The Dream That Swallowed Ismail

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Two days ago, Ismail shared with us a lesson from his life. This is the person I know.

He narrated:

“I used to delay my prayers, saying, ‘I will pray later.’ I used to lie and gossip. I used to watch videos of women on social media, telling myself, ‘Just this once is okay,’ even when my heart told me that it was wrong.

One night, I went to bed after another day of ‘later.’

I woke up in the darkness. But I was not on my bed. I was standing in a vast, empty desert beneath a black sky. The air was still and terribly cold. I was completely alone.

A voice spoke. It was not a sound I heard with my ears; rather, I felt it in my bones.

‘Where are the prayers you left for later?’

Suddenly, shapes appeared in the sand around my feet. They were pale, like forgotten bones. They were the ghosts of my missed prayers—the Fajr I slept through, the Asr I was too busy to pray. They clutched at my ankles with thin, cold fingers. I tried to run, but they held me tightly.

‘Who did you lie to? Who did you hurt with your words?’

From the darkness, faces came closer. They were the people I had wronged with my tongue. Their eyes were empty, like deep wells. Their mouths opened, and instead of voices, a crushing feeling of their sadness and anger poured into me. I felt the weight of every harsh word I had ever spoken as a physical pain in my chest.

‘You looked at what I forbade. You enjoyed what was not yours to take.’

Then the ground began to show moving images, like water. I saw every sinful glance and every forbidden pleasure I had secretly enjoyed. But now, I saw them as they truly were—ugly, dirty and hollow. A deep shame, hotter than fire, burned my skin. I wanted to look away, but I could not.

I fell to my knees and cried out:

‘This is the Day of Judgment! My Book of Deeds! It’s empty!’

The voice answered, calm and final:

‘No. This is not the Day of Judgment. That Day will be far more terrifying. This is only the Barzakh—your grave. This is the waiting place between your death and that Day. This loneliness… these ghosts of your delayed and abandoned prayers… this is your companion now. You chose it. You built this waiting place with your own hands every time you chose sin and turned away from Me.’

Ismail screamed:

‘Send me back! Give me one more day! Just one more day to pray, to be good, to ask for forgiveness!’

But my voice was silent. The empty faces stared at me. The cold fingers held me tightly. There was no going back.

Time here did not move as it had before. I would remain there, facing the consequences of my choices, until the real Horror began.

Then, back in this world, I woke up gasping. My heart was pounding like a drum.”

My People,

Remember that a so-called “little sin” committed repeatedly should never be taken lightly. What we repeatedly choose can gradually become a habit that distances us from Allah.

Do not wait for a frightening dream before you change.

The time to abandon sin, correct our wrongs, return to Allah and seek forgiveness is now.

Allah is Al-Ghaffār, the Ever-Forgiving. So let us turn back to Him sincerely, before death comes and our opportunity to repent is gone.

Do not keep saying, “Later.”

Your “later” may not be as long as you think.