The Best Youth
The glorious Prophet (pbuh) says the following about the youth in one of his hadiths:
"The best of your youth are those who resemble your elders, and the worst of your elders are those who resemble your youth." (Faydul Qadir, 15:776)
Of course, “resembling” in the hadith does not mean imitating each other in dressing or the whiting of hair and wrinkles of face. As a matter of fact, Badiuzzaman says the following while explaining this hadith:
“The best youth is he who thinks of death like an elderly person, and working for the hereafter, is not one of those who become captive to the passions of youth and drown in heedlessness. And the worst of your elderly people is he who tries to resemble the young in heedlessness and passion, and follows the lusts of the soul like a child.”
The thought of death has a great impact on youth’s comprehension of the mortality of the world life and working for their eternal life. A person who does not think that he is going to die one day and does not work with that consciousness will waste his wealth of life, which has been given to him to gain the hereafter, for nothing. He/she would plunge into mortal pleasures and regards this world life as a place of joy and amusement.
The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) wanted to save us from this heedlessness by saying: “Frequently mention death which dispels pleasure and makes it bitter” (Tirmidhi, Zuhd: 4)
As a matter of fact, the following event which is narrated by Abdullah Ibn Umar (PBUH), is so noteworthy:
A man from Ansar came to the prophet (PBUH) and asked him:
“O apostle of Allah! Which believers are more clever and conscious?”
He answered: “Those who remember death mostly and are prepared in the best way for life after death.” (Ibn Majah, Zuhd: 31)
Abdullah Ibn Umar (RA) also narrates the following:
The apostle of Allah (PBUH) grasped one part of my body and said:
“Be a stranger (a foreign lander) in this world or even become as if you are a traveler and consider yourself to be one of the dead people.”
And then, Ibn Umar (PBUH) continued as follows: When you live till the morning, do not talk about the evening and when you live till the evening, do not talk about the morning. Take care of your life and benefit from it before you die and take care of your health and benefit from it before you become ill. O Abdullah! You cannot know whether you will be happy or miserable tomorrow. (Tirmidhi, Zuhd: 25)
In fact, there cannot be a better description than this, which indicates the mortality of world life, because, the time and “life” that a person has is only a “moment”. No one can grant that he will live one year more, one day more and even one hour more. So, he must utilize the moment in which he lives in the best way and become a good slave of Allah.
However, understanding the mortality of world life and leaving its pleasures aside does not mean depriving oneself from the benefactions of Allah.
The following hadith explains this truth very well:
“Leaving worldly pleasures aside does not mean depriving yourself from Halal things or throwing them away. However, it means to be more willing for the reward of a calamity that befalls you and considering what you have is not as reliable as what Allah offers you” (Tirmidhi, Zuhd: 29)
It is not enough for young people to think about death only in order to prevent themselves from plunging into the world. It is also necessary to meditate on what will happen after death. It is necessary to think about the life in the grave, the Doomsday, the Gathering Place, reckoning and questioning, Weighing, Sirat bridge and Hell in order to be able to be saved from the torture of those places, to take refuge in Allah and to spend our remaining time in a way that Allah wants.
The first station man goes to after his death is the grave. The Prophet (pbuh) said, "The grave is one of the destinations of the hereafter. If man's reckoning is easy there, his remaining reckonings in the other destinations will be easy, too; if his reckoning is difficult there, his remaining reckonings in the other destinations will be difficult too.
The torture of grave is real. Man will be tortured in the grave due to the evil deeds he commits in the world. Hazrat Uthman reported the following word of the Messenger of Allah by crying: "I have not seen a view worse than the grave." (Tirmidhi, Zuhd : 5)
When the Prophet visited graves, he saw the situation of the people there and would tell his Companions about them. Since the hadith above tells us how horrible the grave is, it is necessary to work hard and avoid the torture in the grave.
The most terrible period of time after the grave is the Day of Judgment. The Prophet (pbuh) states the following about it:
"On the Day of Judgment, the sun will be made approach the people as nears as one mile or two miles. The sun will virtually melt them and they will be in sweat in accordance with their deeds. Some of them will be in sweat up to their heels, some up to their knees, some up their waists and some up to their throats. (Tirmidhi, Qiyama: 2)
The way of salvation on such a horrible day is to obey the orders of Allah in the world, to keep away from His prohibitions and to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet.
In the Gathering Place, a person will accounted for what he does in the world. He will be accounted to such an extent that a tiny good or bad deed will be questioned as it is stated in the chapter of az-Zilzal. The rewards and sins of man will be weighed, if his good deeds outweigh, he will be sent to Paradise; if his bad deeds outweigh, he will be sent to Hell.
Before we undergo this tough reckoning, it is necessary to take lessons from the following hadith:
According to what is reported from Abdullah bin Masud (r.a.), the Prophet stated the following:
"Every one of you will be alone with his Lord like the full moon. Allah will address each one of you as follows:
'O son of Adam! What deceived you about Me?
O son of Adam! What deeds did you do for Me?
O son of Adam! To what extent did you feel ashamed because of fearing Me?
O son of Adam! What answer did you give to the prophets?
O son of Adam! Did I not see your eyes when you looked at haram things?
O son of Adam! Did I not see your ears when you listened to haram things?
O son of Adam! Did I not hear you when you uttered haram things?
O son of Adam! Did I not see your hands when you held haram things?
O son of Adam! Did I not see your legs when you approached haram things?
Did I not know what was in your heart when your heart was busy with haram things?
Or, did you deny that I was near you and I had power over you?'"
The address of our Lord makes us shiver even now. Think of the same address with all its awe and horror on the Day of Judgment. This address is so humiliating, tragic and distressing.
Therefore, it is necessary to work hard for the hereafter when it is possible.
We should think of the torture in Hell and pray in order to be saved from it.
The following hadith reported from Numan bin Bashir (r.a.) is sufficient to understand the torture in Hell:
"The person with the least torture among the people of Hell is the one who has a fire between his two feet and whose brain boils because of it. (Tirmidhi, Jahannam: 12)
If this is the weakest form of torture of Hell, it is not difficult to think of what the most horrible form will be like.
May Allah make us one of those people who think of death, who do not plunge into the pleasures of the world and who are saved from the torture of Hell.
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