Reflections on the Inevitable Day
“Send me back, My Lord, send me back.” (23:99)
Al Harith Al Makhdoomi, an Umayyad poet, says:
I desired you when there was a veil upon my eye;
But when it was dispelled (and I was forced to see clearly), I tore myself up in blame.
We all await the success of this life. We all actually overthink about our future. The truth is that we keep on kicking our heels sometimes. At times, we don’t even know the reason for waiting. We just wait aimlessly. And time goes on passing. It slips away from us just like sand from a fist.
Waiting for our worldly desires to be fulfilled is not going to benefit us. Rather, patiently waiting for our deeds to be rewarded and for the Day when the recompense of the believers will not be lost is the way to bliss. The Day about which there is no doubt. And the most beautiful part of this waiting is to see Allah, to look at His beautiful countenance. But to most people, these things don’t carry weight.
So many people among us linger for their ambitions. Ambitions, aims, and goals — all just for this life. They want to achieve something to make a good living and to secure their future in this life.
They don’t care about their present. A present that’s dark. A present that has evil within it. A present that has made them one of those who are hated by Allah. The illusion of this life’s pleasures has made them blind.
They don’t realize that with every passing day, death is coming closer to them. Every soul shall taste death. No one is going to escape it because no one can. And when they see death standing in front of them, what are they going to do? At that very moment, they will indeed understand that this life is just play and amusement. It’s only temporary happiness.
They will realize that for this temporary happiness, they lost the happiness that’s eternal. And no one will be there to save them from death. No one will be able to protect them from the torment of the grave and the hereafter. When death approaches such people, every one of them keeps on wailing and screaming, saying:
“Send me back, My Lord, send me back. So that I may do good in that which I have left behind.” And Allah says: “No! It is but a word that he speaks, and behind them is Barzakh (a barrier) until the day when they will be resurrected.” (23:99–100)
Surely, on that Day when no mother will remember her son and no son his mother, they will cry to Allah for help. They will ask for His forgiveness. But He will turn His face away from them, and they will have no helper. And surely, their good deeds will be turned into dust.
“Whoever desires the life of this world and its adornments, We fully repay them for their deeds therein, and they therein will not be deprived. Those are the ones for whom there is not in the Hereafter anything but hellfire. And lost is what they did, and useless is what they used to do.” (11:15–16)
