The Two Men Who Died on the Same Day

There is a story from the time of Mūsā (peace be upon him). Two men died at the same time, one at one end of a town and the other at the other end. One was famous for nothing but his disobedience to Allah (swt); he was the black sheep of the town, doing everything the Sharīʿah declares unlawful. Yet when he died, Allah (swt) showed Mūsā (peace be upon him) that he had gone to Paradise. The other was a man like a rabbi of the old Jews, a man so particular in his practice, so diligent, that he followed everything to the letter. Yet when he died, Mūsā (peace be upon him) was shown that he had gone to the Fire — startling news, since it is usually the other way around.

Mūsā (peace be upon him) resolved to investigate and find the wisdom in it. He went first to the wife of the diligent man and asked her to tell him about her husband. She said: as you know, yā Mūsā, he was a very religious man, he did everything by the book, he never missed a single prayer, never missed a single fast or an act of zakāh, and carried out every obligation within the Sharīʿah of Mūsā (peace be upon him) without exception. But one thing was strange about him: when he put his head down on the pillow at night, with a broad smile on his face, he used to say — if what Mūsā (peace be upon him) says is true, then I have made it in the hereafter; if what he says about Allah, about the hereafter, about Paradise and the Fire is true, then I have made first-class, VIP status in Paradise. Mūsā (peace be upon him) then went to the other one, the disobedient man, and spoke to his wife, asking her the same question. She said: yā Mūsā, what is there to tell — everybody already knows about him, he is the drunkard, the gambler, the womaniser, doing everything possible under the sun that is unlawful; there has not been a single day since they married that she has known him sober. But she was asked to say more, and she added: there is one thing strange about him. When he went to bed at night, the last thing he would say, putting his head on the pillow, was: ashhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh wa ashhadu anna Mūsā rasūlullāh, and I believe everything that Mūsā (peace be upon him) has brought us, I believe everything Allah (swt) has sent us, it is ḥaqq and truth, although I am not myself a very good, practising person. He said this every single night of his life. Mūsā (peace be upon him) said, subḥānAllāh — this was a clear case: one doing everything by the book, but without relying on Allah (swt), without full belief in Allah (swt) in his heart; the other, an exception to the rule, carrying no doubt at all in his faith in Allah (swt), yet carrying real defects and shortcomings in his conduct.

It is the adab of a Muslim, when at the side of a dying person, always to speak of the goodness and the mercy of Allah (swt): inshāʾAllāh, Allah is Ghafūr Raḥīm, there is nothing to worry about, Allah is most generous. In a different hadith the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that the servant of Allah (swt) will find Allah (swt) in exactly the state of belief he held when he left this world. So if a person believes, on leaving this world, that Allah (swt) is angry with him, upset with him, about to punish him, about to put him in the Fire, that is precisely how he will find Allah (swt) on the other side. But if a person believes in Allah (swt) regardless of his shortcomings, in his very last moments, in the last five minutes of his life, Allah (swt) is Ghafūr Raḥīm, inshāʾAllāh: "Yā Rabbī, please, You are the most forgiving, I believe in You, I have tawakkul in You, I put my trust in Your promise, Your waʿd, that You are Ghafūr Raḥīm and will always forgive, so long as shirk was not committed — Yā Rabbī, this is my belief in You, my ẓann of You." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says this too is a form of tawakkul.