Antipathy Toward Death

 

Purification of the Heart

Signs, Symptoms and Cures of

the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart

Translation and Commentary of

Imam Mawlud's Maṭharat al-Qulub

by Hamza Yusuf

Antipathy Toward Death

POEM VERSES 155-63

Antipathy toward death is when one flees from it and becomes

annoyed when it is even mentioned—

 

as if he is completely ignorant of [God's statement that] each

soul shall taste death.

 

This is reckoned to be among the diseases of the heart. So be

content with what God, the Exalted, has decreed.

 

But if one detests [death] not for its own sake, nor for the loss

of pleasures that it entails,

 

but rather out of fear of being cut off from preparing for the

Day of Judgment by obeying God more, [then it is not blameworthy].

 

Also, if one completely entrusts his affair to his Master,

whatever He wills, either causing him to drop dead or giving

him respite, it contents him.

 

Both of these attitudes towards death are commendable and

praiseworthy. [Either way], disliking the reality of death in no

way distances you from its proximity.

 

The one who constantly remembers death is ennobled with

contentment, with his heart's activities directed toward obedience,

 

and with prompt repentance [when wrongs occur]. The one

who is heedless of death is afflicted with the opposite of all three.

 

Definition and Treatment

Antipathy toward death is considered a disease of the heart. It refers to strong aversion to death to the point that its mere mention causes consternation. Such a person, Imam Mawlud says, is in denial of the reality: Every soul shall taste death (QURAN, 3:185); Say, "The death from which you flee will overtake you. Thereafter you will return to the Knower of the seen and unseen. He will then inform you of all that you had been doing" (QURAN, 62:8). None of this suggests that one should leap into the throes of death. It merely disparages the ethic of chasing after the fleeting things of this world while rebuffing the imminence of death and what comes after. When death is mentioned, it is considered a morbid topic that is uncouth to discuss. And when it is discussed, it is turned into some deadline before which people are supposed to squeeze in all their life's pleasures. The Muslim view is completely different. To speak about death is to speak about life and the urgency to live a faithful and wholesome life before death overtakes us.

 

Shaykh Ibn al-Habib said, "In death there are 1,000 reposes for the Muslim. As long as you are in this world, there is not a cell in your body that does not experience pain and disease. Once you are out of this world, all of that ends." For the believer, there is comfort in death. It is being taken from an abode of difficulty and trial to one of peace and unfathomable freedom. In Islam, the mourning period is short and should not be prolonged. The irony of extending the mourning period is that it is rooted in the excessive love of dunya (the world). The more one covets this world, the greater the sense of loss when a loved one dies.

 

Everyone will experience the loss of a loved one. When the Prophet pbuh lost his son Ibrahim, he wept but also praised God, the source of life and death. People who believe in God and in the Afterlife handle death well. The same is true with calamities and tribulations. Maurice Bucaille, the well-known French physician, said that what attracted his interest in Islam was how North Africans in France faced death. As a physician exposed to disease and death, he observed many of his own countrymen not knowing how to die or handle death.

 

The fear of death is natural. Reflexively, one protects himself from it. When angels in the form of human beings visited Prophet Abraham pbuh he offered them food. When he saw that they did not reach for the food, he grew fearful. Scholars say that Abraham pbuh thought they had come to take his life. The Prophet  pbuh encouraged believers to desire a long life for two reasons: to make up for past iniquities or to increase good deeds.

 

The one who remembers death is ennobled by certain characteristics. One of them is contentment and a lack of covetousness. The Prophet pbuh said, "Contentment is a treasure that is never exhausted." He also prayed, "O God, provide for my family with what suffices them and grant them contentment with it." The wealthy soul is one that is content. This contentment is not the kind that originates from stupidity or not knowing any better. It is contentment that is informed by knowledge and by reflection on death and its meaning.

 

Second, the remembrance of death gives one energy to achieve good deeds: Wealth and sons are the ornaments of the life of this world, while enduring righteous deeds are better with your Lord in reward and better in hope (QURAN, 18:46).

 

Third, remembrance of death engenders seeking repentance when one slips or errs. Penitence rectifies wrong action, and that is the gift of remembering death. When one lives with this realization, he or she becomes prompt in seeking God's forgiveness. Those who are heedless of death have no compunction in doing wrong, since death is not a factor in their lives. They carelessly view the Day of Judgment as some distant event hardly worth worrying about or some ancient notion formed in a primordial epoch of human development.

 

Source: Purification of Heart
to be continued ....