Agonies of Death
by Seeker
For this reason it has been said that ‘death is crueler than the stroke of a sword, or being carved up with saws, or cut with scissors,’ since to cut the body with a sword only produces pain through its connection with the soul, and how much worse must the pain be when it interrupts directly upon the soul itself!
The man who has been stabbed cries out only because there is some remainder of strength in his heart and tongue; while the voice and screams of the dying man are cut off due to the harshness of his pain, as his suffering bears down upon him and mounts up in the heart until it reaches his every part, breaking his every strength and weakening all his limbs, leaving him with no strength left to cry for relief.
It overcomes his mind and deranges it, it strikes dumb his tongue, and it weakens his limit. He longs to be able to seek relief in groaning, screaming and calling for aid, but he cannot. Should there remain in him any strength at all, a lowering and rattling sound is audible from his throat at the time when his soul is pulled and dragged forth.
The body
His colour changes, to an ashen grey, until it is as though the dust which is the root of his nature has made itself obvious. Each vein is drawn out individually as the pain spreads through his surface and his guts, until his eyes roll up to the top of their sockets, and the lips are drawn back, and his tongue contracts to its roots, and his fingertips turn a greenish-black. So do not ask concerning a body from which every artery is being pulled: were one of them alone to be pulled his agony would be intense, so how must it be when the soul itself is being pulled, and not just from one artery, but from them all?
Then, one by one, his physical body begins to die. First his feet grow cold, and then his shins and thighs, each limb suffering agony after agony, and misery after misery, until his soul reaches his throat. At this point he gazes out for the last time at the world and its people, and the gate of repentance is closed, and he is snowed under by sorrow and regret.
At this stage the face of the Angel of Death appears before him. Do not ask regarding the bitter taste of death, and its miseries as its agonies mount up! It was for this reason that the Messenger of Allah (upon him peace) used to say, ‘O Allah! Lessen for Muhammad (upon him peace) the agonies of death!’[1]
Bitterness of death after 50 years!
It is related that a group of Israelites once passed by a graveyard and that one said to the others, ‘What if you were to pray to Allah that He should bring before you a corpse from this graveyard so that you could put some questions to him?’ So they prayed to Allah and amazed! There before them was a man with the sign of prostration between his eyes, who had appeared from one of the graves. ‘O people!’ he said. ‘What would you have for me? Fifty years ago I tasted death, yet its bitterness is not yet stilled in my heart!’
May Allah have mercy on our souls, Ameen!
It is related that (the Prophet śallAllāhu álayhi wa sallam) used to say, ‘O Allah! Truly You draw out the soul from the ligaments, the nasal bone and the fingertips. O Allah! Grant me Your support in death, and render it easy for me to bear.’[2]
Undemanding death
It is related on the authority of al-Hasan that The Messenger of Allah (upon him peace) once made mention of death, and its chocking and its pain, and said, ‘It is equal to three hundred blows with a sword’.[3]
He was once asked (upon him peace) about death and its harshness, and replied, ‘The easiest death resembles the branch of a thorn-tree caught in some wool. Shall the branch be extracted from the wool without some remaining with it?’[4]
Paradise or Hell?
Zayd ibn Aslam related that his father once said, ‘Whenever there remain for the believer certain degrees which he had not attained in the world through his works, death is made painful for him so that through its agonies and affliction he might attain to his degree in Paradise. Whereas, should the unbeliever have to his account some act of kindness for which he has not been rewarded, then death is made easy for him to bear until his reward becomes complete and he takes his place in Hell.’
Death of Prophet Ibraheem
It is related that when Ibraheem (upon whom be peace) died, Allah (The Exalted) asked him, ‘How did you find death, O My Friend?’ and he replied, ‘Like a skewer pushed into damp wool and then tugged’. ‘Yet We made it easy for you to bear,’ He said.
Death of Prophet Musa
It is related of Musa (upon whom be peace) that when his soul passed away to Allah (The Exalted) his Lord asked him, ‘O Musa! How did you find death?’ ‘I found myself’, he said, ‘to be like a sparrow being roasted alive, unable either to die and find rest, or to escape and fly away.’ It is also related that he said, ‘I found myself to be like a sheep being flay alive at the hands of a butcher’.
If this is the position of the Prophets, then what will our state be?
Reminder of death
Umar (Allah be pleased with him) said, to Ka’b al-Ahbar, ‘O Ka’b! Speak to us of death!’ ‘Certainly, O Commander of the Faithful,’ he said. ‘Death is as a thorny twig made to enter the stomach of a man, so that each thorn becomes attached to an artery. Then a powerful man pulls at it, and it takes what it takes and leaves what it leaves.’
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[1] Ibn Maja, Jana’iz; Tirmidhi, Jana’iz.
[2] Ibn Abi’l Dunya, al-Mawt.
[3] Ibn Abi’l Dunya, al-Mawt
[4] Ibn Abi’l Dunya, al-Mawt
Islam 