Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem
By Hazrat
Maulana Yunus Patel Saheb (Rahmatullahi ‘alayh)
In my Duas, I always make mention
that we inevitably have to depart from this world. Death is a certainty.
However, its time is unknown. Since we do not know where and
when and how we are going to die, how can we be engaged in sin? So when making
Dua, I say: O Allah, It must not be that the Angel of Death
visits anyone of us when we are popping drugs into our mouths, or when we have
a bottle of liquor in our hands, or when we are in a casino or an escort
agency, or in adultery and fornication, or watching some filthy movie or
reading a filthy novel or magazine.
Alhamdulillah, this Dua has been a means of Hidayat
(guidance) and protection for many who found their evil habits difficult to
give up. When the thought of death and this Dua flashed before them, someone
dashed out of a casino, another distanced himself from an escort agency, and
others opted for abstinence and self-restraint.
This remembrance of death becomes a
barrier between a person and sin.
My Shaykh,
Hazrat Maulana Hakeem Muhammad Akhtar Saheb (Rahmatullahi
‘alayh) often presented the following questions for reflection :
1. Is sin good
or bad ?
…The answer would be ‘Bad’.
2. Should a bad thing be given up or not ?
... It should be given up.
3. Should
it be given up quickly or slowly ?
... Quickly.
4. Should it be given up before death or after
death ?
...Before death.
5. Who knows
when death will pay its only visit ?
We know fully
well that sins should be given up before death. We also know that the hour of
death is unknown, and there is no escape therefrom. Should sin not then be
given up immediately? …Is there even any time to think when to give
it up? …The time to give up sin is now.
My Shaykh (Rahmatullahi 'alayh) had composed a couplet that spells out this reality, which we should reflect over :
Strange is the visa of life;
It can be cancelled at any time.
The duration of its validity is unknown
And its extension too, impossible.
