Death Is Speed Breaker In Life

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan speech
Published in Muslim Murasu, May 2012

There are two forces in this world. They are not two creators. They are two creations. There were two creations in this world when God created man; Jinns and angels.
Shaitan belongs to Jinn community. -'kaana minal jinni’ – Surah 18, Kahf, verse 50.
The dominion of earth was given to man. ‘inni jayilun fil arli kaleefa’ – Surah 2, Baqara, verse 30. Man is not owner of earth. He is being tested here. Dawood (alai) says that I have been given kingdom as a test whether I am being grateful. World is examination hall. All materials and facilities given to man are test papers. ‘innama amwalakum wa awladukum fitna’. Here ‘fitna’ means test. This will continue till death. Man has to live his life between two forces, Jinns and angels.
Angels are sources of goodness. Shaitan is source of evil. Men have both the qualities. Nafs lavvaamaa – conscience; Nafs ammaaraa – ego. Ego is entry point for Shaitan. Conscience is entry point for angels. Once you come under the effect of ego, Shaitan will take full control. Shaitan seeks to lead people astray.
Once a person was harshly arguing with and scolding Abubakr (rali). Prophet was silently standing. Prophet left that place as soon as Abubakr started giving reply. Prophet later explained. When you were silent, angels were speaking on your behalf. When you started giving reply, angels left the place and I left too.
Conscience of the opponent was alive as long as Abubakr stayed calm. “You are troubling a quiet person”. But ego reared its head high when Abubakr also started scolding. It is on you whether you invoke ‘lavvaamaa’ or ‘ammaaraa’. You will face hatred and vengeance when you invoke ego. You will get love and affection when you invoke conscience.
Every person you meet, in your house and outside, has these two qualities. You can make a person your friend or your foe. Man, woman, children, blacks, whites, poor and rich, everyone has these two qualities. Human beings are an exemplary creation. Heaven is the only fitting abode for them.  But Shaitan keeps pushing them towards trivial things. These are not man’s inventions. God has created and given to man these two qualities. Both are creations of God. Anything will have a positive side and a negative side. Ego is source of assertion, determination, courage and power. It enables you to face challenges in life. Anger, vengeance, constitute its downside. There will be hatred towards others when ego is corrupt. One should try to harness its positive energy. But one should be careful not to trigger next person’s ego by any disrespectful way. God has created man for success. He should avoid failure. We are living, dwelling, in the world created by God. Let us first understand the divine laws at play here. Then life will become easy.
Man will not lose control once he understands this. Death cannot be avoided, regardless of how huge you earn. This is speed breaker in life. One Hadees advices us to remind death often, it will kill your desires. Another Hadees says that, every disease has medicine, but death doesn’t.