Source: Ain-al-Hayat, By: Allama Muhammad Baqir Majlisi
The purpose of these admonitions is to bring the attention of the human beings towards good deeds and stopping them from having unreasonable desires and wishes.
There are four things that are the impediments for the good deeds of human beings:
1. Procrastination in doing good deeds
The Satan misguides man to think that he has plenty of time. Prayer can best be done when the person is old, he must spend the youth in enjoying the pleasures of the world.
2. Avoiding repentance (Tark al-Tawbah)
The man will not repent and abstain from the wrong actions. He keeps living under the misconception that he has plenty of time to repent and reform, till death overtakes him.
3. Avarice for accumulating wealth and riches
When a person become totally oblivious of his gain or loss in search of wealth, it is natural that he forgets Allah and His Prophet (S) in the process. He will busy himself in running after the chimera of wealth day and night. He depends more on his own faculties to amass wealth totally forgetting that it is Allah who endows whatever a person possesses.
4. The callousness of heart and forgetting about the Hereafter
Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (as) has said that man has two traits that one should avoid cultivating: The first is doing things dictated by baser instincts, and the second, working under distant hopes (Tool al-aml). The baser instincts prevent a person from accepting the truths and the distant hopes make one forgetful of the transitory nature of this life in the world. One who works under distant hopes, is not on the right path. The welfare of the people is in abstinence and firm belief. The cause for the downfall of a society is in its people having distant hopes and practice of parsimony.
The Prophet (S) told to Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (as) that with callousness four things: spring: Coldness of the eyes, Selfishness, Excess of desires, and Wish to live longer in the world.
The Prophet also said that with age two traits become more pronounced in men. The first is greed and the second distant hopes for the future.
The one remedy for these two aberrations is that one should always keep his death in view and realize that everything in the world is transitory. They should know that death is as much near the old as it is with the youth. When there is a death in his surroundings, one should give a thought that his turn might be around the corner when everything he has strived to acquire would be left behind. When one looks around himself, he finds people with failing health, diminishing eye-sight, debilitated bodies. One should therefore have recourse to studying the sayings of the Prophet (S) and the Imams (as) of the transitory nature of this life. Another way of overcoming these traits is to visit the grave yard occasionally which will remind one of the ultimate destination and the futility of running after worldly things.
It is narrated that a youth by name of Ababa bin Rubai Ansari used to regularly visit Abd Allah bin Abbas. He used to treat the youth with respect and give him a place near himself to sit.
People told to Abdullah bin Abbas that the youth was a thief of the shrouds from the fresh graves in the community graveyard and that he must not give him so much respect.
Abdullah bin Abbas wanted to confirm this matter by himself. He therefore visited the graveyard in the darkness of nights. One night he found the youth coming there. From his hiding he saw the youth lie down in an empty grave and say, “O Allah! I am a sinful person. I know that one day I will be brought to this place and buried in one of the graves. At that time only You can help me! I have unnecessarily troubled innocent people! On the Day of Reckoning, who else but You can help me? O Munificent Allah! I resolve now that I shall not let sin ever come near me from now on!”
The youth thus cried for some time. When he emerged from the grave, Abd Allah bin Abbas ran towards him and embraced him. From that day he had more respect for the youth.
Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (as) says, “One should always remember death. When one thinks of the grave and of the Day of Judgment, then the hardships of life seem easier to bear. The person who counts ‘tomorrow’ as an essential part of his life, he is, in fact, oblivious of the fact of death.” He wrote to the people of Egypt, “O Creations of Allah! None can avoid death! Fear death before it catches you unawares! If you don’t run away from it, it will get you! Even if you try your best to avoid death, you can’t! Death, you must know, is closer to you more than your own shadow!”
The Prophet of Islam (S) has said, “O people! If animals had known about death as much as you do, then they wouldn’t have been so strong and sturdy as they are! Remembering death, they would have gone weak and emaciated!”
Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (as) has said, “When man reaches the last day of his life, he gives his attention to his belongings and says, ‘I strived hard to acquire you, I have been very miserly in using you; tell me! Of what use are you to me now?’ The reply will be, ‘You can take your coffin from me!’ Then the man will turn towards his children and say, ‘You were very dear to me! I was attending to your needs all the time. Of what help you could be to me now?’ They would reply, ‘We shall take you to your grave!’”
Then he will turn his attention towards his own deeds. ‘No doubt! I never gave any thought to performing good deeds! I am repentant now! What help you can give me now!’. His deeds respond, ‘We shall be with you from the grave to the Day of Reckoning! We shall not leave you for a moment during the interregnum. If you had been a friend of Allah, a pious person will come near you. The dress of the person will effuse a fragrance. When asked who he was, he would reply,’ I am your good deeds. When you depart from the world, your abode will be the Heaven.’ After his death, he will be laid in the grave and buried.
Two angels will then enter the grave. Their voices will be sharp like the lightening thunder. Their eyes will be fiery. They will ask, ‘Who is your God? What is your Faith? Who is your Prophet (S)? Who is your Imam (as)? If the person gave the correct replies, his grave will be widened and a door will be opened towards the Heaven from where the pleasant breeze will reach him. The angels will give him the good news that Allah is Happy with him and he should sleep in peace! But if the person has been a sinner, he would not be able to reply correctly to the questions posed by the angels. The angels will hit him with their fiery maces that the animals of the forest will get scared with the sound of the impact! The angels will open a door from his grave towards the Hell and fire and brim will overwhelm him. He will suffer perpetually from the pressure of the grave. The snakes and vermin will torture him in the grave till the Day of Reckoning!”
Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir (as) narrates from the Prophet of Islam (S) that he said, “Like the other prophets (as) of yore, I too was tending to the flocks of sheep! One day the sheep got scared and stopped grazing. I asked Jibrael the reason for this phenomenon. He said,’ One infidel was being punished in his grave at that time. His wailing was audible to all animals, barring men and the Jinn. When the sheep heard the loud wails, they got scared’”
Also the Imam (as) said, “When a sinner is taken to the grave, he will tell to his comrades, who will not hear him, that Satan led him astray and was unable to help him now! He would complain that his friends gave him false hopes and made him busy with worldly activities. They were now taking him to be buried in mounds of sand and soil! He will complain running after worldly gains he lost the opportunity of acquiring the rewards of the Hereafter.
Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) said, “The grave calls people every day! It tells that it is a poor abode, an abode of loneliness and desolation, a home for snakes and reptiles. It says that it is both a Garden of Heaven and also a place with the Fire of Hell! Those who are destined for the grave, which is inevitable, must prepare for what sort of a grave they wish to be interred in! The better the deeds of a person, the better will the interregnum in the grave and in the Hereafter.”
The Prophet (S) was asked by his companions to tell them who is the wisest, pious person? The Prophet (S) replied, “One who remembers his death the more and prepares himself for the event!”
Abu Saleh narrates that Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) said, “O Abu Saleh! When you give shoulder to a coffin, you must imagine that you are yourself in that coffin and pleading with Allah to send you back to the world that you can make amends for your past sins! Then imagine that Allah has acceded to your wish and has sent you back once over to the world! Now you must see that you refrain from any sinful acts!” Then the Imam (as) said, “I wonder about persons who see people dying around them every day, but they continue with their worldly amusements (Lah wa laab) oblivious of the obvious happening around them!”
Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) narrates that once prophet ‘Isa (as) went to the grave of prophet Yahya (as) and revived him to life. Prophet Yahya (as) asked him, who he was? He said, ‘I am ‘Isa (as). I wish that you give me a helping hand in the propagation of my faith.” Prophet Yahya (as) replied, “I haven’t, as yet, overcome the pain of death. Why do you wish to expose me to the same pain again!”
It is narrated that the sons of the king of Bani Israel were busy in their prayers. Their prayer consisted in taking a trip of pleasure in the country and praising the Creations of the Almighty! One day they arrived at a grave that was in ruins. They started praying for the revival of the dead person to life. The dead person raised his head from the grave that was covered with grey hair. He asked them, “Why you people have come here?” They replied, “We want to know from you about what happens to a person at the moment of death?” He said, “It is 99 years since I am dead! But I haven’t forgotten the pain of death!” They asked him, “What was your age at the time of your death? How your hair has turned grey?” He replied, “At the time of death I was a youth and my hair were black. When you called me now, I thought that the Doomsday has come and with the fear my hair suddenly turned grey!”
Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) said, “A person who keeps his shroud ready at home, is not counted among the persons oblivious of their death. Whenever he sets his eyes on the shroud, Allah rewards him.”
Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir (as) has said that every day an angel proclaims, “O man, take birth for dying, amass wealth for squandering, and construct buildings that they fall into ruins!” Then the Imam (as) said, “When a person reaches the age of forty years, every fresh day tells him to do good deeds that it will not come back to him again and that it is his witness only for the day!”
Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) told to Jabir Jaufi, “O Jabir! Give greetings to our Shi’as and tell them that there is no relationship between us and Allah, and none can be Allah’s favorite, unless he is obedient to Him! One who obeys Allah and loves us is our Shi’a. The one who disobeys Allah is never our Shi’a, however much he claims to be our follower”
The Prophet (S) said that on the Day of Judgment every person would be asked four questions:
• How did you spend your life?
• How you occupied yourself during the time of youth?
• From where did you earn your livelihood and how you spent it?
• Did you have the love of the Prophet’s Ahl-ul-Bayt or not?
Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) said that the Torah says, “O son of Adam (as)! Prepare your heart for My Obedience that I make your heart contented and not dependent on other creations! I fulfill all your needs! If you make your heart devoid of My Obedience, I shall fill it with the love for the world and don’t fulfill your needs. I shall leave you alone with your endeavors!”
Imam Zain-ul-’Abidin (as) said, “The person who seeks Heaven, doesn’t like name and fame! One who is afraid of the Hellfire, will never commit sins! One who shuns the world, relieves himself of many cares! Some creations of Allah are on august positions that they watch the inmates of the Heaven in Heaven and the inmates of the Hell in Hell. With the nightfall, they stand in prayer, their cheeks wet with tears and fear of Allah makes them so weak that people think they are sick.
Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) narrates that prophet ‘Isa (as) passed through a hamlet once. All the people, animals and birds in that place were lying dead. He thought, they must all have died with the curse of Allah! If they had died, one after another, they would certainly have received decent burial. Prophet ‘Isa (as)’s disciples said, “O Spirit of Allah! Pray to Allah that He brings them back to life again that we ask them about the cause of the severe punishment inflicted on them. That will be a lesson for us to take care in our own lives.” Prophet ‘Isa (as) went to an elevated place and cried aloud, “O inhabitants of the hamlet! With the orders of Allah, respond to me!”
One of the dead persons rose and said, “Labbaik (at your beck and call)! O Spirit of Allah!” Prophet ‘Isa (as) said, “For what acts you have been brought to such wretched condition?” He replied, “We were following Taghoot (the Satan) from the depths of our hearts! We denied the existence of Allah! We were the friends of the material world and sure of enjoying it for long! We were busy with our activities of lechery and depravation!” Prophet ‘Isa (as) asked, “What sort of love for the world you had?” He replied, “The way a child loves his mother. One night we were sleeping that we found ourselves awaken in the Fire of Doomsday. We all started shouting that we be allowed to come back to the world once again that we make amends for our past sins! A sound proclaimed, ‘You are liars!’ and the flames of fire encircled us!” Prophet ‘Isa (as) told to his disciples, “Eating dry bread and salt is definitely better than the life of sin these people were living! It is better to sleep on the bare floor than the comfortable beds of depravity!”
Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) narrates that when prophet Dawood (as) committed the Tark al-Aula (the first misdemeanor), he remained in prostration for forty days. During this time, he cried and did not raise his head except for prayers. His forehead started bleeding. With excessive crying his eyes too bled. After forty days a sound came, “O Dawood (as)! What do you want? If you are hungry, you will be sated, if you are thirsty, water shall be provided. If you are naked, clothes shall be provided. If you have any fear, that fear shall be expelled!” Prophet Dawood (as) said, “O my Sustainer! I am a sinner and I am afraid because You are the most Just!” then the Revelation came, “O Dawood (as)! Be repentant and earn salvation!”
After hearing this Prophet Dawood (as) started reciting the Zaboor and supplicating. With him the trees, the stones and the animals too joined in supplication. He reached a mountain and found prophet Huzqeel (as), Prophet busy in prayer inside a cave. When he heard the wails of animals, he understood that Prophet Dawood (as) had arrived there. Prophet Dawood (as) went ahead and told to Prophet Huzqeel (as), if you permit me I shall come near you.” Prophet Huzqeel (as) replied, “you are a sinner!” Prophet Dawood (as) cried inconsolably when a revelation came to Prophet Huzqeel (as), “Dawood (as) has committed Tark al-Aula and you should not reprimand him for that because I keep friends with those who repent, and there is none more forgiving than Me.”
Prophet Huzqeel (as) took Prophet Dawood (as) inside his living quarters. Prophet Dawood (as) asked Prophet Huzqeel (as) if he ever got the idea of committing a sin. Prophet Huzqeel (as) said, “No.” Prophet Dawood (as) again asked, “Are you proud that you never got a thought of committing a sin.” Prophet Huzqeel (as) said, “No.” Prophet Dawood (as) asked him, “have you ever felt the worldly needs in your heart?” Prophet Huzqeel (as) replied, “yes. Sometimes I have such feelings.” Prophet Dawood (as) asked, “then how do you overcome these wishes?”
Prophet Huzqeel (as) said, at such moments I enter into the crevice of this mountain and treat myself with whatever I find there, Prophet Dawood (as) accompanied him into the crevice of the cave and noticed that there was a table of iron there. On that table there were some bones and also a tablet of metal. Prophet Dawood (as) picked up that tablet. It was engraved on the tablet, “I am Arwa bin Shalam?. I have ruled for a thousand years, founded thousand cities and slept with thousand virgins. In the end I was rendered to a condition that the dust is my bed and the stone my pillow! My companions are snakes and scorpions! Therefore whosoever sees me should not be carried away with the attractions of the world!”
