ISLAM: Tazkiya and remembering death

For the process of tazkiya to go forward, the remembrance of death acts as a very powerful spur. The remembrance of death produces a sense of urgency in a person. Death reminds him of the fact that he cannot afford to procrastinate in his striving towards tazkiya, a task which has to be undertaken today itself, for nobody knows for certain whether tomorrow will be the day of death or of life.

The concept of death reminds an individual of the moment when he will die, and that afterwards he will face a very grave situation. This moment of death has been described thus in the Quran: “The Day when mankind will stand before the Lord of the Universe.” (83:6). This will be the day when angels will take a person before God. God, who knows everything, both open and hidden, will take him to account for all his words and deeds on earth. According to one tradition, man will on that day stand before God and his feet will not move until he has answered all the questions God will ask him. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 2416)

Remembering death means remembering the most delicate moment of one’s life. An individual must keep thinking about the time—which is certainly going to come—when his eternal future will be decided.

Such thinking must certainly produce an upheaval. It is a fact that one who thinks about death in this manner will be extremely concerned about tazkiya. He will try to the ultimate extent to attain tazkiya from every aspect before death overtakes him, for then he will have reached a point where there is no time left for reform.