Reclaim Your Heart

W
E
 B
URIED A
 M
AN
 T
ODAY
: A
R
EFLECTION ON
 D
EATH
I wrote this in the car on my way back home from the
burial of a righteous soul. May Allah subhanahu wa
ta`ala (swt) have mercy on him and his family. Ameen.
We buried a man today. And here I am now on my way
home in the caravan of the living. For now.
For now, you and I are in the caravan of the living. But not
because we’re headed for a separate land. Not because
they’re going and we are not. Only because our caravan
lagged behind. Right now we’re driving back to our
homes, our beds, our TVs, our stereos, our jobs, our
exams, our friends, our Facebook, and Gchat. Right now
we’re driving back to our distractions, our idols, our
deceptive illusions. But that’s just it. I’m not driving back
to my home, my bed, my TV and my stereo. I’m not
returning to my job, my exams, my friends, my Facebook
and Gchat. I’m not on my way back to my distractions,
illusions and idols. I’m driving back to where I began. I’m
driving now to the very same place he went to. I’m on my
way to the same place. I just don’t know how long my
drive will take.
I’m driving back to where I began: with God. Because
God is Al-Awal (the Beginning) and God is Al-Akhir (the
End).

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My body is taking me there, but it’s only a vehicle. When I
get there, it will stay behind. As he did today. My body
came from the ground and it will go back to the ground, as
it came. It was only a shell, a container for my soul. A
companion for a while. But I’ll leave it here when I
arrive. Arrive—not depart. Because that’s my home. Not
this. That’s why when Allah (swt) is calling the back the
righteous soul, He says, ‘irjiee’: return. (Qur’an, 
89:28
)
The beautiful, noble soul that we buried didn’t depart from
life today. He just entered a higher—and God willing—
better level of it. He only arrived home. But the body is
made of the material world and so he had to leave it here.
The body is of the lower world, the world where we need
to eat and sleep and bleed and cry. And die. But the soul is
of the higher world. The soul has only one need: to be
with God.
And so while the body cries and bleeds and feels pain
from the material world, the soul is untouched by these
things. There is only one thing that can cut or stab or hurt
the soul. There is only one thing that can kill it: depriving
it of its only need: to be close to its Originator, to be near
God. And so we should not weep for the arriving soul—It
isn’t dead. We should weep instead for the one whose
body is alive, but whose soul is dead because of its
alienation from that which gives it life: God.
And so the believing soul races home, even while in this

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life.
O Lord, make my soul a sanctuary, a fortress within. That
no one and nothing can disturb. A place of calm, silence,
and serenity, untouched by the outside world. The soul that
Allah (swt) calls al-nafs al mutmaina (the reassured
soul). (Qur’an 
89:27
) The soul that Allah (swt) calls back
saying:
“(To the righteous soul will be said:) ‘O (thou) soul, in
(complete) rest and satisfaction! Come back thou to thy
Lord—well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto
Him! Enter thou, then, among My devotees! Yea, enter
thou My Heaven!’” (Qur’an, 
89:27-30
)

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