my brothers and sisters this is an example of a death of the average person in the Muslim community, all we know about them is what we saw about them in terms of their appearances the type of clothes that they wore perhaps we knew their name perhaps we may even have known their age, but in reality we don’t know too much more about to them, and thus as easily we were forgotten in this world while we were alive, we are forgotten even after we pass away, and Allah subhana WA Ta’ala poses a rhetorical question in the Quran,
that threre was not a time upon mankind, where he was not even worthy of being remembered and I want you to think about this upon Allah you lived on this earth for 70 years and when you pass away you only remembered for a couple of hours, what a shameful life that would be, that is a life that you don’t want to live, it’s not the way you want to leave this world, we’re not saying that you want to be remembered for the sake of being praised, but you want to be remembered for the sake that you had an impact on the people that you were around, I want to share a story with you this is a story of one of the Imams of hadith from the second century, his name was Malik of Medina, Malik a blue dinar he writes his own story, he says I was a young man of 19 years old and I used to commit every single sin possible I used to drink I used to steal I used to kill I used to commit zina any sin that you can think of I used to commit it and one day while I was walking on the streets I came across a beautiful young girl no older than five years old,
when I saw her something happens to my heart, something told me that it was time to change my ways, so I went home and I prayed I said o Allah what is this feeling what is happening to me, so I decided that at that time I would start to change my ways, I decided to get married lo and behold nine months later Allah subhana WA Ta’ala grants me a beautiful young girl named Fatima, Fatima became the coolness of my eyes and the warmth of my heart I used to love her I used to play with her I used to take care of her and one day while I was sitting on the chair I was about to take a drink of alcohol she came and sat in my lap like she used to do and she started to play with my beard and as I was about to take a sip she hit my hand and the glass went flying away, I thought to myself at that time had it been anyone other than Fatima I would have struck their neck but Allah had placed so much love and mercy in my heart for her, that I couldn’t do anything except for embrace her and kiss her, and that was the day that I stopped drinking, time goes on I’m becoming a better individual I’m changing my ways and along this journey Fatima is becoming more beloved and more dear to me, Fatima now turns five years old, she reminds me of that beautiful young girl that I saw on that street that helped me change my ways, but at that time Allah subhana wa ta’ala tried me with a trial so great It was as if no one on the planet had been tried with such a trial before, Allah subhana wa ta’ala took Fatima away from me she died.
I went into depression I became sad, I didn’t know what to do, so I started to drink again, in hopes that the pain would go away, I used to drink and I used to
drink and I used to drink and the nighttime I would drink so that he could pass out during the day and during the day I would drink so that I could pass
out during the night and one day when I passed out during the day, allah subhana wa ta’ala showed me a vision the day of judgment had begun and as i arose other people arose as well
and there was chaos everywhere people were running yet I had no idea what they were running to or what they were running from and as I started to run
with the people I noticed that I was the only individual that had a giant black snake right behind him, the more I ran the quicker I ran the quicker the snake
came so I ran and I ran and I ran until I came to the foot of a mountain, and I saw this old man with a beautiful white beard and beautiful white hair and
beautiful white clothes, but he was very old so I asked him old man for the sake of Allah please help me against this snake, the old man replied I am too weak
and I am too feeble, perhaps if you go on top of the mountain you’ll find someone to help you so I went to the top of the mountain I ran and I ran and the snake
is just behind me and as I get to the top of the mountain I look over the valleys and I see the Hellfire, people being burned people being punished
people being persecuted and I knew it wasn’t what I wanted I didn’t want to be there so I ran back down to the mountain and I see the old man again and I scream
at him again old man for the sake of Allah please help me, and the old man again replies I am too weak I am too feeble
why don’t you run towards the hills perhaps you will find someone to help so I started running again I run towards this greenery that I know it doesn’t belong there and as I’m getting closer I’m starting to hear the playing of children, but I can’t make out what they’re saying and as I get closer I start to make out the words the children are saying Oh Fatima go and help your father Oh Fatima go and help your father,
I think to myself could it be Fatima my own beloved daughter the one that had passed away and as I get closer the silhouette of her shape starts to become more clear and I can make out that it is actually Fatima and her arms are wide open waiting for me to come and embrace her and I get closer and Fatima takes me in, with her right hand she embraces me and with the left hand she pushes the snake away, at that time I couldn’t make sense of what was going on where had I come
what was happening so I asked her off
