Those who envisioned death before his eyes, would not mind eases and hurdles of life
– Syumaith bin Ajlan rahimahullah

Every soul will taste death. And We test you with evil and with good as trial; and to Us you will be returned.

“We shall test you, sometimes with difficulties and sometimes with ease, to see who will give thanks and who will be ungrateful, who will have patience and who will despair.”

Good times and bad times.
Ease and difficulties.
In illness or in health.
Have or have not.
Each phase is a trial.
A trial of sabr and syukr.
This is the game of dunya.

Funny, Allah remind us about the nature of this dunya by sandwiching that fact with the warning about death and our eternal return. Well, because this world is never meant to be our final destination. Our days in dunya will end someday, somehow. The game is over. The hour of test is finished. And we’re back to the real life; the return to Allah.

Tafsir Ibnu Kathir stated that “the return to Allah” means Allah will requite us according to our deeds in dunya. The real moment of scoring and rewarding is not in this world. But in akhira. Allah with all His Understanding, Wisdom, and Knowledge withholds our scores until hereafter.

We live in a culture where death is a taboo subject. It is too painful to talk about. Too
scary, like a ghost or worse. Yet, it is the real-undeniable-unavoidable future for all of us.
But we jitter every someone mention the D word.

“Okay okay, I believe in Allah and hereafter. Let’s move on to something else please.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Boy, that gives me creeps!”

It is too real.
But there lies our growth.

The moment we have courage and focus to envision death before our eyes long enough,
we strip ourselves to the bare essential.

We find a renewed will to live. Not to dodge or play hide and seek with death, but to make the most of our time in this dunya following Allah’s guidance and seeking His Blessing and His Forgiveness. For Allah is The Most Benevolent and The Most Merciful. The Ruler of The World and The Hereafter.

According to Dr. Colm O’Connor in The Courage to Be Happy (2012), when we awaken our life with issues of meaning, purpose, existence, and mortality, our happiness is more
deeply felt.

Still finding a way to be mindful about our dull daily life?

For me, remembering death and Allah is the real mindfulness.

We must begin at the burning-point of all life; the point at which you live most intensely and are in touch with the essentials of life. It is that place where you are acutely aware of both your frail mortality and the aching beauty of life.
– Colm O’Connor. The Courage to Be Happy