PREPARING FOR DEATH. The only way to prepare for the Hereafter and to achieve success is to fulfill our purpose of creation. Allaah says in the Qur'aan

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*PREPARING FOR DEATH*

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The only way to prepare for the Hereafter and to achieve success is to fulfill our purpose of creation. Allaah says in the Qur'aan :

*وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ*

_And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me._

(Surah Adh-dhaariyaat, 51:56)

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The commentary on this Ayah includes a Hadeeth of The Prophet (ﷺ), in which he said : _*Allaah the Exalted said, "O Son of Adam! Busy yourself in worshipping Me, and I will fill your chest with riches and dissipate your meekness. Otherwise, I will fill your chest with distracting affairs and will not do away with your meekness.''*_

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2466) 

No effort to please Allaah will be left unrewarded in this world and in the Hereafter, while every effort made to seek the pleasures of this world will come to naught.

It will be to our benefit to remember that this world is a passing stage, just a road on our journey to our final destination.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said : _*“Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler.”*_

(At-Tirmidhi 2333)

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It would also do us good to perform our deeds as if they would be our last, because we aren't certain that we'll be alive the next moment. Ibn Umar (رَضِّيْ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ) used to say, _*“If you survive till the evening, do not expect to be alive in the morning, and if you survive till the morning, do not expect to be alive in the evening, and take from your health for your sickness, and (take) from your life for your death.*”_

(Sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 76, Number 425) 

The Messenger of Allaah (ﷺ) said, *_“I prohibited you from visiting graves, but visit them now. Verily, they will weaken your attachment to the world and remind you of the Hereafter.”_*

(Sunan Ibn Mājah 1571) 

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Visiting graves and attending funerals of those who have made the transition into the Next-life, for these too will serve as reminders of our eventual fate in that we know they were like us in every way, and that it is not by bad luck that they died. It is an affirmation that it will happen to us too. 

🔊 Do something beneficial to your soul while it hasn't yet departed your body.

🔊 Make peace with your Lord.

🔊 Seek repentance from Him.

🔊 Turn over a new leaf.

It is never too late as long as you're still alive. The Prophet (ﷺ) said :

_*“Allaah accepts a servant’s repentance till he gives up his spirit in death.”*_

[The Arabic is _ma lam yugharghir_, which might, be translated literally _"as long as he has not gargle_ (this expression refers to the sound emanating from the dying person's throat as his soul leaves his body)]. 

(Mishkat al-Masabih 2343) 

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May Allaah (ﷻ) spare our souls till He is pleased with us. 

آمِيْن يَارَبَّ الْعَالَمِينْ