When the call of his Lord comes...

When the call of his Lord comes, he should welcome it with open arms accepting it to be a blessing from Almighty. He should be contented with the decree (Qadr) of Almighty. He should also rejoice that shortly he would be taken to the presence of Ahlul Bait [Household of Prophet] (pbut) and meet his deceased companions and other believer brothers. He should also not be disheartened by the delay in death but should consider it as an opportunity afforded by Almighty to him to repent.

This delay would give him a chance to gather provisions useful for his journey to the other world, for the journey is tiresome and full of dangerous valleys and difficult paths. In fact a believer always remembers death, since his or her main goal is to reach the Almighty God.

Hazrat Qasim (pbuh), the son of Imam Hasan Al-Mujtaba (pbuh), when asked concerning death at Karbala, answered: "death to me is sweeter than honey." Therefore true believers, those who aresincerely devoted to the Almighty God, anticipate death since to them it signifies the long-awaited meeting with their creator. During imprisonment, Imam Ali An-Naqi, Al-Hadi (pbuh) had a grave dug up ready by the side of his prayer mat. Some visitors expressed concern or surprise.

The Imam explained, "In order to remember my end I keepthe grave before my eyes." Before a believer approaches the final moment of his/her life and death overtakes him, it is necessary that he wakes up from the state of negligence and prepares for the final everlasting place. This way he will be able to avoid bewilderment and the fear of the so-called untimely death.

At the time of leaving this world, as attested to by the Holy Qur'an, a person will be in one of two states - either he will be of the of the Right, or the of the Left (Refer Holy Qur'an 56:7-56). If he is counted amongst the of the Right, he will be in a good, final state, but if he is one of the of the Left, he will be of those who have suffered a great loss ( 03 ) The Truth of the life of this world: Once a man saw in his dream, that a Lion was chasing him!

The man ran to a Tree, climbed on to it and sat on a branch. He looked down and saw that the Lion was still there waiting for him. The man then looked to his side where the branch he was sitting on was attached to the Tree and saw that two Rats were circling around and eating the branch. One Rat was black and the other one was white. The branch would fall on the ground very soon.