ON LIFE AND DEATH

 

I generally think about how hard it is to live while I eat and travel. Everyone spends the time given to them in some way. Of course, there are also people who believe the concept of "living" is too burdening and do not want to continue. However, they cannot be judged as living is indeed a very difficult task. It is possible to give up here as well as in every area of life. Also, people start to ask the real question here. “What motivates us to continue living in this life?”  Fears? Money? Greed? Love? Religion? Or anything I can't think of right now...

 

In today’s social media culture, we are constantly under pressure on issues such as our weight, gender, aesthetics. Unfortunately, there is the same pressure in our daily life. We often hear expressions such as "We cannot interfere in anyone's life, everyone is free in their thoughts", but I can say that it is quite funny to believe. This is just one of the deceptions under the title of "we respect" in the system. If it wasn't so, I think we wouldn't see any Atheists despising Theists, Jews despising Muslims, or Christians excommunicating others. What do we have in this system anyway? From the moment we are born, we go to school, try to find a job, and then our life consists of spending every day at that job. Of course, we do not forget to be deceived by a few days such as weekends and annual leave. But what do we really have in this system we're stuck in? Our job? Our work? Definitely not them. Because we do nothing but serve the place we work. Our money? Our property? Well, if you count the clothes, you have them temporarily or the house you can or cannot find time to use in your free time from work. Our family? We usually ignore them for the first two forgetting that death can separate us any moment. But let’s admit it, sometimes you ask "Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? What do material things give meaning? What will happen if I die? What if I’m living wrong?" These questions are okay because we all think about the same questions. Moreover, we sometimes even have to. And this is where the concept we call faith appears as a savior. The only thing that can be ours in the past, now and forever.

 

The Arabic equivalent of the word faith is “eeman”, which means “to be confident, to be fearless” id est whatever frightens or upsets you in life and death is to take refuge in Allah and live with the peace of knowing always with you. Allah says in the Qur’an “Verily, by the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction.” [Quran 13:28]. As things stand, what can make us happy this life and death; There is only one reality that can satisfy and motivate our soul and mind. We have only one support who is most merciful and most gentle who says “Indeed, ˹it is˺ We ˹Who˺ created humankind and ˹fully˺ know what their souls whisper to them, and We are closer to them than ˹their˺ jugular vein” [Quran 50:16]. After thinking a bit, we can see that there is nothing on Earth that can be eternally ours except our relationship with God who is closest to us and our faith. There is no other solution that can stop the questions in our minds.

 

If what I talked about death made you feel uncomfortable, remember that death is not an end in Islam but a beginning of an eternal life. While the wicked is punished as the justice calls for it, true believers will reach their destination where they reach an everlasting life without worldly worries. It brings peace to hearts that we can never find in world. All this meaningfulness, emptiness and obscurity ends in an instant with death. We finally get rid of the simplicity of the world and think for more grandiose. Everything in the world starts to seem so simple. Fighting, shouting, wanting all funny now.