Heedlessness on the Threshold of the Grave
Human beings cling to the world as if they will never die, chasing after endless ambitions. Yet death, which draws nearer at every moment, is an absolute reality that will utterly destroy all these false desires. ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Geylānī (may Allah sanctify his secret) shakes those intoxicated by worldly greed with severity: "My child, when you reach the morning, do not promise your nafs (the lower self) that you will remain until the evening. And when you reach the evening, do not tell it that you will live until the morning." For a person who has no guarantee of reaching tomorrow, to postpone tawba (repentance), to persist in sins, and to focus solely on accumulating wealth and property is an unimaginable heedlessness.
Distributing Wealth with Your Own Hand and Preparing for the Journey
The shroud has no pockets, and no matter how much wealth is accumulated in this world, all of it will remain here. Al-Geylānī offers this magnificent counsel: "Distribute your wealth with your own hand. You are a traveler. No matter what, you will set out on this journey." To spend (infāq) one’s wealth in the way of Allah while alive and while one’s will is intact, rather than having it forcibly taken at death, is to send that wealth ahead to the eternal abode of the hereafter. The believer who realizes that the world is a temporary inn and that he himself is a traveler fills his baggage not with transient rubbish, but with righteous deeds (good works).
Being a Person of the Present Day
The past has gone by, and the future is unknown; the only time that belongs to a person is the present moment (to be Ibn al-Waqt). "Yesterday has passed... You do not know whether you will reach tomorrow. Therefore, you are a person of today. Strive to close the day you are in well." The intelligent person lives every day as if it were his last. Contemplating death dulls the desire for the world in the qalb (the heart) of a person and renders resentments and enmities meaningless. Those who succeed in dying spiritually before dying physically open their eyes to the true eternal life while still in this world.