On the nature of this Life

أَعُوذُ بِٱللَّهِ مِنَ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِ ٱلرَّجِيمِ، بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

 

 

Death is where it's heading, this life. Though most might conceive of it as one large, black curtain that foretells the end of existence, the end of living, it is not the end at all. I can't quite put into words the reason or basis of how that is the case, to paint a picture beyond just a matter of my belief, but I will try here inshaAllah to formulate some grounding that jives with whomever reads this, but most especially I hope for my beloved.

If I should start in the most neutral and unbiased of perspectives, I would borrow a law from Newtonian physics: every action has (an equal and opposite) reaction. To state it another way, there is a consequence for everything we do. Always. Consequences are not often immediately apparent, in the vast complicated web of human relationships and dependencies that exist on this earth, but they are there. Ask any investor, and businessman, any doctor, and they can relate examples of a food that was eaten, or a stock that was bought, or a trade that was made, and speak of its net loss or gain or aftereffect.

Just as physical actions carry physical consequences, so too do moral and ethical and spiritual actions have their own kind of consequence. This expectation of cause and effect is one of the most basic to humanity, to every people that ever lived. The reasons why we do things, matters, as much as the actions themselves. From Islam, this is the clear reference to the intent of an action being the reason for its reward. Empty, purposeless actions are trifles, and not the kind of deeds worth possessing or accumulating [....I know well, sometimes in life, all we have is the routine and the motion of going through it...in those times, we still should keep trying to move, no matter how listless or unable one feels to place any purpose in a worthy deed, for the intention of trying to break out of one's personal trappings, this is always noble and worthwhile]. 

There are many actions people take in life, whose impact cannot be discerned by the naked eye, such as the deterioration of a heart when it is no longer cared for or respected, when one's creation is denied or forgotten, etc. Death is the doorway to the penultimate court, where every deed's weight coalesces into a final, single consequence. Sometimes, people make the choices they do, of exploitation or deception, while thinking they cannot be caught, no one will hold them to account. But this would be wishful thinking, because just as with physics, an action has an effect, so too does everything with people. We exist as part of the physical universe, even as parts of ourselves reach outside, beyond it. The notion of finding recompense, of an action carrying its consequence after it, is applicable to every dimension ever created. Why? Because our Creator ingrained this into our being - is the simplest answer, but perhaps not the most convincing one. 

 

Regardless, if one doesn't wish to accept consequences, that self-delusion is irrelevant because death and its ultimate consequence comes for that person no matter what. Deny whatsoever else you wish, but death will never be denied. That's enough of discussion on that front I think.

~~~

So if we accept and know that this life ends, and that our deeds have consequences, what then? Because this life is ephemeral, fleeting, short-lived, its nature reflects that. Whatever we make, whatever we try to do in order to reach our aspirations, has the same consistency of the goal itself. If one's goal is limited to an earthly one, then we cannot forget that this goal too is going to fade, it cannot be held immortal. The most balanced way of carrying onward is to have both worldly and otherworldly goals that go beyond death, goals in akhirah. Our existence here serves as a very deliberate test, but it would be foolish to think one can survive with longing for just dunya(life) or just akhirah. Worldly goals have their place, and eternal and encompassing goals have their place. 

I have nearly reached the limit of what can be said of this life. There are some things I want to add, about how treacherous it is, how it can never trusted, how delusion and misconception can seep into nearly anything in life. But after talking about how fleeting life is, and consequences always being there, the rest of what I say comes greatly influenced from personal experience, and my own bias there is inescapable. Not sure if I ever mentioned before, but worth putting it here: once I had a dream I was in the middle of a great battle between the past and future nations, trying to get away from their fight. Eventually I did find refuge, but it was not without its fear. The reason I bring this up, that I'd describe myself as someone between modern and ancient. What does this mean? Not sure, but somehow that place in this paragraph was fitting. Maybe not. 

 

In any case, I wish I could end with something that crystallizes within my beloved a strong, unbreakable desire for akhirah. The problem is that such a goal must be entirely personal, rooted in one's own being. Alhamdulillah, I have such reasons = to find the ones dearest to me and show them the most incredible and beautiful of everything Allah created and of anything we could conceive. But could I ask a beacon to want this too? It is a difficult ask. But truthfully, I wasn't the one who composed my own dream, so it's not really a worry to be encapsulated by mortal efforts. It takes the grace and mercy of our Rabb to bring this to pass. And so, eventually, that is where this lover's words conclude. Reach for the akhirah, no matter what, realize that within submission to our Creator is freedom in full, but it is not something that will be found or granted here - it is the reward of perseverance and diligence, after we have breathed our last iA.

May He make our roads converge at the most worthwhile of destinations, with the best of company, ameen.