Waking the Sleeping Heart: A Journey Through Al-Ghazali’s The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife

We often find ourselves caught in the rush of this world, building our homes and planning our futures as if we have an endless amount of time. But Al-Ghazali, in his profound wisdom, reminds us that the neck of every person, from the simplest worker to the mightiest king, is eventually broken by the reality of death.

Death waits for no one

Al-Ghazali warns us that the most frequent cry heard from those in the Afterlife is the word “shall”. They meant to do good “tomorrow,” but they did not realize that the desires making them lazy today would only grow stronger tomorrow. Death does not wait for old age; in fact, Al-Ghazali notes that for every old person who dies, thousands of children and young people pass away first.

Act today before it is too late

To illustrate this, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ once drew a square in the dust with a line leading out of it. The line inside represented man, and the line leading outside represented his endless hopes, but his lifespan always encircles him and cuts those hopes short. We must act today as if we have no tomorrow, for we do not truly know what our name will be when the sun rises.

Death; an experience like no other

We often avoid thinking about the physical reality of death, but Al-Ghazali explains that understanding it helps us prepare. He compares the pain of the death-pangs to three hundred blows with a sword. This pain is so intense because it does not just hit a limb; it assails the spirit directly at every nerve, artery, and joint.

Fix your relationships before death

In the Afterlife, you cannot pay back debts with money; you can only pay with your good deeds. If you have wronged someone, your good deeds will be taken from your pile and given to them. If you run out of good deeds, their sins will be piled onto you.

Al-Ghazali emphasizes that one will not enter Heaven until every person they have wronged has received justice, even for something as small as a slap. We must fix our relationships with our family and neighbors now before we meet Allah.

Thinking good of Allah saves you

Al-Ghazali shares the story of a youth who was frivolous but told his mother on his deathbed, “I have a Lord Who is greatly kind, and I hope His kindness won’t pass me by”. Because of this good opinion, Allah forgave him.

His Mercy transcends

While we must fear our sins, Al-Ghazali concludes with a beautiful message of hope: the “Wide Compass of God’s Mercy”. It is mandatory for a dying person to maintain a favourable opinion of God. Allah says, ‘I am to my slave as he thinks of Me, (i.e. I am able to do for him what he thinks I can do for him).

If we have tried our best and turned back to Him in repentance, we should trust that He is the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful.