Why fear death?

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Death: The gateway to the eternal worldPurgatory or Barzaq

It is clear from our previous discussions that for those who believe in the resurrection, fear of death is meaningless but for those people whose book of deeds has been blackened, those that are terrified of the punishments in the hereafter. There are three kinds of people who are afraid of death:

The first group consists of those who consider death to be destruction and obliteration. Obliteration is terrifying just as poverty, illness, weakness and inability. Since destruction means the end of well being, security, authority and power and man is a creation which is attracted to prominence and prominence behooves him so destruction has no compatibility with him. Man therefore, should be wary of death and he should try to avoid or escape it.

But if we consider death a means to reach a supreme being and the hereafter as something superior in bounties and gifts to this world and if we consider this world to be a prison and death as the release from it; take the present life to be a prison for the soul and death as the escape and flight to freedom then we not only overcome the fear of death but death itself will become something likeable.

According to a very wise person who said:

O wise man! You should forfeit this life for only after death can you exist truly and then your soul will take a journey as if you have given freedom to the eagle from anger and jealousy.

The poet says:

I am the bird of the supreme garden and part of me is from earth. My body has been made my prison for two or three days. I will feel happy when I will flap my wings in the world of my beloved and reach out to him.

Another poet spreads his arms wide to embrace death and calls out to it:

If death is a man then tell him to come to me so that I can spread my arms and embrace him. I will take the eternal life from him and he will take my colorful .

It is clear that if death is described in such a manner then no one is afraid of it. I do not say that he should commit suicide because this world is the place to store as much as one can and to prepare for the journey after it.

We say that a person who has this belief leaves this world with widespread arms, full of bravery and daring and rises to embrace something that will give him a new life.

The Second group consists of those who believe in the life after death and never consider death to be annihilation or decadence but their books of deeds is black because they fear the various punishments of the Day of judgment and so they try to be escapists like those criminals who believe in delayed justice because of their evil deeds and that they should remain alive in prison.

It is correct for this group too to fear death. The freedom from prison is all fine but not for the criminal who will be taken to the gallows straight from it.

The Third group: The point to note is that love of this world and attachment to it pains a person. The dazzle of pomp and splendor and his passionate love for it makes him wary of death which will end all this.

But they do not consider death to be obliteration and their books of deeds too are not darkened; they are not attached to the pleasures of this world and thus there is no proof of them being afraid of death.

Death described in Islamic traditions.

We find very fine points about the terror of death in the Islamic traditions that are very educative:

Some one asked Imam Hasan: “Why is it that we do not feel please with death?”

 The Imam replied: This is because you have destroyed your hereafter and have adorned this world of yours and this is why you do not like to transfer to a barren place. (1)

Imam Jafar Sadiq narrates:

As person came to the Last Messenger and asked:

“Why is it that I do not like death?”

The Messenger asked him:

“Do you have wealth?”

The man said: “Yes”

The Messenger asked him:

Have you sent some of it ahead?

He said: “No”

The Messenger said:

“This is why you do not like death!” (2)

Another Hadith tells us that once Imam Ali Naqi visited his sick friend. He found him crying endlessly and is disturbed by the thought of death. The Imam spoke to him:

“O servant of God! You are afraid of death because you do not about it.”

And then the Imam compared death to a clean bath where enters a dirty person and all his worries and pains are washed away. He then gains peace and happiness. (3)

Imam Ali Ibn Hussein has said:

“When on the Day of Ashura the Imam was burdened with terrible hardships and the faces of his friends became radiant and their bodies became very calm and their hearts became satisfied. Some of them spoke about others “Look at them they do not care about death” (4)

These traditions are enough to describe the causes of fear of death and need not be elaborated upon.

 


 

1. Behar-ol-Anwar vol. 6 page 129 Hadith 18
2. Behar-ol-Anwar vol. 6 page 129 Hadith 9
3. Ma’ani-ol-Akhbaar Page 290 Hadith 9
4. Ma’ani-ol-Akhbaar page 290 Hadith 3

 

Death: The gateway to the eternal worldPurgatory or Barzaq
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