Welcome, With the Decree of Allah

Dāwūd (peace be upon him) was very protective of his family. He would not allow any man to see his wives. So when he would leave — and this is mentioned in a hadith — when he would leave his home, or palace, or whatever, he would close all the doors and not allow any man to get in.

Suddenly, one day, the wife of Dāwūd sees a man in the middle of the house. There is a man in our home! She said: wallāhi la-nuftaḍaḥanna bi-Dāwūd — if Dāwūd knows about this, we are in big trouble. How did this man get in?

Dāwūd (peace be upon him) did come, and he saw this man, and he said: who are you? The man said: anā alladhī lā ahābu al-mulūk — I am the one who never fears the kings, and nothing can run away from me. I am the one who does not fear the kings, and nothing can escape me. Dāwūd (peace be upon him) said: wallāhi innaka idhan la-malaku al-mawt, marḥaban bi-amri Allāh — by Allah, you must be the angel of death; welcome, with the decree of Allah.

A king — he has everything a person would want in this life. I mean, we are holding to this world, holding so tight to this world, for a few bucks that we make here and there. We do not really have much; none of us are kings; we do not have that much — and we are holding so tight to this world. For the small part of the world which is allocated to us, we became servants to it.

And Dāwūd (peace be upon him) is the king of the strongest nation of its time, and of the Muslim ummah of that time, Banū Isrāʾīl; and when he saw the angel of death he said: welcome — marḥaban bi-amri Allāh — welcome, with the decree of Allah. I am ready. I am ready to die, because I was not a king for the kingdom; I was not a king for the gold and silver; I was not a king to love this world; I was a king to serve Allah (swt). I was doing this as a service for Allah. I am doing it for You, O Allah. If You want me to leave — O Allah, I want to meet You. Marḥaban bi-amri Allāh.