You are here: Home / News / Islam / Introduction to Imam al-Ghazali’s Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife

Introduction to Imam al-Ghazali’s Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife

Islam 0
6 years ago
by

Below is the introduction to the remembrance of death from the Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (11 C.E.) of Imam al-Ghazali, translated by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad and read and explained by Shaykh Yahya Rhodus in the linked video.

Praise be God, with who death did break the necks of tyrants, shattering with it the backs of Persia’s kings, cutting short the aspirations of the caesars whose hearts were long averse to recalling death until the true promise came to them and cast them into the pit. From the loftiest of palaces into the deepest of graves they passed from the light of the cradle into the sepulcher’s gloom. From dallying with servant girls and boys to sustaining insects and worms they passed, and from reveling in food and drink to wallowing in the Earth. From the friendliness of company into the forlornness of solitude, and from the soft couch into woeful perdition. See if they had found any strength and protection from death, or took against it a barrier and refuge. See if you can perceive a single man from them or hear from them the slightest sound.

So all glory to Him who is unique in power and authority, who has taken to Himself all claims of permanence, abasing all forms of creation through their extinction which He has written for them, then appointing death as a redemption for the god-fearing and as a promise to them of a meeting. The tomb made He a prison for the damned, a cramped goal for them until the day of decision and judgement, for His is the power to bestow manifest blessings and to take vengeance through irresistible acts of requital. His is the thanksgiving in the Heavens and the Earth, His is the praise in the former world and the afterlife. May many blessings and most abundant salutations be invoked upon Muhammad ﷺ of the clear miracles and the evident signs, and upon his family and companions.

Now it behooves him for whom death is his destruction, the earth his bed, the worm his intimate, Munkar and Nakir his companions, the tomb his abode, the belly of the Earth his resting place, and the arising his tryst in heaven and hell or his destiny, that he should harbor no recollection but of death. No preparedness nor plan should he have save for it, and his every expectation, concern, energy, waiting, and anticipation should be for its sake alone.

It is right that he should count himself among the dead and see himself as one of the people of the grave, for all that comes is certainly near, the distant is what never comes. The Prophet ﷺ said the intelligent man is he who judges himself and acts for what follows death. Preparation for something can never be easy unless its memory is constantly renewed in the Heart. And this can only be done through reminding oneself by paying attention to those things which cause it to be recalled by looking to those matters which tell of it; of the business of death with its preludes and consequences and conditions of the next world, the resurrection in Heaven and Hell we shall mention that which the servant of Allāh (ٱلل‍َّٰه‎) must repeatedly bring to mind and keep with him in his thinking and in his meditation so that this may act as an encouragement for preparedness. For the journey to what follows death is near at hand, and only a little of life remains, yet of this the people are inattentive, their reckoning draws nigh for mankind while they turn away in heedlessness. 

The Three Different Types of People in Relation to the Remembrance of Death

The first is the muhhamiq (the man engrossed in the world). He does not remember death and if he does, it is with regret for his world and he busies himself with disparaging death. The remembrance of death increases such a one in nothing but distance from Allāh. 

The second is the middle stage, called the ta’ib (the penitent man). He recalls death frequently so that fear and apprehension might thereby proceed from his heart making his repentance complete. It may be that he is in fear of death lest it carry him off before his repentance is complete, and before his provisions for his journey are replenished. He is excusable in his aversion to death, and is not included in the saying of the Prophet ﷺ , “Whoever abhors to meet Allāh, Allāh
abhors to meet him.” But he only fears the meeting with Allah passing him by due to his deficiency and remissness. He is like the man who is made late for his meeting with his beloved by busying himself with preparations for the encounter in a way that will find approval. He is not deemed to be reluctant about the meeting. The distinguishing mark though about the penitent man is his constant preparation for this matter and his lack of any other concern, were he to be otherwise he would associate with the man engrossed in the world.

As for the third and highest category, the arif [the gnostic], he remembers death constantly because for him it is the tryst with his beloved. It is the meeting with his beloved, and a lover never forgets the appointed time for meeting the one he loves. Usually such a man considers death as slow in coming, and is happy on its advent that he be done with the abode of sinners and be born away in the presence of the Lord of the Worlds; such is the case of Hudhayfa, of when it is related that when death came he said “a dear friend has come at the time of poverty. Whoever repents at such a moment as this shall not succeed. Oh Lord God, should you know that poverty is dearer to me than wealth, and sickness more beloved to me than health, and death more dear to me than life, then make my death easy for me until I meet you.”

To the extent that a man recalls another and pictures clearly in his mind his state of how he died, and imagines his form, and remember his sprightliness and how he used to come and go, and the care which he devoted to living and continuing his forgetfulness of death, and how he was deceived by the propitious means of his subsistence and his trust in his strength and his youth, and his inclination to laughter and fun, and his heedlessness of the imminent death, and the speed of destruction which they performed and how he used to go hither and thither, and now his feet and joints have rotted away. How he used to speak well, now the worm has devoured his tongue.

Seeing ill people and remembering those who have passed, and spending time at graveyards is the way to refresh the remembrance of death in the Heart until it takes possession of it and it stands before one’s eyes. At this point one will almost be ready for it, and will shun the world of vanity, otherwise a remembrance of the superficial aspect of the Heart and a sweet tongue will be of little avail in warning and informing. These are the general advices that imam al-Ghazali gives in his Ihya.

The sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ is to prefer the next world to this world, this is what it means to be raised in the training of Muhammad ﷺ. For the way of Muhammad ﷺ is the way of spiritual vision and not spiritual blindedness. His is the path of guidance and not the path of misguidance and forlornness in the chaotic storms of this former world of illusory form. For he had taught the path of meditation of which is death, “remember often the ender of pleasures”, which he meant death, for “death is a precious gift to the believer.”

As for the internal process of divine meditation, the remembrance of death is the descending of will, which negates the illusion of the material world through the piercing vision of the spiritual eye; and the remembrance of Allāh is the ascension of will, which is for the transcendent Light to become immanent thereby illuminating the Heart with the Light of Allāh.