Dear Brothers and Sisters!  

The greatest blessing Allah (swt) has given us is that he created us out of nothing. As one of Allah’s names “Al-Khaliq”, He has given us life. Of course, as Muslims, we know that a person’s life is not limited to his life in this world. After the life in this world, the life in the hereafter will begin. The unchanging fact of worldly life is that every human being is born destined to death. Allah (swt) mentions in the Quran, “Every soul will taste death, then to Us you will all be returned.”[1]

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

One of the most important issues reminded by all prophets who were assigned with the duty to warn humanity is that we will not stay in this world forever. Our Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, “What is the world to me? What am I to the world? Verily, the example of this world and myself is that of a rider who seeks shade under a tree, then he moves on and leaves it behind.”[2] The comparison of the life in the hereafter and our life in this world in terms of value is given in the Qur’an. Allah (swt) says, “And this worldly life is not but diversion and amusement. And indeed, the home of the Hereafter – that is the [eternal] life, if only they knew.”[3]

Dear Jama’ah!

In the old saying, “Man is afflicted with being forgetful.” It is constantly forgotten that the world is temporary and that we are not permanent on this Earth. Sometimes we act as if we will never leave this world. Of course, this situation causes us to drop the hereafter from our agenda and to surrender to the greed of materialism. In particular, the biggest disease of Today is to be careless. As a result of this, conflicts arise in both individual and communities and therefore chaos occurs in the world we will leave one day. Our Prophet (saw), who was sent as a mercy to the worlds and for us to overcome these negative situations has said; “Remember death often, death that spoils the taste of mouths.”[4]  We believe that this advice of the Messenger of Allah (saw) to humanity will also benefit the sick who are suffering from their illnesses.

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Before death comes, we must hold ourselves accountable whilst we have this time now. We should not lose ourselves in the daily flow of life and neglect taking ourselves into account. Being conscious of our servitude, we must prepare for the Hereafter. We must not forget that when our time is up and we leave this world, we will be born into an afterlife where we will be held responsible for our actions.

Allah (swt) mentions in the Quran; “Every soul will taste death. And you will only receive your full reward on the Day of Judgment. Whoever is spared from the Fire and is admitted into Paradise will indeed triumph, whereas the life of this world is no more than the delusion of enjoyment.”[5]

May Allah (swt) make us one of his servants who spent a lifetime in the consciousness of his servitude and attained Paradise in the hereafter. Ameen!

[1] Surah Al-Ankabut, 29:57

[2] Tirmizî, Zühd, 44

[3] Surah Al-Ankabut, 29:64

[4] Nesâî, Cenaiz, 3

[5] Suran Âl-i İmrân, 3:185

Khutba: Remembering Death