Death Lies Waiting in the Wings
Once a woman came to Buddha, carrying a child in her arms. The child was dead. She cried for Buddha to bring her child back to life. She clasped the child to her breast and begged. The Buddha comforted her and said he would bring the child back to life if the mother could collect a mustard seed from a family that had not been touched by death.
The mother cried tears of joy. With hope in her heart, she set out to collect the mustard seed. Just one tiny mustard seed. She came to the first house and knocked on the door. A boy answered. She told him her story. Yes, he would love to give her the mustard seed, but just the past week, his uncle had died. He was very sorry. At the next house, a woman answered. Oh, she too would love to help, but two months ago, her father had died. Another house, a man answered. He too was sorry, last year his grandmother had died. Another house, a child had died. Another house, a grandfather. Another, a mother. Sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, children, adults in their prime, elderly in the old age.
The mother returned to the Buddha. She laid the child at his feet. She understood. Death is something we all share. We are all born, we all live, even for a moment, and we all die.
Hans Ruedi Giger was fascinated with these realities. His images airbrushed onto canvass are haunting. We humans are composed of flesh, blood and bone. Allah SWT describes the process in the Qur'an. Sperm and egg join, then cling like a leech to the wall of the womb, then are shaped into a chewed morsel, then become skin, tissue, blood, and bone. This physical creature is then born, moving down the birth canal from a world of fluids to a world of air. We gasp, like fish floundering. We cry as we struggle to adjust to breathing. We proceed on through the physical process of maturing. We grow strong, vigorous. And then one day, we look in the mirror. We become weaker. Then we turn to face both the physical and mental consequences of ceasing to breathe. When we do, our bodies will slowly decay into dust.
Giger painted bodies. Living mechanisms, bio-mechanics. Our bodies cry, laugh, orgasm and scream. Our emotions, our body's reaction to stimuli that signal us how to react, trigger chemical responses causing us to take flight or fight, care or caress. But is there more? Is there a ghost in the machine?
I am not a Cartesian dualist. There is only one substance, Ruh. What we call "physical" or "mental" are not two distinct substances, but are the result of our perceptions of the multitude of wavelengths at which the underlying Ruh vibrates. Some of these vibrations are perceivable by the senses and hence ":physical;" while others are not perceivable by the sense, but are detected by their effects, hence "mental." We are not ghosts in the machine. We are a composite of vibrations. That which I call "me," my nafs, is just a small part of me. Allah SWT has said He will raise us up on Yawm Al-Qiyamah. What ever that means, and Allah Ta'ala Alim, something of "me" will persist, will be judged, and will be saved by His Mercy.
Giger's painted bodies are disturbing. Strangely beautiful, yet terrifying. Paintings and statutes Allah SWT has warned us about. They are disturbing because they are made of the same constituents as us. They are mud, rock, stone, wood, etc; but they are soul-less. Giger used his art, not to try to imitate nature or create something, but to expose something. How macabre would be life if it had no Ruh. Without Ruh, without the spark of life, the light of creation, the created universe would be cold, dark, lonely, and macabre.
Several great men have written about the experience of dying. Today, with the ability to record one's life in video, some have filmed the process of facing their own demise. Recently, David Robert Jones, aka David Bowie died. His presence was a great influence on my life. He gave me courage to seek truth, even if that search took one out of the path upon which most people walk. His last record was released on his birthday, Jan. 8th of this year. He died two days later. In his last work, he speaks of the reality of his own future. He faces physical death, and what death means for the soul. Every soul will taste it.
Regardless of the nature of an after-life, we will all taste death. I have tried to imagine ceasing to breath. Sacratul-mawt, The Death Throes. What does this do to the body? I have faced physical pain, and have experienced difficulties breathing - allergic reactions and such; but what will this be like? And what will the nafs experience? What I do know is that many have gone before me. And Allah SWT will be with me.
Moreover, I have died before. Allah SWT says in the Qur'an that we have died before from the world of "alaisa Rabbikum?" We died and were born into this world. We also transitioned from womb to the world of air. We have done this before. We only need to remember.
Remembering Death
Many Daiyyas counsel us to remember death often. Death puts our lives into perspective. When we remember how we are going to end up, we do not seem so important, special, super-powered, as we may think we are now. All those cars, TVs, iProducts, gold rings, fancy things are meaningless. We cannot use them in the next life. And what did they really get us here? Where your friends really impressed by the fact that you could spend money? That you could rack up debt for a bunch of toys? They were all too busy trying to impress you, or talk about behind your back. What did all those things ever really get you?
Only sincere belief in Allah, and demonstrating that belief through righteous actions will ever get you anything worthwhile. Only Allah can save you, only Allah can reward you.
Remembering death reminds us of the amazing way you came into this world. That random change meeting of egg and sperm, that birth, and all the amazing things you have experienced during life. Allah SWT shared a lifetime with you. Only He knows what you have seen, heard, smelled, tasted, experienced. The beauty of a sunset. A single snow flake drifting softly to earth. He shared it with you.
After death, He will share those memories with all creation, and all creation will know that He chose you for those special memories. Death is a reminder that Allah SWT loves each and every one of us.
Some day He will call us home. Until that day, let us not forget who created us, who sustains us, and to whom we will return. Allahu Akbar!
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