The Unexpected occurs

The righteous will die and the wicked will die...

The warriors who fight Jihaad will die and those who sit at home will die...

Those who busy themselves with correct belief will die and those who

treat the people as their slaves will die...

The brave who reject injustice will die, and the cowards who seek

to cling on to this life at any price will die...

The people of great concern and lofty goals will die,

and the wretched people who live only for cheap enjoyment will die...

A noble person said:

How many people I have known, if I wished, I could name them, who surrendered themselves to their desires and became prisoners of their lusts and forgot about death and their reckoning. So when Allah, the Mighty and Magnificent guided me to His obedience, to following His orders, and to fearing Him, then I went to my  friend, advising him, and admonishing him with encouragement and warning, but  he used the excuse that he was still a young man, and he was fooled by false hopes.

Then, by Allah, death came unexpectedly. So now he is one who lies buried under the earth, tied to the burden of his sins. His passions have left him, his female companions have departed from him and now he must face the consequences, now he has to face the Overpowering Compeller with the actions of the sinful and depraved...

May Allah save you and me from a record or an end like his? So fear Allah, O  Servants of Allah, and do not be like him, since you know that this world is passing  away and the Hereafter is coming towards us, so keep in mind the point of death  and one's passing on, and the number of sins that one has committed and the small  amount of good that one has done. Think of the good that you would earnestly wish to do at that time - then bring that forward and do that today, and think of all those things which you would desire to clear yourself from, then clear yourself from them now.

"If it were the case that when we die we would be left untroubled,

Then death would be rest and relaxation for everyone living:

However when we die we shall be raised up again,

And questioned about everything we have done."

Source: “Death” by Sheikh  'Alee Hasan 'Alee 'Abdul-Hameed

Allah is Indeed Pleased with their deed

A man went to the Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam) and said: “O Messenger of Allah! Indeed I am extremely hungry.” The Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam) sent a message to one of his wives asking, “Do you have any food with you?” She said, “No, by the One Who has sent you with the truth, all I have with me is the water!

He (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam) then sent messages to all of his wives asking the same question, and the answer of each  one of them was, “No”, by the One Who has sent you with truth, all we have is water.”

Allah’s Messenger (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam) said to his Companions; “Who will be a host tonight, May Allah have mercy on him.” A man from the Helpers (Ansar) called Abu Talhah stood and said, “I, O Messenger of Allah.”

He went to his house and asked his wife, “Do you have any food with you?” She said, “All I have with me is a little bit of food for our children.” He said, “Give excuses to them, and then try to make them go to sleep! And when our guest comes, make him think we are also eating as he puts his hand forward to eat. Then go to the lamp and pretend that you are fixing it, but instead put it out. And give him the impression that we are eating, so that our guest eats and fill himself.”

She did what her husband asked her to do; she made her children sleep hungry, she placed the food before the guest, she stood to turn the lamp-off but she was giving the impression of simply adjusting the lamp. Then she sat with her husband and with the guest for meal, they sat idle as the guest ate.

On the following day, he went to Allah’s Messenger (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam) who said to him, “Tonight Allah laughed, or wondered at your action.” And then the following verse was been revealed.

‘And give them preference over themselves, even though they were in need of that…”[Qur’an 59:9]

Source: Gems and Jewels/compiled by Abdul-Malik Mujahid/ Darussalam

The disease of extravagance (Sharh)

Sharah might be in regards to pleasant arts, such as decorated buildings, fine branded horses, fancy clothes, etc. This is a disease that originates from following  hawa, the cure for it is to know that the account for lawful earning is grave, extravagance is prohibited and Allah does not look at the one who drags his garment out of pride. Allah rewards a believer for everything except building.

Therefore the wise is the one who looks at how long he is going to live, and reflect on his final abode for that is when he will be contended with what he wears of his clothes and with whatever shelters him of buildings.

It was reported that prophet Nuh (Alihi Salam) lived in a house made of wool for nine hundred and fifty years. The Messenger (Peace be upon him) never put a stone over another (build a house/ his house was built out of mud) and on Umar bin Khattab’s (radiy Allah anhu) clothes there were twelve patches. This is because they understood that this world is a bridge and a bridge should be not taken as a home.

Thus whoever fails to be aware of this knowledge will be afflicted with the disease of Sharh, and should cure himself by  seeking knowledge and contemplating the biographies of the wise scholars.

Source: “Disciplining the soul” by  Ibn al-Jawzi. 

The story of Khalid bin Waleed killing the devil

An-Nasa'i recorded that Abu At-Tufayl said, "When the Messenger of Allah(Sallalahu alaihi wasallam)  conquered Makkah, he sent Khalid bin Al-Walid to the area of Nakhlah where the idol of Al-`Uzza was erected on three trees of a forest. Khalid cut the three trees and approached the house built around it and destroyed it. When he went back to the Prophet and informed him of the story, the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihi wasallam) said to him,

ارْجِعْ فَإِنَّكَ لَمْ تَصْنَعْ شَيْئًا

(Go back and finish your mission, for you have not finished it.) Khalid went back and when the custodians who were also its servants of Al-`Uzza saw him, they started invoking by calling Al-`Uzza! When Khalid approached it, he found a naked woman whose hair was untidy and who was throwing sand on her head. Khalid killed her with the sword and went back to the Messenger of Allah , who said to him,

تِلْكَ الْعُزَّى  

(That was Al-`Uzza!) ”

Source: Tafsir Ibn Kathir / Surah An-Najm/ Ayah 19