“Every soul shall taste death.” (3:185)

There is ijmaa’ah amongst mankind that death is inevitable. Yet many Muslims do not realize that for a believer, death is what our lives are really all about. For some reason, unless one is talking about sacrificing oneself literally in Allah’s Way (and even then), there is a predominant culture or attitude of judgement, simplistic assumptions, or derision upon anyone who prefers death.

The first assumption many people make is that the person who has a death wish has it due to weakness. Of course, if life is hated due to fear, ingratitude, or cowardice, this is a fault. Yet for many people, especially the “soulful” types, death is very appealing, and not simply when one is sad – in fact one can feel that way even when feeling the most calm or firm in faith. Many people simply do not find life to be so enjoyable that it is fulfilling or desirable in and of itself.

Some people I have heard even deny that “depression” or mental problems exist at all. Alhamdulillah, Allah acknowledged that “sadness” exists and that if a believer is patient upon it, she will be alleviated of sins. “Nothing strikes a Muslim – no fatigue, illness, worry, grief, hurt nor sorrow; not even a prick of a thorn – except that Allah wipes off due to it some of his sins.” [Bukhari and Muslim] Subhanallah, even the prick of a thorn. This should cheer up the perpetually morose. Allah knows your pain.

The most common belief is that a person who is of melancholy nature is a tormented, deviated sinner. This may be true, but is not always the case. Imaam Al-Bukhaari, rahimahullaah, made a du’aa at the end of his life for Allah to take his life. He was plagued with sadness. One of the most heart-warming examples of Allah’s Compassion and Mercy is from the Quran itself. “And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date-palm. She said: “Would that I had died before this, and had been forgotten and out of sight!” (19:23) This was none other than Maryam, mother of ‘Eesa ‘alaihimas salaam. I remember when I had my children a lot of sisters would look down on others due to different ways of dealing with pain, etc. and I felt that it was amazing that one of the most honored and pious of women was quoted by Allah in His Noble Book. Sometimes things do seem unbearable and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.

And lastly, the Sahaabiyaat radhi’allaahu ‘anhum used to pray “O Allah, if life is better for me, then give me life and if death is better for me give me death.” Basically sometimes life is a fitnah. Sometimes pious people would simply wish they were dead or did not exist due to their fear of Allah and fear of the sins they had commited, etc. The famous statement of ‘Umar radhi’allaahu ‘anhu where he said he wished he was a tree or a stone is well known. So it is ironic that sometimes death is not wished for due to the negative qualities one would assume are associated with it, but that in fact it could even be a sign of a person’s asceticism and understanding of the true nature of life.

“O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared and die not except that you are Muslims.” (3:102)

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 at 12:32 am and is filed under Depression. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.