before you regret

death is an unavoidable end. like all the other people who lived in the past, the ones who will live in the future will also die. nobody, without exception, can escape it. that is why this is one of the issues human beings avoid thinking and talking about. some people insistently avoid the thought that one day they will lose everything to which they are attached with desire, and they will stand before Allah to give an account of the deeds they did in this life.

since, so far, not a single soul has escaped death, how can these people behave so heedlessly? how can they lead their lives as if they will never face death one day?

people often invent scenarios in their minds. they want to believe, for instance, that they will die in the later years of their lives and that hence they still have years ahead. that there are a lot of things to accomplish probably makes them feel that it is too early to die. contrary to what they believe however, they hear almost everyday news of young people who lose their lives. hearses which they see on television, or which they come across on the streets or cemeteries they pass by every day remind them of death. yet, they pretend not to understand the fact of death.

however, death is a reality you may meet any time, and time flies in the countdown to your own death. it is possible that you could breathe your last in the blink of an eye. any time, you may face angels assigned to take your soul. from then on, you lose all your chances to save yourself from an everlasting grievous punishment. nothing surely compensates for a life spent in heedlessness.

Wherever you are, death will catch up with you, even if you are in impregnable fortresses. If a good thing happens to them, they say, "This has come from Allah." But if a bad thing happens to them, they say, "This has come from you." Say, "Everything has come from Allah." What is the matter with these people that they scarcely understand a single word? [QS an-Nisa 78]

think about a man who does not ponder on death all through his life, who does not take heed from the events Allah makes him experience, who does not respond to the call of Allah's messengers and accordingly who spends his life without believing Allah. a person who follows his vain desires will surely be seized abruptly by death. regretful, he will demand another chance to return to life. however, there will be no return.

When death comes to one of them, he says: "My Lord, send me back again, so that perhaps I may act rightly regarding the things I failed to do!" No indeed! It is just words he utters. Before them there is an interspace until the day they are raised up. [QS al-Muminun 99-100]

There is no repentance for people who persist in doing evil until death comes to them and who then say, "Now I repent," nor for people who die rejecting faith. We have prepared for them a painful punishment. [QS an-Nisa 18]