mahmoud /
Jan 5, 2008 #1
Witnessing the death of a person or being exposed to bereavement or even attending a funeral draws one's attention to think attentively on the subject of death and come up with very certain, ineluctable and inevitable facts. Life slips away second by second. Every day brings us closer to death or that death is as close to us as it is to other people. Everyone who has ever appeared on this earth was destined to die. Without exception they all died. Today, we hardly come across the traces of many of these people who passed away. Those who are on the edge of death and those who are enjoying the flower of their youth and those who will ever live will also face death on a predestined day. All human beings will live until a certain day and then die. However this fact, people tend to see death as an unpleasant incident.
The majority of people baulk or shun conversing or even thinking about death. In the rapid flow of daily events, a person usually occupies himself with totally different and minor subjects: where to date, what does she think about me, what colour of clothing to wear next morning, what to cook for supper, what the results of the football matches, where to spend the summer, how much money to put aside; these are few examples of the routine process of major issues that concerns a large tier of human beings. Any attempt to talk about death is always interrupted by those who do not feel comfortable hearing about it. Assuming death will come only when one grows older, one does not want to concern himself with such an unpleasant subject. Yet it should be kept in mind that living for even one further hour is never guaranteed. Everyday, man witnesses the deaths of people around him but thinks little about the day when others will witness his own death. He never supposes that such an end is awaiting him!
While burying the corpse of this deceased, I was thinking of everything that I was able to do and still I enjoy: I can blink my eyes, move my hands, speak, laugh; All these are the blessings that I possess but, with a motionless corpse in front of me, I got assured that this status quo is temporary. Immediately, I thought about the state and the shape my body will assume after my death.
Once I will breathe my last, my soul will leave the body, announcing my new identity: "a heap of flesh and bones" no more no less. I, rather my body, will be still, inert, and fixed while being washed for the last time. Wrapped in a shroud, I will be carried in a coffin to the graveyard. Once I am in the grave, soil will cover me. This is the end of my story. I will be in the heart of darkness. From now on, my whole life represented in an epitaph written in a marble stone.
Outside, in the wake of the first days, my grave will be visited frequently. As time passes, fewer people will come. Decades later, there will be no-one. Simultaneously, my close family members will experience varying degrees of sorrow and grief. At home, my room and bed will be empty. Most of my clothes, shoes, and the likes, will be given to those who need them. My books and papers in the cupboard will be replaced and my files in the computer will be deleted. And my legacy, if I have, will be subsidized and inherited. During the first years, some will mourn for me. Yet, time will work against the memories I left behind. Two or three decades later, there will remain only a few who remember me. Before long, new generations will come and none of mine will exist any longer on earth. Whether I am remembered or not will be of no value to me.
Inside the grave, the bacteria and worms will be penetrating my corpse due to the absence of oxygen, leading to a rapid decay of the skin, brain, lungs, heart, liver...etc. In the meantime, an unendurably disgusting smell will be filling the grave. This nasty process will go on until the whole body become worm-eaten and finally be reduced to a skeleton.
But where is my soul, this inevitable tremendous ending of my body makes me certain of one reality. The body sooner or later will be grave-bound while the soul is eternal. During my life, my soul has been "encased" in the body or protected by it. Young people usually possess a solid belief that it is too early to die and that there are always years ahead to live. Yet most probably, people who died on the way to work or while playing a football match, or drinking shared the same thought. They probably never thought that the next day prayer will be on him. It is entirely possible that, as you read these lines, you are expected to die after you finish them. Do thank God then, you have finished them.
The majority of people baulk or shun conversing or even thinking about death. In the rapid flow of daily events, a person usually occupies himself with totally different and minor subjects: where to date, what does she think about me, what colour of clothing to wear next morning, what to cook for supper, what the results of the football matches, where to spend the summer, how much money to put aside; these are few examples of the routine process of major issues that concerns a large tier of human beings. Any attempt to talk about death is always interrupted by those who do not feel comfortable hearing about it. Assuming death will come only when one grows older, one does not want to concern himself with such an unpleasant subject. Yet it should be kept in mind that living for even one further hour is never guaranteed. Everyday, man witnesses the deaths of people around him but thinks little about the day when others will witness his own death. He never supposes that such an end is awaiting him!
While burying the corpse of this deceased, I was thinking of everything that I was able to do and still I enjoy: I can blink my eyes, move my hands, speak, laugh; All these are the blessings that I possess but, with a motionless corpse in front of me, I got assured that this status quo is temporary. Immediately, I thought about the state and the shape my body will assume after my death.
Once I will breathe my last, my soul will leave the body, announcing my new identity: "a heap of flesh and bones" no more no less. I, rather my body, will be still, inert, and fixed while being washed for the last time. Wrapped in a shroud, I will be carried in a coffin to the graveyard. Once I am in the grave, soil will cover me. This is the end of my story. I will be in the heart of darkness. From now on, my whole life represented in an epitaph written in a marble stone.
Outside, in the wake of the first days, my grave will be visited frequently. As time passes, fewer people will come. Decades later, there will be no-one. Simultaneously, my close family members will experience varying degrees of sorrow and grief. At home, my room and bed will be empty. Most of my clothes, shoes, and the likes, will be given to those who need them. My books and papers in the cupboard will be replaced and my files in the computer will be deleted. And my legacy, if I have, will be subsidized and inherited. During the first years, some will mourn for me. Yet, time will work against the memories I left behind. Two or three decades later, there will remain only a few who remember me. Before long, new generations will come and none of mine will exist any longer on earth. Whether I am remembered or not will be of no value to me.
Inside the grave, the bacteria and worms will be penetrating my corpse due to the absence of oxygen, leading to a rapid decay of the skin, brain, lungs, heart, liver...etc. In the meantime, an unendurably disgusting smell will be filling the grave. This nasty process will go on until the whole body become worm-eaten and finally be reduced to a skeleton.
But where is my soul, this inevitable tremendous ending of my body makes me certain of one reality. The body sooner or later will be grave-bound while the soul is eternal. During my life, my soul has been "encased" in the body or protected by it. Young people usually possess a solid belief that it is too early to die and that there are always years ahead to live. Yet most probably, people who died on the way to work or while playing a football match, or drinking shared the same thought. They probably never thought that the next day prayer will be on him. It is entirely possible that, as you read these lines, you are expected to die after you finish them. Do thank God then, you have finished them.