November’s Blog: How Life Reminds us of Death

Disclaimer: these are my thoughts, so excuse the lack of structure. I hope you enjoy <3 leave your comments below on what you think of this months post!

poem:

Life is long, until its not. 

Do you know how long you’ve got?

living life on the edge like it won’t ever stop,

until you awake in territory that’ll determine your flop,

in hell.

sometimes, we feel we have the entire world in our hands. everything is within our control. we are capable of having the power to do as we please because we control our life. we take advantage of the roof over our heads, the food in our fridge, the fresh air that we breathe, the responsibilities we have. let’s say you do have control over your life. let me pose this question really quick: do you have control over your death? do you know you have 30 minutessssss??????

free will and ultimate control are two different things. we often forget that there is a being who determines how many heartbeats we have left in this world. a being who has angels checking up on us multiple times a day asking if we should stay or leave with His permission. a being superior to us in a way that is truly unfathomable. yet we have the audacity to believe that we have time just handed to us? mmmm… that’s not how that works.

our time in this world is finite. every single minute that goes by is a minute wasted. even if we were doing something with lasting impact, it is one minute less you have left in this world. one less breath you have left to take. one less blink away from closing your eyes forever.

we must start looking at life like its worthy. what I mean by that statement is this: we are given a short amount of time to live this life. we must start acting like every second that flees is a second we have left to redeem ourselves. our souls can depart whenever He decides because that is not a choice we can make. we need to start making moments worthwhile and doing things that give us purpose rather than living life like we have time. although desires are temporary and fleeting, its nature makes us feel good in the moment. but all desires do is make us live a life full of regret. leaving the things that make us go back on ourselves is not a life worth living. we, as humans, end up feeling guilty for the way we carry ourselves in the state of always having what we want. or even looking down at people who have less than us. because what they have is something we aspire to achieve, which is the secret to life: strict discipline.

discipline is defined as having structure in life; a routine almost. but discipline in Islam is so much more than you think. we all have different ways of connecting with Allah SWT through different acts of worship. living a disciplined life full of remembering Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala (Glory to Him, the Exalted: aka SWT) is more significant and will leave a lasting impact on not only your character, but in life. I’m not talking about this life, im talking about life after death. imagine having every single thing you have ever wanted at your fingertips. you would never believe in life after death because you have never suffered. what makes muslims stand out is knowing there is justice in life after death, and being rewarded for suffering. that’s what makes us different.

death moves us, sure, but we know that this life is nothing but a test. surely it is not that this life does not matter, but it is not permanent like the one after this one. striving for discipline is what this religion is about. because without it, we become heedless, and into the pits of hell we go.

now this may have been intimidating and overwhelming to read, which is completely understandable given that this is the first blog ever lol. but dont let this post make you feel alone in failing. there is a huge difference between recognizing failure and a harsh reality. what you do in life is not considered failing, but it is all steps we are actively taking to make our forever life a great place. picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off, and trying again is all part of learning. humankind was made weak, so why are we so hard on ourselves?

I want to make something clear, that death is meant to be overwhelming. however intimidation is present when we step into unknown territory. its critical to understand what exactly death is, and to familiarize ourselves with what is granted to us, which is Allah SWT’s mercy, love, acceptance, and appreciative nature.

to achieve discipline is not an overnight process, which is why it is so praised. when we pace ourselves, Allah SWT is the All-Seeing of what we do. when we take one step to Him, He comes running to us. no good deed, no matter how small it is, will go unnoticed. when we base everything we do on looking down on ourselves for not doing enough, we are only setting ourselves up for failure by looking at the things we can’t do. instead of looking at the things you cant do, start looking at the accomplishments you have already achieved. 

stop being so hard on yourself. you have only lived this life (as well as everyone else) once. set goals that are achievable, something you can baby-step towards. even if theyre hard and you struggle to do them, your struggle is ultimately rewarded, and you should praise yourself for even trying. appreciate and understand that all good things take time. with consistency comes success, with motivation comes encouragement to keep going, and with love comes balance and stability.

love is key to knowing that everything will be okay. that’s why we crave it so much. it is the biggest motivator in this thing we know called life. instead of looking at life from a worms point of view, we should see it from the perspective of the bird. sometimes death is a relief, and not a burden.