Soul and death

1. Death is the only thing that is certain of life
• ”Jibreel came to me and said, ‘O Muhammad, live as you wish, for you shall eventually die. Love whom you desire, for
you shall eventually depart. Do what you please, for you shall pay. Know that the night-prayer is the honor of a
believer, and his pride is being independant on others.’" (Silsilah al-Saheehah)
• When a believer is about to depart this world, angels with white faces come down from the heavens and say:
• "O peaceful soul, come out to forgiveness from God and His pleasure." (Hakim and others)
• The believer will look forward to meeting his Creator, as the Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him,
explained:
• "…when the time of the death of a believer approaches, he receives the good news of God’s pleasure with him and His
blessings upon him, and so at that time nothing is dearer to him than what lies ahead of him. He therefore loves
meeting God, and God loves meeting him." (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
• The soul peacefully passes out of the body like a drop of water which emerges from a water-skin, and the angels take hold
of it:
• The angels gently extract it, saying:
• "…Do not fear and do not grieve, but receive good tidings of the Paradise which you were promised. We were your
allies in this worldly life and [are so] in the Hereafter, and you will have therein whatever your souls desire, and you will
have therein whatever you request [or wish], as a hospitality from the Forgiving and Merciful." (Quran 41:30-32)
• Once extracted from the body, the angels wrap the soul in a shroud smelling of musk and ascend up to the heavens. As
the Gates of Heaven open for the soul, the angels greet it:
• "A good soul has come from the earth, may God bless you and the body you used to dwell in."
• …introducing it with the best names it was called with in this life. God commands his "book" to be recorded, and the soul
is returned back to earth.

2. (56:83) Why, then, when the soul leaps up to the throat, (56:84) the while you are
helplessly watching that he is on the verge of death, (56:85) – at that moment when We
are closer to him than you, although you do not see (Us)
ٓ‫ا‬ َ‫ل‬ ْ‫و‬َ‫ل‬َ‫ف‬‫ا‬َ‫ذ‬ِ‫إ‬َٓ‫وم‬ُ‫ق‬ْ‫ل‬ُ‫ح‬ْ‫ٱل‬ِ‫ت‬َ‫غ‬َ‫ل‬َ‫ب‬﴿٨٣﴾ْٓ‫م‬ُ‫ت‬‫ن‬َ‫أ‬ َ‫و‬ٓ‫ذ‬ِ‫ئ‬َ‫ن‬‫ي‬ ِ‫ح‬َٓ‫ون‬ُ‫ر‬ُ‫ظ‬‫ن‬َ‫ت‬﴿٨٤﴾ُٓ‫ن‬ْ‫َح‬‫ن‬ َ‫و‬ُٓ‫ب‬َ‫ر‬ْ‫ق‬َ‫أ‬ِٓ‫ه‬ْ‫ي‬َ‫ل‬ِ‫إ‬ْٓ‫م‬ُ‫ك‬‫ن‬ِ‫م‬‫ن‬ِ‫ك‬ٰ‫ـ‬َ‫ل‬ َ‫و‬َٓ‫ل‬َٓ‫ون‬ُ‫ر‬ ِ‫ْص‬‫ب‬ُ‫ت‬
you (do) not see,
﴿٨٥

3. Dilemma of Shaitaan
• Shaitaan comes from all directions with is waswasa:
• The Shaytaan tries to exploit weak points. If he finds that a calamity has overwhelmed a believer and
that distress has overtaken him, he will interfere in order to spoil his faith, so that he will become one
of the people of Hell.
• Undoubtedly the time when death is approaching is a time of distress and hardship, for the agonies of
death are extremely difficult to bear. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) found
them very hard to bear, to the extent that he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) would say:
“Verily death comes with agonies.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (4449).
• When his daughter Faatimah realised the hardship that he was faced with, she said: How hard it is for
my father! Narrated by al-Bukhaari (4461)
• What is to be expected is that the Shaytaan will never leave the son of Adam alone in this situation, for
it is an opportunity for him.
• It was narrated that Jaabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) say: “The Shaytaan is present with any one of you in all his affairs.”
Narrated by Muslim (2033).

4. • It was narrated that the Shaytaan is never more eager to harm the son of Adam than at the time
of his death. He says to his helpers: Go after this one, for if he gets away from you today, you will
never catch up with him after today.
• We seek refuge with Allah from his evil, and we ask Him to bless us at that critical moment, and
to make the best of our days the day we meet Him.
• Al-Qurtubi said: It was narrated from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) that when a person is dying, two devils sit with him – one on his left and one on his
right. The one who is on his right appears in the form of his father and says to him: O my
son, I care for you and love you; die following the religion of the Christians, for it is the
best of religions. The one who is on his left appears in the form of his mother, and says to
him: O my son, my womb was a vessel for you, my breast gave you to drink and my lap
was a pillow for you; die following the religion of the Jews, for it is the best of religions.
• But what al-Qurtubi mentioned was not based on any evidence from the Qur’an or
Sunnah, because there is no proven hadith to that effect. Rather this is one of the reports
that some scholars transmitted in their books, but they are not to be found in the
reliable books of hadith.

5. DILEMMA DURING DEATH:
• Shaitan is near to a dying person than ever before. He comes to him and forces him to die as a
Jew or a Christian (or as a disbeliever). This is a very intimidating moment. May Allah protect us
from falling into his traps (amen).
The Prophet (sal allahu alaihi wassallam) said: "Verily Shaitan comes to you at all circumstances
and affairs of your life, even at the time of eating". [Muslim]
• The son of great Imam, Abdullah bin Ahmad bin Hanbal, narrates the story of his father's death.
Everyone knows that Imam Ahmad was pious and scholarly. When the death came near to him,
he almost passed out. The people around him were saying, Laa ilaaha illallaah. However, he kept
saying, "No…not yet, not yet." This worried people around him. When Imam Ahmad came back to
his senses, his son asked him about his statement. Imam Ahmad replied, Shaitan came to me and
said: "Ahmad, you are free (meaning, I have lost you)!" To this, Imam Ahmad replied "No, not yet,
not yet." Imam Ahmad meant that a person never gets rid of Shaitan until he dies.
• Al-Qurtubi mentions that a great number of pious and dependable scholars are known to have
witnessed the presence of Satan at death. He relates that he heard one of his own respected
teachers, Imam Abul-'Abbaas Ahmad bin 'Umar al-Qurtubi, say, "I visited the brother of our
teacher, sheikh Abu Jafar Muhammad al-Qurtubi at Cordova and found him near death. It was
said to him, 'Repeat Laa ilaaha illallaah,', to which he replied, 'No! No!' When he came to, we
mentioned what had occurred. He said, 'Two devils came to me, one on my left and the other on
my right. One of them said, "Die as a Jew, for verily it is the best of religions," while the other said,
"Die as a Christian, for truly it is the best of religions." So I answered them saying, "No! No! How
dare you say such a thing to me!"

6. Have Positive Thoughts of Allah
• The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “None of you should die except in the
state of having positive thoughts about Allah.” (Saheeh Muslim)
• That is why our righteous predecessors would recommend that the dying person
be reminded of his good deeds so that he has positive thoughts of Allah, the One
Who is the Most Gentle, Merciful and Beneficent.
• There are things that we can do right now to bring about these positive thoughts
of Allah (the Most Perfect), such as preparing to meet Him by performing good,
sincere deeds, having a clean slate by making much Istighfaar (seeking His
forgiveness) and having a pure, sincere heart.

7. • Ibn al-Qayyim said in al-Jawaab al-Kaafi (62):
• How can one be helped to a good end whose heart failed to
remember Allah, who followed his whims and desires and was
negligent? It is highly unlikely that the one whose heart is far away
from Allah, may He be exalted, who is heedless of Him and who
worships and follows his own whims and desires, whose tongue is
devoid of remembrance of Allah, and his physical faculties are not
involved in acts of obedience to Allah because they are distracted by
disobedience and sin, will be helped to have a good end.

8. • The soul then remains in a place in its grave, called the Barzakh, awaiting the Day of Judgment. Two fearsome,
dread-inspiring angels called Munkar and Nakeer visit the soul to ask it about its religion, God, and prophet.
• The believing soul sits upright in its grave as God grants it the strength to answer the angels with full faith and
certainty.
• Munkar and Nakeer: "What is your religion?"
• Believing soul: "Islam."
• Munkar and Nakeer: "Who is your Lord?"
• Believing soul: "Allah."
• Munkar and Nakeer: "Who is your Prophet?" (or "What do you say about this man?")
• Believing soul: "Muhammad."
• Munkar and Nakeer: "How did you come to know these things?"
• Believing soul: "I read the Book of Allah (i.e. the Quran) and I believed."
• Then, when the soul passes the test, a voice from the heavens will call out:
• "My slave has spoken the truth, supply him with furnishings from Paradise, clothe him from Paradise, and open a
gate for him to Paradise."
• The believer’s grave is made roomy and spacious and filled with light. He is shown what would have been his abode
in Hell - had he been a wicked sinner - before a portal is opened for him every morning and evening showing him his
actual home in Paradise. Excited and full of joyful anticipation, the believer will keep asking: ‘When will the Hour (of
Resurrection) come?! When will the Hour come?!’ until he is told to calm down.