Two Reasons of Dying Without Belief
Abdullah bin Abi Awfa (r.a.) narrates:
When we were at the presence of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), somebody turned up and said to him,
"O Messenger of Allah! There is a young man who is at his deathbed. Although they say to him 'Say La ilaha illallah', he cannot utter it."
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) asked,
"Did he use to perform prayers?"
The man answered,
"Yes, he did."
Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah stood up. We stood up with him. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) went to visit the youth and said to him,
'Say La ilaha illallah'. The young man said,
"I cannot say it."
When the messenger of Allah asked 'Why?' the man who came with him said,
"He used to disobey his mother."
The Messenger of Allah said,
"Is his mother alive?" The people who were there said,
"Yes, she is." The Messenger of Allah said,
"Call her here. They called the woman. The Messenger of Allah said to her.
"Is he your son?"
The woman said,
"Yes, he is". The messenger of Allah said to the woman,
"If there were a big fire here and if they said to you, 'If you intercede for your son, we will not burn him. If you do not intercede, we will burn him.' What would you do? Would you intercede?"
The woman said, "I would be his intercessor." The Messenger of Allah said,
"Then, show Allah and me witnesses that you are pleased with him." The woman said,
"O Allah! I show you and the Messenger of Allah as witnesses that I am pleased with my son; I have forgiven him."
Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said to the young man who was ill,
"Say, 'La ilaha illallahu wahdahu la sharika lah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh'." The young man uttered kalima shahada at once. Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
"Praise be to Allah! He saved this young man from Hell through me." (The hadith was reported by Tabarani, and by Ahmad bin Hanbal in the form of a summary.)
This formidable hadith is a very important warning related to "dying with belief", which is the greatest cause of man.
Firstly, not performing prayers can cause a man to die without belief.
Secondly, not winning one's parents consent can cause a man to lose the great cause.
This reality should make us shiver. We cannot say that all of those who do not perform prayers and disobey their parents will die as unbelievers. However, this is a formidable boundary of risk unless Allah saves us by creating a means like the one in the hadith.
Woe on us if we are not careful about these two issues even if we are believers throughout our lives and we may seem to be working for Islam!
Let us deal with prayer at first since it is very important.
We congratulate our young brothers who perform five daily prayers fully and wish them to continue worshipping.
We would like to address our young brothers who do not perform prayers and to mention a few points related to the importance of prayers.
My aim is not to blame our young brothers because I know that the way to Allah is full of merciless enemies, formidable obstacles and barriers, injurious stones and thorns.
I believe that when adhan is recited, a voice coming from the depths of your hearts says to you, "Come on! Make wudu and go to the mosque" and on the other hand, the soul, Satan, bad friends, the people around you and some harmful means of media say, "Come on! Take it easy! You are young. You can pray when you get old." I know very well that the soul and its desires tell you that you have a lot of things to do when adhan is recited and that they whisper to you different ideas when it is time to pray.
Therefore, I understand the feelings and the situation of our young brothers who do not perform prayers. However, I cannot tolerate them being away from performing prayers and I cannot help warning them.
Our young brothers who do not perform five daily prayers probably perform Friday and eid prayers.
Then, we should ask our soul, which prevent us from performing prayers this question:
"Why do we perform the other prayers?"
Is it not because our Lord commands?
Is it not because it is ordered by the Quran?
Is it not because the Messenger of Allah advised his umma to perform Friday prayers?
What else can be the reason why we perform Friday prayers?
Do the love and fear of Allah, the warnings and the intercession of the Prophet not lead us to Friday prayers?
Do the desire for Paradise and fear from Hell not encourage us to perform Friday prayers?
The reasons leading us to perform other prayers should also lead us to perform five daily prayers because the same reasons are valid for five daily prayers.
For instance, we should ask ourselves,
"Why should we perform prayers?"
Because our Lord commands it.
Because the Quran orders it.
Because the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) orders and encourages his umma to perform prayers.
Should the love of and fear from Allah, the warnings and intercession of the Prophet not lead us to perform prayers?
For, we feel a spiritual pain when we do not perform prayers and we feel happy and joyful when we perform prayers.
The desire for Paradise and fear of hell should lead us to perform five daily prayers as they lead us to perform Friday and eid prayers.
We can definitely say that there is no other worship that our Lord gives so much importance to, emphasizes so much and orders so insistently.
We are ordered to perform prayers in exactly 70 places in the Quran. There is no other worship that the Quran orders so much.
For instance, in verse 3 of the chapter of al-Baqara, "being steadfast in prayer" is mentioned among the characteristics of believers having taqwa; We are ordered, "be steadfast in prayer ", in verse 43 of the same chapter and, "seek (Allah's) help with patient perseverance and prayer " in verses 45 and 153 of the same chapter.
Who gives these orders?
Allah, who created everything, who holds the existence of everything in His hand of power and controls everything, does.
Should we, who obey the order of ordinary chiefs, not obey the orders of the Creator of the universe and shiver at the thought?
When the teacher at school, the chief at work or the commander at the army orders us to do something, we fulfill their orders in order to attain their love and consent. How can we remain indifferent to the orders of our Lord? How can we abandon performing prayers as if we say to God Almighty, "no matter what you order I have important things to do" and as if we challenge Him?
Every adhan is a divine call that reminds us the order of Allah and calls us to His presence.
Think about it:
If a friend of us, whom we like a lot, a notable person or the head of a state called us to his presence, would we not go there? If there were a feast at the palace of the head of the state, would we overlook it?
Think of a person who is addressed as follows: "Our Sultan invites you to his palace. He will treat you and grant valuable presents from his treasures. If he says, "I have something to do; I cannot come", can we call this person a clever person?
Suppose that the Prophet (pbuh) calls us to his presence. We will see him and talk to him like his companions, whose nice reminiscences we read. We will rush to such a call, won't we?" Believe it or not, I will go even if I crawl and I will kiss the hands of the Prophet. Let alone seeing him alive, we go to visit his tomb enthusiastically; don't we?
In fact, our Lord, who orders us to perform prayers, is our most faithful friend, who listens to our problems the most, who finds solutions to our and who gives us bounties and gifts every second.
He is so lofty that we cannot survive even for a second if He stops sending His bounties and grants.
Think of it:
If our eyes could not see, would we not spend millions of lira in order to be able to see again? Would we sacrifice our hands or feet if they gave us the whole universe?
What about our mind or spirit? Would we sell our nice feelings in return for worldly goods?
Our Lord, who orders us to perform prayers, gave all of them to us along with numerous bounties and grants. In fact, He states the following in the Quran: "If ye count the favors of Allah, never will ye be able to number them."
We cannot even thank for those bounties by performing five daily prayers.
However, what does our most compassionate Lord do? He gives us Paradise and saves us from Hell.
Is it not necessary to perform daily prayers and to rush to the mosque when adhan is recited in order to please Him, to be saved from eternal torture and to live happily and eternally in Paradise with our friends?
We already perform some prayers for His sake; is it not necessary for us to perform five daily prayers in order to please Him more?
What we have mentioned are some of the orders of our Lord related to prayers. What about our Prophet? What does he say about prayer?
Our Prophet says that prayer is one of the "5 foundations on which Islam is based".
The first one of those foundations is kalima ash-shahada, the second one is prayer and the third one is fasting. Thank God, we believe in Allah and His Messenger heartily. We - hopefully - perform fasting. Since they are fundamentals of Islam and since we say that we are Muslims, is it not necessary for us to perform prayers? How can a person who does not perform one of the fundamentals be a Muslim? Do not misunderstand me; I do not say that such a person exits religion; I say what the level of our Islam will be like.
A young Turk married a German girl who accepted Islam. His wife saw that her husband did not perform prayers. Once, she scolded him, "What kind of a Muslim are you? I never see you pray. You do not go to the mosque or to the church. Are you an atheist?" Should we not question ourselves regarding the issue?
The Prophet (pbuh) gave so much importance to prayer that he performed prayers with his Companions in congregation in turns during the Battle of Badr while they were struggling to stay alive. Our Prophet never quit any daily prayers; he did not regard any other worship more important than prayers.
He said, "The first thing a person will be accounted for is prayer." He also said, "The grave is one of the stops on the way to the hereafter. If a person accounts there easily, the accounts at the other stops will be easy, too."
If we do not perform prayers, the first torture we will suffer in the grave will be because of not performing prayers. If it becomes a difficult test, the Gathering place will be difficult for us, too. Sirat Bridge will also be difficult. What will our situation be like in the Gathering Place, where the sun will be only a mile away from our heads, where everybody will think of their own problems and run away from their mothers, fathers, spouses and children? Should we not be afraid of hellfire? When we light a match and try to hold it until it burns out, we cannot put up with the pain. We cannot put our hands in hot water at 100 degrees. How can we risk entering Hell, which has a temperature of 200 thousand degrees?
Our soul and the people around us can say, "You are still young; you can pray when you get old." However, do we have a guarantee that we will live until we get old? Who has a contract with Azrael (Angel of Death)? Suppose that we were given a special guarantee and we will live 100 years. Do you think we will not be accounted for what we have done since the age of puberty? Does Allah say, "O old people! Perform prayers!" or does He say, "O believers! Perform prayers"? Is practicing Islam something that old people have to do? The Prophet says everybody will be accounted for in the presence of Allah where he spent his youth. How can we remain indifferent when adhan is recited though we know those realities?
Why does the Prophet ask about prayer first in the hadith mentioned above? For, he says, "Prayer is the thin line between belief and unbelief." This statement of the Prophet should make us shiver That is, abandoning prayers is the level just below unbelief and polytheism. If you go one level down, you fall into unbelief and polytheism. That is, a person who abandons prayers approaches the level of denying the existence of Allah and associating partners with Him. That is, prayer is a big barrier against unbelief and polytheism.
Our Lord has given us a long life and He wants us to allocate only one hour of the day to perform prayers. He is so compassionate and merciful that He wants only an hour from us though it is clear that even if we spend 24 hours a day praying Him, we will not be able to appreciate Him enough. If a powerful person gave you 24 gold coins and then demanded one of them and said, "If you give one of them to me, I will give you a bag full of gold after a while", would you reject this offer? Never! Then, how can we abandon performing prayers?
Maybe our soul will say,
"These prayers never end. We get bored because we always perform prayers."
These words are the trick of our soul because we eat every day, we drink water every day and we breathe in the air every day but we never get bored. Have you ever heard anyone say, "I am sick of eating?" Never! For we find pleasure in them.
Do we not find pleasure in prayers? Is it not the greatest pleasure to go to the presence of the Creator of everything, to present your troubles to Him, to ask help from Him, to attain the comfort of the heart and the tranquility of the spirit granted by Him?
Have you ever seen anyone perform prayers and complain? "I am so bored; I feel tired. I performed prayers and I deviated from the right path." On the contrary, anyone who performs prayers is in peace and tranquility because prayer is the food of the mind, heart and spirit.
Some of our young brothers might say,
"We know them but we cannot overcome our damned soul and Satan. No matter how much we want to pray, we feel unwilling. We sometimes start performing prayers in Ramadan but abandon after eid. We pray in some months of the year; then, we abandon. We perform Friday and eid prayers but we cannot keep on performing five daily prayers. Tell us such a thing that will make us start performing prayers and never give up."
Indeed, some of our brothers who cannot perform five daily prayers are just like that. There are some who received religious education and read the whole Quran among them but they still have difficulty in performing prayers.
There is a cure for it. The Quran, which finds cures for all of our troubles, has shown us the cure for it, too.
However, we need to believe this: No cure can be found via magic formulae. No problem can be solved at once.
Suppose that you caught an illness. Can you just take one or two pills and get rid of it? Sometimes, a treatment that lasts for years and sometimes an operation is necessary.
How do we earn the money that we use for our family? Is it possible to work one or two hours a day and earn the money enough for your family for a month? Think of a student. Is it enough for him to study for only one or two hours to pass?
Similarly, it is necessary to struggle in order to overcome our soul and Satan. Can we win an important battle by lying down somewhere and without doing anything?
Our belief has to be very strong in order to be able to perform prayers willingly because belief is the base; prayers and other kinds of worship are built on it. The way to transform an imitative and weak belief into an investigative and strong belief is to understand the verses of the Quran related to belief very well. We have to read the interpretation (tafsir) of those verses and strengthen our belief.
It is necessary to read Risale-i Nur Collection of Badiuzzaman Said Nursi a lot because these books teach belief and meditation. Besides, there are very important chapters that explain the importance of prayer and that encourage people to perform prayers.
Therefore, it is very useful to read 4th, 9th, 11th and 21st Words in the book called Sözler (Words) by understanding them. In addition, 6th and 15th rays are also important.
Meanwhile, it is necessary to nullify the excuses that our soul uses in order to prevent us from performing prayers.
For instance, our sole says, "I do not know how to pray fully; I have not been able to memorize some of the prayers to be read. İ cannot perform prayers like this."
In fact, we learn so many things for the world life; why do we not spend a few hours learning some prayers (duas) for our eternal life? Our religion is so easy; a person who memorizes only the chapters of al-Fatiha, al-Kawthar and al-Ikhlas together with the dua at-Tahiyyat can perform all fard prayers. Besides, it is not difficult to learn the others. If we ask any believer about the issues related to prayer, he will tell us about them. Furthermore, there are so many books, audio and video cassettes regarding the issue. We should never hesitate to ask someone who knows the issue. We ask people so many things about worldly affairs; why do we not ask about an issue related to our eternal life?
Another excuse of the soul is statements like these: "I am very busy; I do not have enough time. They do not let me pray at work. I have classes at school."
Is prayer not something important? Is it not possible for us to allocate 5-10 minutes during lunch hour, breaks and stopovers to perform prayers? Besides, performing prayers makes things easy for a person. Furthermore, if a person performs prayers, his other deeds done with a good intention are regarded as worship. Thus, the statement, "Working is also regarded as worship" becomes true. A person who works without performing prayers cannot get the reward of worship when he works. A person who performs daily prayers is regarded to have spent all his life worshipping.
Performing prayers is a means of being forgiven; it prevents us from committing sins because a person who makes wudu and performs prayers always feels that he is in the presence of Allah. Can a person who is in the presence of Allah commit sins?
Prayer is the best remedy for the fear of death and the spiritual torture of sin. A person who performs prayers and avoids committing sins does not fear death. He thinks, "I perform prayers and avoid sins. I definitely have faults and deficiencies. What I do is not enough. I fear the torture of my Lord but I expect His mercy." Thus he feels relieved.
Prayer means knocking on the door of Allah's mercy. He has invited us and opened His treasure. He says, "O my servant! Come to my presence. I will give you whatever you want." Is it reasonable to remain indifferent when one hears this call?
In short, there is no excuse for abandoning prayers. There cannot be any excuse except death for abandoning prayers. A person has to perform prayers when he is ill, is on a journey and in a difficult situation. There are only some easy or short forms of performing prayers in some cases, which are explained in catechisms.
If you are not performing prayers, start to perform prayers now by deciding at once. Then, keep on praying insistently. You will see that you will manage to perform it constantly with the help of Allah. If you are already performing five daily prayers, it is necessary to pay more importance to prayers, not to skip any prayers and to perform in peace and awe.
Since the Prophet (pbuh) asked, "Did he use to pray?" for the young person who was about to die without belief and whom we have mentioned in the hadith above, there cannot be any worship more important than prayer.
According to what is clearly stated in the hadith, the sin of the young man that almost sent him to the grave without belief was not being able to please his mother. It is necessary to think about this issue. The period that people generally oppose their parents and break their hearts is the period of youth.
Now, we will quote some verses and hadiths that order us to obey our mothers and fathers.
Our Lord states the following in the Quran:
"Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in thy life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor. And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say: "My Lord! bestow on them Thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood." (al-Isra: 23-24)
The following two verses also show how important the issue is:
"And We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents: in travail upon travail did his mother bear him, and in years twain was his weaning: (hear the command) "Show gratitude to Me and to thy parents: to Me is (thy final) Goal." (Luqman: 14)
"We have enjoined on man Kindness to his parents: in pain did his mother bear him, and in pain did she give him birth…" (al-Ahqaf: 15)
The Prophet (pbuh) regards disobeying one's parents among major sins.
The Prophet (pbuh) said, "May his nose be rubbed in dust!" for a person who has parents with him while they are old but cannot enter Paradise." (Tirmidhi, Daawat: 100)
Once, a person asked the Prophet (pbuh) "Whom should I do favors to?" he said, "To your mother, then to your mother, then to your mother, then to your father and then to your relatives."
The following hadiths are also thought provoking: "Obeying parents is better than supererogatory worship." (Muslim, Sila: 2) "The prayer of a father is accepted." (Ibn Majah, Kitabuddua, 1)
In our religion, it is very important to do favors to parents and relatives and to help them. As a matter of fact, the following hadith states the seriousness of the issue: "A person who stops visiting his relatives cannot enter Paradise." (Abu Dawud-Muslim)
Regarding the issue of having good relations with people, it will be appropriate to mention the following hadith, which is of particular interest to young people:
"Gabriel advised me about neighbors so much that I thought he would say they would be my inheritors." (Muslim, Birr: 42)
In another version of the hadith about the young man who was about to die without belief, the mother was reported to have said about her son, "he used to regard his wife superior to me" and "he used to enter his wife's room first when he came home."
Is it possible not shed tears here? Is it possible to prevent tears?
This is the heart of the mother. The mother who sacrifices everything for her son cannot put up with such treatment. She wants to be treated better; she wants priority.
Every young man loves his wife. However, it is necessary to give priority to the mother. We must please her after all. We have no right to break her heart even if she is wrong.
Our parents sacrificed their lives for us and they are ready to die for us. It is necessary to please them using every occasion, to beg them and to kiss their feet if we have broken their hearts. If they have died, we should pray Allah to forgive them, give sadaqah on behalf of them, pray for them and do favors on behalf of them.
Can trivial things that cause us to break the hearts of our parents be important when compared to losing the eternal cause of belief?
There is something here regarding the issue that will make us feel responsible, that will exasperate us and that will make our heads throb:
The young man in the hadith was a Companion. The Companions who are the guiding stars of humanity and the best people after prophets deserve all kinds of praise. He regularly performed five daily prayers. However, he was close to the boundaries of danger. He had approached the precipice because he was not able to please his mother; he was saved thanks to the Prophet (pbuh), who was sent as mercy humanity.
The Companions are also subject to this test like everybody else. We have to be very careful and work very hard.
May our Lord make all of our young people perform prayers and please their parents.
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