TWO ATTITUDES
Submit to the Truth Before Death
THE QURAN says that on Judgement Day, when humankind is gathered before God, man will look upon his deeds. Those who denied God, and rebelled against Him, will behold the doom that awaits them. In anguish they will cry out:
“Would that I were dust!” (78: 40)
When Umar, the second Caliph of Islam, lay on his death-bed, after being mortally wounded by the dagger of Abu Lulu Firoz, his son, Abdullah ibn Umar was resting his father’s head in his lap. “Rub my cheek in the dust, Abdullah,” Umar said to him. Abdullah ibn Umar did so. Then, with his head resting on the ground, Umar addressed these words to himself:
“Woe betide you, Umar, and woe betide the one who gave birth to you, if God does not forgive you.” (Tabaqat lbn Saad)
The only creditable submission of God is that which comes before He makes Himself manifest
If one compares both these events, one will find that the very words uttered by those who do not believe in the next world, are those uttered by believers in this world.
Who dare rebel against God when He appears before man? Everyone will submit to Him then. But the only creditable submission of God is that which comes before He makes Himself manifest. God wants us to bow to Him before He reveals Himself. He wants us to discover Him through His signs in the universe.
The only reason that people rebel against God is that He has not physically manifested Himself before them. But how can one rebel against Him when He manifests Himself in all His might? Man is cowed into submission before a lion. How then can he dare otherwise when he comes face to face with God, the creator of the lion? A believer is one who experiences in this world and humbles himself without seeing God what others are going to experience in the next world.