come back up and your a choking and cannot breathe. And you are just about to die. How much are you going to pay to have this water dislodged so you can breathe?”. Harun said “Half of my kingdom.”. Then Abu al-Atahiya asked “Then if this water gets stuck in your body and you cannot pass urine.” This is a very painful condition for a person. He said “How are you going to pay to cure this illness and release the urine from your body?” Harun said “The other half of my kingdom.” Abu al-Atahiya then said “Then your kingdom is not worth the value of this glass of water or the urine it will cause.”.
This kingdom does not belong to man. It belongs to the Lord of all Creation (swt). Allah (swt) is owner of all creation from the beginning through to the end and before and after that. Allah (swt) grants stewardship of his creation to whomever He pleases (swt) and He withholds from whomever He pleases (swt).
قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ مَالِكَ الْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِي الْمُلْكَ مَن تَشَاءُ وَتَنزِعُ الْمُلْكَ مِمَّن تَشَاءُ وَتُعِزُّ مَن تَشَاءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَن تَشَاءُ ۖ بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ [٣:٢٦]
Say: “O Allah! Lord of Power (and Rule), You give power to who You please and you strip power from whom you please: You endue with honour whom You please and You abase whom You please. In Your hands is all good. Truly You have power over all things.
So this is the meaning of our life. And the life of the one who enjoys the most.
And then they bring the one who has had the most difficult life. He has led a life of nothing but hardship. Poverty, sick, no friends, everything you can imagine that can be wrong with a life. May Allah protect us from such a test.
But, if he is a believer and has been patient and thankful to Allah for all of the blessings he has received. After he has died and he is in his grave. And the angels will open the door, just a crack, to show him is position in heaven even just a quick glance. Then they will ask him “Have you endured any hardship in your life?” And he will say “Not a single minute! I cannot remember any hardship in my life. Glory to Allah!”.
Whoever you are. All of us have something in our heart. We are frightened from something. Death! If we get sick we will spend any amount to postpone the day of death by even one day. But we must all face this inevitable day. It cannot be avoided. The question is what have we prepared for our next life.
