“At that time when a person is informed of the death of another person...

“At that time when a person is informed of the death of another person, it is then that his own death is also written and recorded (that it will take place).” Death does not know the difference between young and old - it has no relationships or ties with anyone - and thus, it can and does come after a person unexpectedly. Pay careful attention to the wording of the tradition and see how carefully the words have been chosen.

It is stated, “It is as if death has been prescribed for other than us (and that we will never die).” Who has been promised that they will remain alive for another instant? If there is no possibility of a promise coming to play in this issue of death, then why do we constantly delay and postpone the doing of good deeds? We leave off repentance and asking forgiveness for our sins until tomorrow or the day after.

We are so relaxed and laid-back that before we realize it, time will have passed us by and at that time when we are about to die, any amount of grief or anguish will be of no use. Our mistake is right here that we all think that those who have died and left us are simply on a trip and that tomorrow, they will be coming back to us.

It is us ourselves who have placed then in the ground under the dirt and are now busy in eating up the inheritance that they have left behind for us yet still we act in such a way that we think we are going to live forever! Just look at the way that some people act in this world and sometimes with great regret, we see that it is this same inheritance that they leave behind that make the people after them act in the most disgusting and dangerous ways!

One time when we were in Tehran, we were informed that there were two brothers - who were around the ages of 10 - 15 years old. They got upset with one another due to the way that the inheritance was split up between the two of them to the point where they would not even go to each other's house.

We must say to such people that: “Are you certain that you are going to be able to make use of all of this inheritance that has been left for you?” Without doubt, if we think over this just a little bit then the answer will definitely come, “No - since in life there are events which can take place that we as humans are completely unaware of such as that time span between life and death which is a very short time period.” Mankind is still amazed at how short this time span truly is!