Life Death and Beyond

Why Untimely Death? sometimes arranges for someone’s death to come all of a sudden—like in the case of Dr. Abdul Kalam. Sudden death comes to someone so that other people can draw the lesson from it that they should not lead a life of heedlessness. It is this reality which Abdullah ibn Umar, a Companion of the Prophet Muhammad, expressed in the following words: “When you are in the evening do not wait for the morning; when you are in the morning do not wait for the evening.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 6416) Why Untimely Death? Some people die when they are still young and healthy. People generally consider such a death as an ‘untimely’ one. But actually, no death is untimely. All deaths happen at just the right time, at the time that God has fixed for them. A so-called ‘untimely’ death can be more properly called as a ‘reminder death’. It is an eye-opening death, so that, witnessing or hearing about them, people who are still alive in this world may remember that they too can die at any time. This awareness may help them focus on leading life the right way. When an event that people expect to happen happens, it doesn’t make much of an impact on them. But something that is unexpected, like an unexpected death, can revolutionize their life. An unexpected death is like an alarm. It calls out to people, saying, “O you who are fast asleep, get up! You might have to face death this very moment!”