Remembrance of Death and Restraint of Wishes
Remembrance of Death and Restraint of Wishes
`Abdullah bin `Umar RadhiyAllahu Anhu reported: Rasûlullâh SallAllahu alaihi wasallam took hold of my shoulders and said, “Be in the
world like a stranger or a wayfarer.”
Ibn `Umar RadhiyAllahu Anhu used to say: When you survive till the evening do not expect to live until the
morning; and when you survive till the morning do not expect to live until the evening. While in
good health (do good deeds) before you fall sick; and while you are alive (do good deeds)
before death strikes. [Al-Bukhârî]
Abdullah bin `Umar RadhiyAllahu Anhu reported: Rasûlullâh SallAllahu alaihi wasallam said, “It is the duty of a Muslim who has
something which is to be given as a bequest not to have it for two nights without executing a
written will.” [Al-Bukhârî and Muslim]
In the narration of Muslim it is narrated as `three nights’.
Ibn `Umar RadhiyAllahu Anhu said: Since I heard Rasûlullâh SallAllahu alaihi wasallam say this, I have never spent a night without
having my will with me.
Abu Hurairah RadhiyAllahu Anhu reported: Rasûlullâh SallAllahu alaihi wasallam said, “Hasten to do good deeds before you are
overtaken by one of the seven afflictions.” Then (giving a warning) he said, “Are you waiting for
poverty which will make you unmindful of devotion, or prosperity which will make you corrupt,
or a disease which will disable you, or senility which will make you mentally unstable, or sudden
death which will take you all of a sudden, or Ad-Dajjal who is the worst expected, or the Hour;
and the Hour will be most grievous and most bitter.” [At-Tirmidhî]
Buraidah RadhiyAllahu Anhu reported: Rasûlullâh SallAllahu alaihi wasallam said, “(In the past) I forbade you from visiting graves, but
visit them now.”
`Aishah RadhiyAllahu Anhu radiyallahu anha reported: Whenever it was her turn to spend with RasûlullâhSallAllahu alaihi wasallam , he
used to go to the Baqi` (graveyard in Al-Madinah) at the last part of night and say, “May you
be safe, O abode of the believing people. What you have been promised has come to you. You
are tarried till tomorrow and certainly we shall follow you if Allah wills. O Allah, forgive the
inmates of the Baqi`-al-Gharqad.” [Muslim]
Anas bin Malik RadhiyAllahu Anhu reported: Rasûlullâh SallAllahu alaihi wasallam said, “Let none of you wish for death on account of an
affliction that befalls him. If he has no alternative, let him pray: `Allahumma ahyini ma kanatilhayatu khairan li, wa tawaffani idha kanatil-wafatu khairan li (O Allah! Give my life so long as
the life is good for me, and take away my life if death is good for me)’.” [Al-Bukhârî and
Muslim]
Qais bin Abu Hazim Radhiyallahu anhu reported: I went to visit Khabbab bin Arat tRadhiyAllahu Anhu during his illness. He had
been cauterized (to seal a wound, or destroy damaged or infected tissue, with a heated instrument) in seven
places. He said: “Our companions who have died have left (this world) without having enjoyed
the pleasures of the world (in order to get a great full reward in the Hereafter) while we have
amassed wealth exceeding our needs for which there is no place to keep except in the earth.
Had Rasûlullâh SallAllahu alaihi wasallam not prohibited us from longing for death, I would have prayed for it.” Then
we visited him again and he was building a wall.
He said: “There is a reward in store for a
Muslim in respect of everything on which he spends except for something he places in the earth
(i.e., something exceeding our needs or essentials).”
[Al-Bukhârî and Muslim]
