Website: www.aaiil.uk

Life and Death

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 1 August 2025

“We have ordained death among you and We are not to be overcome, that We may change your state and make you grow into (a new life) which you do not (as yet) know.” — ch. 56, Al-Wāqi‘ah, v. 60–61

نَحۡنُ قَدَّرۡنَا بَیۡنَکُمُ الۡمَوۡتَ وَ مَا نَحۡنُ بِمَسۡبُوۡقِیۡنَ ﴿ۙ۶۰﴾  عَلٰۤی اَنۡ نُّبَدِّلَ اَمۡثَالَکُمۡ وَ نُنۡشِئَکُمۡ فِیۡ مَا لَا تَعۡلَمُوۡنَ ﴿۶۱﴾

“Blessed is He in Whose hand is the Kingdom, and He is Powerful over all things, Who created death and life that He might try you (as to) which of you is best in deeds. And He is the Mighty, the Forgiving,” — ch. 67, Al-Mulk, v. 1–2

تَبٰرَکَ الَّذِیۡ بِیَدِہِ الۡمُلۡکُ ۫ وَ ہُوَ عَلٰی کُلِّ شَیۡءٍ قَدِیۡرُۨ ۙ﴿۱﴾  الَّذِیۡ خَلَقَ الۡمَوۡتَ وَ الۡحَیٰوۃَ لِیَبۡلُوَکُمۡ اَیُّکُمۡ اَحۡسَنُ عَمَلًا ؕ وَ ہُوَ الۡعَزِیۡزُ الۡغَفُوۡرُ ۙ﴿۲﴾

Our dearly beloved brother Mubarak Gerard Fogarty sadly passed away early yesterday in Woking, Innā li-llāhi wa innā ilai-hi rājiūn. I have therefore selected some verses of the Quran about the subject of life and death. The first passage I recited declares that death is an unchangeable law of God. Yes, humans can invent thousands of treatments and even cures, avert illnesses, extend our life span, but death can never be prevented, as stated in this verse. However, this is not a negative occurrence. Death leads to a new life, which is not a physical life. What is inside us spiritually, which we have developed by our own deeds, becomes like a new body granted to us. But it is a kind of life that we cannot have any concept of with our senses and intellect that we possess in this world. Speaking of the true believers who do good deeds, the Quran says:

“So no soul knows what joy of the eyes is hidden for them: a reward for what they did” (32:17).

The Holy Prophet Muhammad quoted this verse and said:

“Allah says, I have prepared for My righteous servants things which no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, and no heart of a human has thought of” (Bukhari, hadith 3244).

This verse and hadith are clear evidence that the things of the next world described in the Quran or Hadith are not the things which we see or hear or can even think of in our experience of this world.

The second passage I read says that the reason for creating the system of death and life in humans is to test and try them to see “which of you is best in deeds”. The very purpose of life is to become the best doer of good deeds. That is because all that remains of a person after death are the deeds which he or she performed. We also read in the Quran:

“Everyone on it (meaning, in this world or on the earth) passes away, and there endures forever the person of your Lord, the Lord of glory and honour” (55:26–27).

The word for “passes away” here is fān. The English words finite and finished are related to it. It means some­thing which is limited in its extent, in terms of its size or the length of time that it lasts for. According to the Quran, everything must come to an end and finish, leaving behind the person or the face of the Lord, Who possesses glory and honour. He never suffers from decline or decay. When a worldly blessing comes to an end, Allah is still there in all His glory and might. Then shortly after comes this verse:

“All those in the heavens and the earth ask of Him. Every moment He is in a state (of glory)” (55:29).

However great you may be, in the heavens or the earth, you are dependent on Allah and the only One Whom you can ask, because every moment He is in a state of glory. Never, for even an instant, is He in such a state that He is unable to answer you and you have to go to someone else.

There are other verses conveying the same meaning. For example: “What is with you passes away and what is with Allah is enduring” (16:96). Another example is: “And do not call with Allah any other god. There is no God but He. Everything will perish but He. His is the judgment, and to Him you will be brought back” (28:88).

The Quran mentions in one place what it calls “the soul at rest”. “At rest” here means satisfied and contented, calm and unworried. It says:

“O soul at rest! Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with Him), well-pleasing (Him), so enter among My servants, and enter My Garden!” (89:27–30).

Allah is addressing here a person whose soul has found the ultimate satisfaction and content­ment in the life in this world. As I said to our brother Mubarak about ten days before his death, the most fortunate person is the one who has reconciled himself to Allah by accepting His will and reconciled himself to the people around him by doing his duty towards them. Allah says to such a soul at death: “Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with Him), well-pleasing (Him)”. Death is a return to Allah because we come from Him. This soul at peace is described as being both rāḍiyah, meaning that the soul is itself pleased with Allah, and as marḍiyyah, meaning that the soul has pleased Allah. Usually we think only in terms that Allah should be pleased with us. The wording here says first that we should be pleased with Allah and then that Allah should be pleased with us. For a person to be pleased with Allah is a high spiritual rank. Such a soul at rest, pleased with Allah, and pleasing Allah, enters into paradise in the next life. As you can see, entering paradise is a matter of the state of a person’s heart. It is not by bodily performance of prayers, fasting, giving in charity and going for the Hajj. It is determined by how much pleased a person is in his heart with Allah and His decrees.

Another relevant passage of the Quran is as follows:

“And We have made every human being’s actions to cling to his neck, and We shall bring forth to him on the day of Resurrection a book which he will find wide open. Read your book. Your own soul is sufficient as a reckoner against you this day” (17:13–14).

The word translated as “reckoner” is ḥasīb. This is related to the word ḥisāb, and we say in Urdu that you will have to give your ḥisāb to Allah, meaning you will have to account for your deeds before Allah. It says here that when the book of your deeds is presented before you, Allah will ask you to read it and do your own accountability. His record of deeds will be so clearly and plainly before him that no external judge will be needed.

For those of us who are left behind, the Quran advises us to do good deeds during our lives and not to leave it too late. It says:

“And spend (on good works) out of what We have given you before death comes to one of you, and he says: My Lord, why did You not grant me respite for a little while (longer), so that I should have given in charity and been among the doers of good deeds? But Allah does not respite a soul, when its term comes. And Allah is Aware of what you do” (63:10–11).

What counts is what we have actually done while alive, and not what we kept on postponing till it could not be done.

The Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet have taught Muslims to show patience in the face of any tragic loss they suffer. The Quran says:

“And We shall certainly try you with something of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits. And give good news to the patient, who, when a misfortune befalls them, say: Surely we are Allah’s, and to Him we shall return” (2:155–156).

This statement in Arabic is Innā li-llāhi wa innā ilai-hi rājiūn and it is from its occurrence here that the practice has arisen of uttering this expression on hearing the news of someone’s death. The context of these verses shows that the loss and misfortune mentioned here is, in particular, the suffering Muslims undergo in the cause of Islam when they make sacrifices in the way of their religion. But it can be applied to suffering of any kind in life, which should be looked upon as a trial and test from Allah.

The Holy Prophet forbade the display of excessive and intemperate grief and hopelessness and despondency when a dear and close one passes away. He saw a woman shrieking and wailing by a grave. He said to her:

“Fear Allah and be patient.”

She did not know who he was, and told him curtly:

“Go away, for you have not been struck by a calamity like mine.”

The Holy Prophet said nothing and left. Later when she was told by people it was the Holy Prophet she went to his house to apologise, saying: “I did not recognise you.” He simply said:

“Truly, patience is shown when the calamity first strikes” (Bukhari, hadith 1283).

What is meant is that eventually every­one who suffers a permanent loss, such as death, accepts it. There is no option but to do so. The true quality of patience is to show it right at the beginning.

This does not mean that the expression of natural grief is in any way forbidden. In fact, the Holy Prophet himself showed grief and shed tears on occasions of mourning. He shed tears on visiting someone who seemed to be on the verge of death and said to the people around him:

“Listen! Allah does not punish for shedding tears nor for the grief of the heart”,

and he added that what is forbidden is to say improper words with the tongue (Bukhari, hadith 1304). What he meant was the saying and shouting of words of total despair and hopelessness, lack of acceptance of the will of Allah, and ingratitude towards Allah.

The Holy Prophet saw his own son, Ibrahim, dying at the age of about eighteen months. He started shedding tears. A Companion said to him: “Even you are weep­ing”, meaning that perhaps he was not showing patience and acceptance of the will of Allah. The Holy Prophet replied: “This is because of mercy.” Then he wept again and said:

“The eyes shed tears and the heart is grieved, but we will not say except what pleases our Lord. Surely by your separation, O Ibrahim, indeed we are grieved” (Bukhari, hadith 1303).

In the end we pray for our brother Mubarak Gerard Fogarty, that may Allah grant him forgiveness, and have mercy on him, and enter him among His righteous servants, and may Allah be a source of support and strength for his bereaved relatives, Ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk