Prophet Muhammad was given the responsibility of calling

The Final Journey

people to the Truth. He gathered the inhabitants of Makkah
near the hill of Safa and said to them that they would die in
the same way as they slept, and that they would be brought
back to life in the same way as they woke up from sleep.
After that, there would be either eternal Heaven or eternal
Hell. (Sahih al- Bukhari, Hadith No. 4770)

Everything is happening in this world of God except for one

thing that God desires the most—making people aware of that
impending, terrifying Final Day—The Day of Resurrection. If The
Final
people do not stand up for this work, then the Angel Israfil’s
trumpet, announcing this Final Day will call them. But that
will be an announcement of their destruction, not an alarm
for them to wake up!

Our work at the Centre for Peace and Spirituality is to carry

on with this mission of the Prophet of Islam, of making man
aware of the Creation Plan of God and the inevitable Final
Journey
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Day, so that he may prepare for ‘The Final Journey’.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is an Islamic scholar,

spiritual leader and peace activist. He is the founder
of Centre for Peace and Spirituality and has been
internationally recognized for his contributions to
world peace. The Maulana has authored over 200 books
dealing with Islam’s spiritual wisdom, the Prophet’s
nonviolent approach, religion’s relation with modernity
and other contemporary issues. His English translation
of the Quran is popular because it’s language is simple,
contemporary and easily understandable.

ISBN 978-93-89766-32-5

Goodword

www.cpsglobal.org www.goodwordbooks.com
info@cpsglobal.org info@goodwordbooks.com Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
 The
Final
Journey

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Translated by:
Prof. Farida Khanam
 First published 2021

This book is an English translation of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s

Urdu book entitled Akhri Safar.

This book is copyright free and royalty free. It can be translated,

reprinted, stored or used on any digital platform without prior permission
from the author or the publisher. It can be used for commercial or
non-profit purposes. However, kindly do inform us about your
publication and send us a sample copy of the printed material
or link of the digital work.
email: info@goodwordbooks.com

Goodword Books
1, Nizamuddin West Market, New Delhi-110013
Tel. +9111-45651770
Mob. +91-8588822672
email: info@goodwordbooks.com
www.goodwordbooks.com

Center for Peace and Spirituality

1, Nizamuddin West Market, New Delhi-110 013
Mob. +91-9999944119
email: info@cpsglobal.org
www.cpsglobal.org

Printed in India
 Contents

Foreword 5
On Death’s Doorstep 7
We are in God’s Country 8
The Stage of Death 10
How Strange That Life Should End Like That 11
The Beginning, Not the End 13
The End of Life’s Journey 14
Beyond Death 15
From Affluence to Ashes 17
When the Journey Ends 18
Door, Not Grave 19
Over the Edge 21
The Vanity of Human Wishes 23
A Happy Ending to the Tragedy of Life 24
Death’s Lesson 26
The Greatest Teacher: Death 27
The Gathering Storm 29
The Great Happening 31
The Mirage 32
Rose-Coloured Spectacles 33
The Illusion of Freedom 35

3
Just Short of the Summit 36
The Other Side of Death 38
Five Seconds to Go 40
A Strange Deprivation 41
The Eternal Journey 43
Showing One’s Mettle 44
He Is Listening 46
The Day of Judgement 47
O Man! 49
The Virtue of Mercy 50
These Sleepers! 51
What Will Happen That Day? 52
Keeping One’s Mind on Tomorrow 54
The Danger of Hell 55
When Death Will Expose Everything As False 57
This Hell-Bound Caravan 59
Fear God 61
When Truth is Revealed 62
Ray of Hope 63
The Result of Reaction 64
The Precipice 66
The Impending Day 67
The Greatest News 69
A Call 71

4
 Foreword

T he Twenty Fifth Hour is the title of a book which has

been published in France, analyzing the current state of
the world. According to its author this ‘twenty fifth hour’ is
the hour of doom, an hour which could arrive at any moment.
Why? Because the world is divided into two groups, both of
which are committed to the total annihilation of the other.
Inevitably this will mean the annihilation of the whole human
race. The blind arms race of these two blocs has turned the
world into a vast storehouse of lethal weapons and is leading
the world to the brink of destruction.

We certainly seem to be rushing towards it on a terrifying

parallel with the final earthquake with which God will bring
this world to an end. The period of trial which God has ordained
for man is then to be over and an eternal, perfect world will
replace the present one. But only after God’s final earthquake.
Then will come God’s Judgment of all human beings. Then it
will be known, with terrifying certainty, whether one is to be
sent to paradise or to be consigned forever to the everlasting
flames of hell. The moment is upon us. The twenty-fifth hour,
the decisive hour, must be expected at any moment. Each
morning we must ask ourselves if we are going to live until the
evening. And each morning we must ask ourselves if we are
going to live until the next morning.

5
 The Final Journey

People are rightly apprehensive of nuclear warfare. But what

they should most fear is the Last Trumpet with which God
will announce the end of the world. Nuclear war may or may
not be a certainty, but the advent of the Day of Reckoning
(Qiyamat), the Final Day is as sure as its consequences
are eternal. Eternal bliss will then be the reward for good
deeds, while for bad deeds there will be nothing but eternal
damnation.

I advise people to prepare for their Final Journey in preparation

for this Final Day.

Wahiduddin Khan
January 1, 2021
New Delhi

6
 On Death’s Doorstep

O f all the stages through which man shall have to pass, death
is the most certain. It is possible for one not to be endowed
with life at all, but one who is alive is sure, also, to die. Everyone
who is alive now will be dead sometime in the future. One day the
eyes of those who see will fade and their tongues will freeze into
silence. Every human being will one day find himself standing at
death’s doorstep, with this world behind him, and ahead of him
the eternal world of the hereafter. He will be leaving this world,
never to return, and entering a world which he will never leave. In
the world which he is entering, there will be no opportunity for
action; there will be only salvation or damnation in accordance
with one’s actions on earth.
While life is indefinite, death is absolutely definite. We are
only alive because we have not yet died, and there is no fixed
time for death. We are forever advancing towards it; death is
closer to us than life itself. People consider themselves alive,
but it would be truer to say that they are dead. No one can
be sure when death will come; it might strike at any instant.
Death, then, is not some future event; we are already as good
as dead. For this reason, Prophet Mohammad, may peace
be upon him, has told us to think of ourselves as lying in the
grave. (Tuhfatul Ahwazi, Hadith No. 2333)
Death nullifies everything. It is the most terrifying event
of our lives. But the prospect would not be so formidable if

7
 The Final Journey

death were just the end of life. If all that death meant was the
end of man - the moving, seeing, hearing being who lives on
earth – then it would still be an event of frightful proportions;
but it would be a temporary calamity, not a permanent one.

The gravity of the situation lies in death not being the end of
life, but rather the beginning of a new, eternal life, a world of
everlasting reward or retribution.

Everyone is on a journey from life unto death. Some have

set their sights on the world, others on the hereafter. Some
dwell on what meets the eye, others on what lies beyond the
superficiality of human vision. Some strive to satisfy their
own desires and egos, while others bestir themselves in love
and fear of God. Both types of people appear the same in
this world: they both take rest when night comes, and in the
morning once again pursue their chosen paths in life. But in
relation to the life after death, there is a world of difference
between the two: those who live in God and the hereafter
are redeeming themselves, while those who live in worldly
pleasures and selfish desires are condemning themselves to
eternal punishment.

We are in God’s Country

A n American lady went on a tour of Russia. There, she

saw pictures of the Chairman of the Communist party
hanging everywhere she went. She took offence of this, and
gave vent to her feelings in the presence of some Russians.

8
 We are in God’s Country

Her companion whispered in her ear: “Madam, you are in

Russia now, not America.”

A person can live as he likes in his own country, but when he

goes to a foreign country, he has to abide by its laws. If he does
not do so, then he will be considered an offender.

The same is true, in a broader sense, of this world. Man has

been born into a world which he did not create himself. The
world in which man lives is entirely of God’s making. Man,
then, is not in his own country: he is living in the country of
God.

This being the case, the only way that man can prosper is by
understanding God’s scheme and living in the world according
to that scheme. If he contradicts the scheme of God, then he
will be considered as a rebel. He will be liable for punishment
in the sight of God and stands to be deprived for all time of
the blessings of the Lord.

The question is: how should man live in the world in order to
conform with the will of God? It was to provide an answer to
this question that God raised up His prophets. The prophets
showed man, plainly and in terms that he could understand,
exactly what the Lord requires of him; they defined the
scheme of God with which man should comply.

The Quran is an authentic collection of this prophetic

guidance. Whoever wishes to be counted among God’s
faithful servants, and granted a share in His eternal blessings,
must read the Quran and be guided by it in his life.

Whoever does not do this will meet a similar–though

more severe fate–than that of Americophiles in Russia or
Russophiles in America.

9
 

The Stage of Death

T he moment of death is more serious than any imaginable

or unimaginable moment. All other difficulties that
human beings encounter, pale into utter insignificance in the
face of the enormous difficulty which assumes the form of
death.

Death is the journey towards the most severe stage in life. It

is to enter that stage where one has no control whatsoever,
where one is entirely empty-handed and completely helpless.
Every difficulty in this world has a limit, but death takes us
into a world whose torments have no limits whatsoever.

In this world, too, human beings are actually in the same sort
of condition. They are in themselves so weak that they are
unable to tolerate even a minor unfavourable condition or
situation. If you are poked by a needle or have to face hunger
or thirst for a single day or do not get sleep for a few days, your
anguish will know no bounds. But because in this world we
have all that we need, we have forgotten how vulnerable we
really are. We are unaware of our own reality.

Suppose this world were snatched away from us, this world
where there is air and light and so on, and where, by using
the bounties of Nature, human civilization is made possible,
in such a situation, it will be impossible for human beings to
create a similar world elsewhere in the cosmos.

10
 How Strange That Life Should End Like That

When human beings face difficulties, they start making a big

hue and cry about it. But if they knew about the impending
Day of Judgment, they would cry out, ‘O God! What is going
to happen then is much more severe than what is happening
now, here in this world!’
Because in this world human beings revel in honour and
comfort, they are overwhelmed by pride. But if they knew
what is going to happen on the Day of Judgment, they would
cry out, ‘O God! This honour and comfort have no value at all
if they do not last after death!’
Death is not the end of our lives. Rather, it is the start of a new
stage of Life. This stage will, for some, be a dungeon, where they
will face the deadliest of all possible torments, while for others
it will be the door leading to the highest of all possible comforts.

How Strange That Life

Should End Like That

N andini, daughter of Govind Narain, the former governor

of Karnataka, was just 38 years old when she passed away
in New Delhi on September 16, 1981. Thus, a young, vibrant
life came to a sudden halt; a cheerful face was removed from
the scene of life.

Nandini was an intelligent and healthy person. After

receiving higher education in India, she acquired a degree in
journalism from America. She then became a senior reporter

11
 The Final Journey

with The Hindustan Times. Her versatile and dashing talent

made her a popular figure with her colleagues. As one of them
put it: “She loved life to the full and wanted to live it to the
full.”

Several of her colleagues contributed to a commemorative

article published in The Hindustan Times on September 17,
1981. They concluded their article with these words:

“It is a cruel reminder of the fact that there is a deadline

for everyone.”

How strange it is that the flame of life should suddenly be

extinguished, a laughing face suddenly grow still to be buried
beneath the earth; how strange that a spirit full of hope and
aspirations should be removed from the scene of life, leaving
all its hopes and aspirations behind in the world!

How meaningful life appears to be and how meaningless it is

rendered by its conclusion! How free man appears to be, but
how helpless he is before death! How dear he holds his desires
and ambitions, only for fate to ruthlessly stamp them out!

Remembrance of death would alone be enough to cure man’s

rebellious nature. Peace and harmony on earth can only come
from man learning his limitations, and resigning himself to
them. There is no better way of learning this lesson than by
remembering death.

12
 

The Beginning, Not the End

O n July 18, 1981, a railway guard by the name of Jabir Husain

set off on his very last official journey on the railways.
On the following day, his long period of service would be over.
It was with a great sense of pleasurable anticipation that he
contemplated the life of retirement which now stretched out
before him–a life of ease with the freedom to do exactly as he
pleased. As he was setting off on this last journey, he said with
great satisfaction to his colleagues, “From tomorrow I shall be
starting out on a new life!” Prophetic words, for this journey
was to be his last in more senses than one. The express train on
which he was travelling was a mere sixty kilometers away from
its destination when it collided with a goods train and Jabir
Husain was killed outright. A railway officer, commenting
on this irony of fate said, “Just another sixty kilometers and
it would have been the end of his official journey.” (Indian
Express, 18 July 1981).
Who does not picture to himself a long and eventful life?
Everyone thinks that he will reach some great and interesting
turning point in his life in just “another sixty kilometers”. But
before the sixty-kilometer mark can be reached, the angels of
death swoop down upon him, and catching him unaware, bear
him off to another world. Everyone is constantly making plans
for the life he will lead tomorrow, but it is only when death
strikes with lightning speed that he quite finally understands

13
 The Final Journey

that his ‘tomorrow’ will be–not in this world–but in the next,

eternal world. Where he had believed implicitly that he was
nearing the end of some agreeable terrestrial journey and
approaching some highly coveted goal, he was, in fact, upon
the brink of eternity–at the beginning of things, not the end.

The End of Life’s Journey

O ne fateful day in April, 1981, when a Delhi-bound train

from Allahabad stopped at Ghaziabad, it was discovered
to the consternation of the passengers that one of their
number had suffered a massive heart attack and had died right
there in the train before medical aid could reach him. No
ordinary passenger, it transpired that he was Mustafa Rasheed
Sherwani, the noted industrialist and Member of Parliament,
also formerly a famous freedom fighter. He was only 59 and in
his prime. But this had not mattered. The time had come for
God to take him away and take him away He did.

Such events are commonplace. Everyday large masses of

humanity enter the gates of death. Every day, tens of thousands
of ordinary human beings set off for their worldly destinations
but are seized by God’s angels on the way. It makes no difference
whether they are in their prime, at the peak of their careers or
are doing yeoman service to humanity; their earthly journey is
cut short, and they are ushered into their final abode.
We all dream of scaling unprecedented heights of honour and
glory and build ourselves palatial houses as worldly symbols of

14
 Beyond Death

our status in which we intend to enjoy a life of ease, comfort

and pleasure. These are the material ends to which all of us
strive. But sooner or later comes the realization that what
really awaits us is the grave. It is a cold and desolate prospect,
and very far removed from our dreams of the immediate
future. But we should not think of the grave as being the end
of everything. It is certainly the end of our material existence,
the reduction of our successes to so much dust, but it marks
the stepping-off point for us into eternity. For those who have
laboured only towards material ends, this is the most terrible
prospect. For it can mean eternal damnation. But for those
who have prepared themselves throughout their lives to meet
their Maker, the prospect is one of eternal joy.

Every day God is carrying some “passengers bound for Delhi”

to the grave. But who pays any heed? People are still convinced
that they “are going to Delhi” and that while the grave may
be the ultimate destination for others, they themselves are
somehow privileged and it is not so for them.

When will the realization come to them that the grave is the
ultimate destination of all?

Beyond Death

L ouis XI (1423-1483), the king of France, ruled the country

from 1461 to 1483. His reign had been a long one, but
death was the last word that he would allow to be uttered
in his presence. He did not want to die. During the last days

15
 The Final Journey

of his life he went in seclusion in an enclosed fort where

only selected people could enter. Around the fort was dug a
deep trench so that no one could gain access to it. All of the
twenty-four hours, forty archers remained on duty, over and
above which forty horsemen patrolled the fort night and day.
Whoever was seen making any unauthorized effort to enter
the fort was arrested and executed on the spot. All kinds of
luxuries were provided inside the fort so that the king never
became melancholy.

Louis XI was so eager to live as long as possible that he had

given orders that the word ‘death’ should never be uttered
before him. An expert doctor attended him day and night.
This doctor drew a monthly salary of 10,000 gold crowns. In
those days in Europe no military officer earned such a salary
even with forty years’ experience to his credit.

However, none of these precautions saved the king from

weakness and old age. During his final days, he became so
weak that he could hardly pick up his food and put it in his
mouth by himself. But his will to live was indomitable. When
he was told that tortoises lived for 500 years due to their
possessing some life-giving properties, he dispatched three
ships to Germany and Italy to bring them for him in huge
quantities. These tortoises were then kept in a big pond near
him so that they might pass on the gift of life to him.

Finally, paralysis attacked him on 30 August 1483; death at last

conquered him. The last words uttered by him were: “I am not
as ill as you people suppose.”

All his efforts went in vain. Finally the king of France had
learnt that no one could conquer death.

16
 From Affluence to Ashes

G hanshyam Das Birla (1894-1983) was the greatest

industrial magnate of modern India. He led an extremely
principled life, which was the secret of his success. Starting
his career with paltry resources at the age of twelve, he
reached such a height of success that his family now has wider
commercial interests than any other single family in India.

Mr. Birla would always rise at five in the morning, and remain
engrossed in his work until 9 p.m. He led a very simple life,
often cooking his own meals. He drank coffee instead of
liquor and would take nothing but water in between meals.
Whether in India or abroad, he never missed his morning
walk. On June 11, 1983 when he was in London, he went out
after breakfast for a walk in Regent Street. After a while he
felt some discomfort and informed his aides. Alarmed, they
brought him back home immediately. No sooner had he
reached home than he collapsed. He was taken to London’s
Middlesex Hospital, where he regained consciousness for a
while. “What is wrong with me, Doctor?” he enquired. The
doctors told him that they would be able to say within five
minutes after a check-up. But he died before the doctors
could complete their examination. It was Mr. Birla’s wish that
his last rites should be performed at the place of his death.
Accordingly, he was cremated at an electric crematorium in
London, and his ashes were brought to India to be scattered
in the rivers of his homeland.

17
 The Final Journey

Mr. Birla wrote many books. The Hindi title of one of them
is ‘Rupaye Ki Kahani’ (‘Money Story’). Mr. Birla’s ‘money-story’
became a story of ashes in the end.

So it is with everyone in this world. Everyone is busy recording

his success story, ignorant of the fact that what awaits him at
the end of his life’s journey is nothing but total destruction.

When the Journey Ends

A fter a long journey, the express train was approaching

its destination. The view from the train indicated that
the final station was near. Hundreds of passengers were filled
with new life. Some were fastening their bedding; some were
changing clothes; some were just peering expectantly out of the
window. All were excited, eagerly awaiting their journey’s end.

Suddenly, there was a violent thud. The express had collided

with a train waiting in the yard. One can easily imagine
what happened then: happiness suddenly turned to grief,
and vibrant lives were faced with violent death; hope was
transformed into despair. A story, which seemed to be heading
for a happy ending, became a tragedy at the final moment.

So it is with life. Man strives to make himself comfortable in

this world, to see his ambitions fulfilled and his life a successful
one. But death comes just as his dreams are nearing completion.
He leaves his lavish mansion for the desolation of the grave, his
glistening body to be devoured by earth and worms. His life’s

18
 Door, Not Grave

labour vanishes without trace as if there was no connection

between him and all that he had strived for on earth.

Visions of greatness had occupied his mind, but he is forced

to enter the grave, and from there proceed to God’s court
of justice. This world is quite different from the one he had
sought to construct for himself on earth. Here he is destitute,
without money to fulfiIl his needs or clothes to hide his body.
All his worldly earnings come to nothing. His friends desert
him. He is left powerless, with nothing that he had depended
on in the world to help him.

Just as life’s journey is nearing completion, it is struck by

disaster. What a tragic outcome to such a long, arduous
journey!

Door, Not Grave

I was given this news: “Hafizji’s son died. The funeral prayer
is about to be held. I have come to call you.”
Hearing this, I closed my book, and, after making my
ablutions, I set off with him.
When I reached the graveyard, I found a few other people
standing there. I counted them—they were 17 people, young
and old, including people from the family of the deceased. I
remembered an incident from a month ago, when a relative
of Sheikh Fazl Ali had died and his body had been brought to
this same graveyard and had been buried in a special part of it.

19
 The Final Journey

That day, there had been so many people that it was difficult
to count them all. It was as if the entire Muslim population of
the locality had gathered there.
A few minutes after I got there, the Imam, the prayer-leader,
of the locality stood up to lead the funeral prayer. I also stood
in line with the others and made the intention of praying. The
Imam read the prayer so fast that I could not read even a dua
or supplication fully. I heard the phrase ‘Allahu Akbar!’ (God
is Great!) being uttered rapidly, and shortly after, the Imam
finished the prayer. People put on their shoes and got up to
go, in such a way as if they had completed a formality in the
name of attending a funeral prayer.

The grave was close by. I went towards it. When I got there,
I found that it was still being dug. A few people stood around
in small groups. Some were relating stories of communal
oppression. Someone complained about the severity of the
weather. Someone else offered his knowledge about the prices
of things in the market. In other words, people were talking
about this and that.

I stood by the grave, silently. My mind was churning with

verses from the Quran and Hadith reports that talk about the
Day of Judgment, Heaven, Hell and so on. It seemed as if this
grave was an open door that I was standing in front of, and
that, through it, I was witnessing the sights of the other world
through my own eyes. My heart turned restless, and I uttered
these words:

The real problem of Life is not the one in which people are
entangled. Rather, the real problem is the one that will appear
after Death. If only people knew what this person in the grave
is facing! He has left this makeshift world and is heading
towards the real world. This grave that is being dug before us

20
 Over the Edge

is not really a grave, but, rather, a door that has been opened
for him to enter the other world. Passing through this door, he
will cross over to the other side.

Whenever someone dies, it is a special moment. It is as if at

that moment, the door leading out to the other world, which is
hidden from us, is opened for a short while. If you possess eyes
that can truly see, you can clearly view through this opened
door this other world where all of us, one day or the other, have
to go to. But the sights of the present world have so bedazzled
people that even when they stand before this opened door,
they see nothing of what is on the other side. Even though they
stand so close to Reality, they remain totally unaware of it.

Over the Edge

“A thoroughbred professional and a dashing, innovative

manager with fire in his belly and ideas in his mind–an
astute general.” It was in such glowing terms that an official
journal described Mr. P. V. Venkatashawaran, the chief
marketing engineer of a certain government organization.

On May 29, 1982, an important meeting was held on the eighth

floor of the Gopala Tower building. Mr. Venkatashawaran
had obviously displayed those natural talents for which he
had been so justly praised, for when the meeting was over,
he emerged, flushed with the success of the decisions he had
pushed through, and, talking with great enthusiasm to his
colleagues, began walking briskly towards the gates of the

21
 The Final Journey

lift. These being open and his mind still being on the happy
turn of events at the meeting, he stepped over the threshold
of the lift without noticing that there was no lift there. He
stepped straight into the empty lift shaft—the lift was still
at the ninth floor—he fell down eight storeys and was killed
instantaneously. The irony of it was that his personal doctor
had been with him at the time, but there was absolutely
nothing that the doctor–or anyone else–could do for him,
except declare him dead.

At the age of 51, and, at a moment where his career had

seemed at its brightest, his life had been snuffed out without
warning—a unique and poignant tragedy, that is, in terms of
everyday life. But from the point of view of the hereafter,
the manner of dying, although extraordinary and horrifying,
is irrelevant; for death, its point in time, its circumstances,
accidental or otherwise, are all dependent upon God’s will.
What is all-important in the afterlife is the virtue of one’s
actions throughout one’s life in this world.

Everyone, confident of his own wisdom and the worldly success

it brings, walks straight ahead, fearlessly, paying scant attention
to the fact that at any moment he may plunge headlong to
his doom. Oppressing the weak and innocent, hurling insults,
indulging in corrupt practices, scorning the failures of others,
arguing on false premises, all such reprehensible acts can plunge
man into the yawning abyss of destruction–just like stepping
into an empty lift shaft on the eighth floor.

Neither friends, nor any of the material attributes of his

worldly successes–and certainly not wishful thinking–will
save him at that particular juncture.

There is no one in this world who is not on the brink of that lift
shaft. This is a point which is little understood: all are convinced

22
 The Vanity of Human Wishes

that they are standing on such firm ground that there is no

power in heaven or earth which will dare to touch them.

But, at any moment, at any second, they may find themselves

toppling right over the edge.

The Vanity of Human Wishes

D r. Uttam Parkash, head of the department of Surgery

at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New
Delhi, so excelled in his field that he was awarded the coveted
title of Padma Bhushan.

This distinction, however, was not enough to satisfy his

ambitions. On the 17th of February 1982, he was to preside over
an International Congress on Surgery, the success of which
would give an even greater impetus to his career. He took
special pains with all of the arrangements, even managing to
persuade President Sanjiva Reddy to inaugurate the function.
But, at the eleventh hour, when he was congratulating himself
that the arrangements were now perfect, a message came from
the Rashtrapati Bhavan Secretariat saying, that the President
could grace the occasion only if the Health Minister were also
present. It was a matter of strict protocol. The situation now
became extremely awkward, because the Health Minister had
not originally been included, and his name did not appear on
any of the programmes. But it now being absolutely essential
to invite him, Dr. Parkash began to make Herculean efforts
to make sure that he would not decline the invitation out of

23
 The Final Journey

pique. But it was all to no avail. The Minister did, indeed,

consider it beneath his dignity to accept an invitation which
had been sent to him at the very last minute, and he refused
to participate in the function. This was a great shock to Dr.
Parkash, and obviously more than he could bear, for three days
before the inauguration, on 14th February, he succumbed to a
massive heart attack. He was just 54 years of age. A Hindustan
Times reporter very aptly described him as “the most worried
man in town before he took the long road.” (Hindustan Times,
February 1, 1982)

Today people find it beyond them to put up with even the

slightest indignity. But what will their fate be in the next world
when they are hungry and thirsty and there is no food to allay
the pangs of hunger, and no water to slake their thirst? What
will they do in the blazing heat when there is no shade to
retreat to? How will they endure the terrible, engulfing wrath
of God when there is no one at all who can save them? If a man
is unable to bear being hurt by so much as a pebble today, will
he be able to bear a mountain of suffering tomorrow?

A Happy Ending to
the Tragedy of Life

C alcutta was initially the capital of British India. In 1911,

King George V announced the transfer of the capital to
Delhi. The British architect, Sir Edwin Luytens (1864-1944)
was commissioned to design the new capital. Construction

24
 A Happy Ending to the Tragedy of Life

work commenced in 1913, and eventually the magnificent city

of New Delhi came into existence.

This was a time when the whole world was being swept by a
new political wave: nationalism. Progressive trends in political
thought had rendered the colonial system of government
untenable. The freedom movement in India was fast gaining
momentum. It was apparent that British rule in India would
not survive for long. The completion of New Delhi thus
coincided with the decline of the British Raj.

After the construction of New Delhi, a French political leader

visited India. When he saw the glittering palaces and spacious
mansions of the new capital of British India, he expressed his
reaction in the following words: “What a magnificent world
they built to leave.”

This is not only true of the British in India: it is true of all

of us in this world. We come into this world full of desires
and aspirations. We exert all our efforts on constructing a
“magnificent world” for ourselves on earth. Then, just as our
dream world begins to take shape, the angel of death visits
us and takes us away from the world we have worked hard to
construct for ourselves. We are then taken to what Arthur
Koestler called an “unknown country.”

Life is a tragic story indeed if that is all there is to it. But

this world, like everything else in the universe, can only be
complete with its counterpart. The counterpart of this world
is the hereafter. For those who have forgotten the next world,
this life is certainly just a tragedy; but for those who look
forward to the life to come, and build for the hereafter in the
present life, this world will become an invaluable step towards
a new, more successful existence in the next world.

25
 The Final Journey

Life is a tragedy when seen without the hereafter. This tragedy

can only be given a happy ending with addition of the life to
come.

Death’s Lesson

A criminal was told that the court had passed a sentence

against him and that he was to be hanged the next day.
When he learned about what was going to happen to him the
next day, it was as if he had already been hanged. Life, for him,
suddenly became totally valueless. He stopped laughing and
even speaking. He was drained of all his strength. He could
not even move his hands or feet.
Death informs us that this is what is going to happen to all
of us. Every person who appears to be alive today is going to
be taken to the ‘gallows’ to be ‘hanged’ tomorrow. Yet, no one
wants to think about this at all. Everyone is engrossed in his
today. No one thinks of his tomorrow, when death will strike.
Here, every person is a ‘criminal’, and very few know this.
We move about, see, talk, hear and so on. We spend our lives
engrossed in material pursuits and in relationships with others.
Then, suddenly, something really strange happens. Without
our being asked, death overtakes us. Our feet stop walking.
Our eyes lose their sight. We are separated from everything
we possess and enter into the solitude of the grave.

Death indicates to us our reality. It tells us that we are moving

from a situation where, in this world, we think we have control

26
 The Greatest Teacher: Death

over things, to another situation, in another world, where we

will have no control over anything at all. It tells us that we are
moving from light to darkness, from everything to nothing.
Before death, humans are in a world where they think they are
the masters of their destiny. But after death, they are taken to
a world where they are compelled to accept being completely
subordinated to Someone Else.

If you keep this reality in mind, your life will be totally

transformed. It will make you realize, for instance, how absurd
it is to trouble others, because you will have to answer for it
after death, when you yourself will be under Someone Else’s
control. It will make you ashamed of thinking yourself to be
superior to others, because you will realize that the superiority
that will one day be taken away from you is absolutely unreal.

The Greatest Teacher: Death

O nce when Julius Caesar had occasion to pass by a statue

of Alexander the Great in Spain, he paused to gaze upon
it and, tears coming into his eyes, he said, “In the whole of my
life I have not been able to achieve even one tenth of the feats
performed by Alexander in the space of a single decade.”

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), the son of the Greek King
Philip, conquered the greater part of the known world of his
time in a mere ten years. Taking up a project entertained by his
father, Alexander decided to attack the huge Persian Empire,
marched in 334 BC into Asia Minor and quickly subjugated

27
 The Final Journey

the cities in that region. He then conquered with comparative

ease Phoenicia and Syria, and although he met with serious
resistance at Tyre, he overcame this with the help of a fleet
and the city was destroyed. Next, he went to Egypt, which
submitted to him without a struggle. To this day the city of
Alexandria, which he founded, still exists as a monument to
his victory in Egypt. Setting out on a further career of victory,
he passed through Syria into Persia (now Iran) and marched
up the valley of the Tigris through Mesopotamia (now Iraq).
He captured Susa, Persepolis, Ecbatana and other Persian
cities with their treasures and advanced as far as the Caspian
Sea. The barbarian tribes dwelling on the coast of this sea
were promptly brought under his rule. Alexander did not
tolerate opposition, always pursuing a policy of nipping it in
the bud. The new empire was organized, into provinces, each
keeping its own traditions and institutions. About this time,
he crushed a rising led by Bessus, the successor of Darus. He
next entered India, crossing the Indus near Attock in 326 BC
and winning a great victory. After some further conquests, he
returned through Baluchistan to Persepolis, then set himself
to organize the great empire he had conquered.

Alexander was a great administrator as well as a great soldier

and spread the influence of Greece throughout the empire
he had won. But what did fate have in store for him? In the
midst of this tremendous task and while planning a fresh
expedition into Arabia, he died in the ancient city of Babylon–
as defenseless in the face of death as any poor man in his
miserable hut. Although he started out on a career of conquest
that has few, if any, parallels in world history, his life was too
short for his empire to be welded together. And his only son
having been killed in battle, none of his acquisitions could be
handed down to a long line of heirs. His vast empire was then
divided up between three military officers, none of whom was

28
 The Gathering Storm

in any way related to him, and there being no further cohesive

or unifying force to hold it together, it was not long before his
hard-won empire had disintegrated.

When death comes, it impresses upon the immediate

beholders of its ravages just how helpless man is before his
Maker. Death strikes all around him, sparing, neither the
high nor the low, yet people who are not directly affected
fail, sadly, to understand its significance. It has a lesson to
teach, but man ignores it. And if he has paid no heed to the
most urgent realities of life, death will certainly leave him no
respite to cogitate upon them at that time, and there will be
no breathing space for him to learn lessons which he should
have learned long before.

Death is the greatest teacher, but man lives out his life as
if there were no such thing awaiting him at the end of life’s
journey.

The Gathering Storm

O n 11th August 1979, a flash flood struck Maurvi in Gujarat,

leaving total devastation in its wake. Due to heavy rain,
the water level rose so high in a huge dam on the bank of
the settlement that the dam broke. In the words of one who
witnessed it, “About 20 feet high walls of water entered the
settlement with such high velocity that no one could escape
from their onslaught. In a few hours’ time, this flood water
having destroyed all animate and inanimate objects receded

29
 The Final Journey

as suddenly as it came.” It is estimated that, out of a total

population of about 40,000, as many as 25,000 died in this
flash flood. The extent of the destruction can be gauged
from the fact that, besides public contributions, the central
government immediately released rupees 5 crore as aid to the
government of Gujarat.

Arun Kumar, a reporter of the Hindustan Times, published an

eye-witness report in which he said that the survivors had a
woeful tale to tell. Still in the grip of the shock and suffering
that the flood had inflicted upon them, “Some have lost their
speech and look absolutely dazed and blank” (19 August 1979).
Another report (20 August 1979) recounts how overjoyed a
ruined landlord was when he was handed over Rs. 18,000 in
cash and gold ornaments weighing 225 grams which had been
restored to him from his house by government officials.

Such events occur frequently on earth to remind man of the

day of judgment. The great flood to herald the end of the
world will overtake us suddenly. The destruction will be such
that people’s tongues will fail them. They will be absolutely
dazed. There will be those who, realizing their eternal doom,
will be struck dumb. But there will also be those who will be
given the good tidings that the encompassing flood of death
and destruction will leave them unscathed. Not only will God
restore to them what is theirs but will shower them with even
greater blessings. The flash flood of that Day will condemn
some to hell fire while it will usher others to the gates of eternal
happiness. Before the “flood”, man could easily find eloquent
excuses to justify his cruel ways. But, on seeing the “flood of
destruction”, all his strength will desert him and he will have
no words to justify the unjust actions that he perpetrated in
the world he has left behind him.

30
 The Great Happening

P rophet Mohammad once asked his companion, Abdullah

Ibn Masood, to read him a part of the Quran. “Me, read
the Quran to you, when unto you it has been revealed?” Ibn
Masood asked. “Yes,” the Prophet answered, “I like to hear
it read by someone else.” So Abdullah Ibn Masood started
reciting Surah Al-Nisa. When he reached this verse, the
Prophet asked him to stop: ‘How will it be when we produce a
witness from every nation and call upon you to testify against
them?’ (The Quran 4: 41). Abdullah Ibn Masood looked at the
Prophet and saw that tears were flowing from both his eyes.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 5050)

What an awesome event the setting up of God’s court of justice

will be! There will be no occasion for contumacy or denial.
Those whom people disregarded in this world, will be the ones
to be brought forward as God’s witnesses; for they were God’s
witnesses on earth, warning mankind of the impending Day
of Judgment. They were thought of as the most insignificant
people on earth, but it will be their testimony that will decide
people’s eternal fate.

Think of the state of those who are loquacious in the world

but find themselves without words on that day; and of those
who wield power and prestige, only to be divested of all traces
of might. Superficial veils will be rent asunder, and those who
feigned false piety will be exposed for the hypocrites they

31
 The Final Journey

were. The tables will indeed turn on that day, when many who
are last in the world will be the first in the sight of God, and
the filth and pollution of what had seemed pure and attractive
will be revealed before the eyes of man. Much that man looks
upon with relish now; he will turn away in horror from then.
People’s real natures are concealed in this world. For some,
attractive words have hidden their inner states and for others,
material splendour. But in the next world these things will
be taken away from man; he will be brought forward in his
real state. What a calamitous day that will be! If one were to
gauge the severity of that day, then one would cease to talk so
ferociously, or be so allured by worldly things; worldly honour
would seem just as meaningless as worldly disgrace.

The Mirage

I would like to narrate an incident of Mr. R.N. Pandey, a

second lieutenant in the Indian Army, when he mistakenly
boarded the Jammu Tawi Express, thinking it was the Utkal
Express. It was only as the train steamed out of the station
that he realized he was on the wrong train. When the train
was nearing Okhla, in desperation he opened the door and
jumped out of the train, which by then was hurtling along at
full speed. He never reached the platform. He fell down under
the train on to the railway track and was cut to pieces by the
wheels. And so, on 12th November 1985, at the promising age
of 35, death came to claim him for its own. (Hindustan Times, 13
November 1985)

32
 Rose-Coloured Spectacles

The successful man who runs a lucrative industry, owns a

palatial mansion, drives where he wills in limousines and
possesses all kinds of status symbols including a circle of
wealthy and elegant friends, has all the things which add upto
success in this world. Yet he is no more immune to misfortune
than Lieutenant Pandey. At any moment his factory can close,
his house can crumble around him, his cars can skid with him
to destruction and his friends can one by one desert him.
Those self and same things which are such glittering symbols
of success can become like so much dross under his feet, and
under whose deadweight he may be buried forever.
As soon as the true nature of material things is laid bare, they
appear no more attractive than tombstones. To all intents
and purposes, material progress leads one to the splendid
mansions of success. But, if we were to face up to the reality,
we would see that it takes us only as far as the graveyard–and
not one step beyond.
The real pleasures are those of the next world, while the
pleasures of this world are only a mirage. The greatest mistake
man can make is to pursue what is superficially attractive in
this world, while neglecting what is to be achieved in the next;
in this way, he will have success in neither.

Rose-Coloured Spectacles

O n 30thMay, 1981, the former president of BangIadesh,

Ziaur Rahman (1936-1981) paid a visit to Chittagong.
That night, as he lay asleep in the official rest house, he was

33
 The Final Journey

attacked and murdered by one of his own officers, Major

General Manzoor. The latter hoped that by eliminating
President Ziaur Rahman, he himself would be able to take
over the reins of the government. But he had made a fatal
miscalculation. With the exception of one loyal Squadron, the
common soldiers did not extend their support to him, and just
two days later, on 2nd June, he was shot dead by his enemies.
General Manzoor met the same fate which is eventually to be
that of all mankind. Some are carried away, when their time has
come, by the angels of death, while others have the misfortune
to meet violent and untimely ends. Death is inevitable, but no
one learns a lesson from this. No ‘General Manzoor’ thinks
that after having done away with his enemy, he too will be done
to death the very next day; that after casting others down into
the pit of death, he will meet an identical fate.
This world is a formidable testing ground. Everyone has been
given a free hand in the sphere allotted to him so that he may
either prove his mettle or reveal himself for the unworthy
person that he actually is. But, sad to say, life is full of cruelty
and irresponsibility. And ironically, those who are the guiltiest
of these lapses are the very ones who complain of others’
misdemeanour. Everyone is a ‘General Manzoor’–engaged in
the annihilation or oppression of others. Everyone wants to
set himself up on the ashes of other men. Everyone wrongly
supposes that by destroying others, he will be able to step
into their shoes. He ignores the fact that what awaits him is
not the high and splendid positions of this world, but his own
dreary grave.

Woe betide those who perpetually see themselves through

rose-colored spectacles, for life will ultimately force them to
look directly at the plain, unvarnished bleakness of their own
moral failures. No one stops to give thought to this aspect of

34
 The Illusion of Freedom

the future, so engrossed is he in the present. Everyone is fully

conversant with what is happening today but is oblivious of
the blows that will fall tomorrow.

What man must finally come to terms with is not the ‘here
and now’ but all eternity.

The Illusion of Freedom

I n December 1983, a severe drought brought the Ivory

Coast’s hydro-electric stations to a standstill. Since they
had supplied ninety-two percent of the country’s electricity,
this meant that sometimes there was no power for as many as
18 hours a day. Computers, electric typewriters, refrigerators
and other gadgets ceased to operate. Diners in luxury hotels
were forced to eat by candlelight, while houses, shops and
offices were lit by lanterns. For fear of being caught in lifts,
many businessmen simply gave up going to their offices. One
commuter be-wailed his lot to a New York Times correspondent:

“For years I had gone from my air-conditioned villa in

my air-conditioned car to my air-conditioned office. I
never realized how hot it really is here.”

All this in a country which at one time had been called

the “Showcase of Africa” because of its glittering array of
residential and commercial centres. It was only when there
was an unprecedented drought that people realized what an
artificial world they had been living in. It was only then that
they realized how disagreeable the reality was.

35
 The Final Journey

The same is true of life in general. Just as the inhabitants of

the Ivory Coast took for granted their electricity supply and
all the comforts it gave them, so do the denizens of this world
take their freedom as a right–and as a right that can never
be terminated. But when they pass beyond the grave, their
composure will suddenly be shattered by the discovery that
their so-called freedom was just an illusion. They will find
that their freedom of action had been given to them as a test
of their worthiness to enter the gates of Paradise. They will
learn, too late, that throughout their lives, God had held them
responsible for every thought, word and deed, and that on the
Final Day they will have to give an account of themselves.

On coming to grips with this reality, they will suffer mental

discomfort a million times more acute than any physical
discomfort suffered on the Ivory Coast due to a power failure.

Just Short of the Summit

Climax and Anti-Climax

A veteran of World War I, Maurice Wilson had always

cherished a dream of standing on “the roof of the world”–
the top of Mount Everest (at 29,028 feet, the highest peak in
the world). His keenness to realize this ambition was so great
that he walked out of a successful family business, spent all
his money on a second-hand aeroplane and flew six thousand
miles from England to India, finally touching down at Purnia
on the borders of Nepal. Having been refused permission

36
 Just Short of the Summit

to proceed beyond this point in his aircraft, he sold it, and

approached the Everest by way of Darjeeling and Tibet.
On the last leg of the journey, he carried with him only a small
tent, some rice, an automatic camera and a few other small items.
He planned to stand on the summit on his 36th birthday, 21st
April 1934, but, when he was just a few days away from making
that birthday the most memorable one ever, he was overtaken
by a violent Himalayan storm and was forced to descend to his
previous base. One year later, the famous Sherpa guide, Tenzing
Norgay, found Wilson’s body and next to it, his diary in which
he had written, “only 13,000 feet more to go. I have the distinct
feeling that I’ll reach the summit on April 21”. He had hoped
that his automatic camera would record his moment of triumph
for posterity. But that moment never came. And no one was ever
able to find out the actual cause of his death.
That was the first serious attempt to conquer Mount Everest,
and it ended in failure. The saga of Maurice Wilson, divested
of its elements of high drama, is, if we could but realize it, the
saga of many of the world’s less illustrious, less daring millions.
There are few of us who do not, in a lower key, strain after
some cherished dream, some gilded ambition, full of thoughts
of the happiness that awaits us at some imagined point in the
future. But death can come at any moment and may forestall
the ripening of well-laid plans. This is an eventuality, which,
in the struggle to achieve an ambition, many of us completely
lose sight of. Yet it is an ever-present reality, for which all of us
must prepare ourselves, sooner or later. We must never lose
our awareness of the fact that our ultimate destination lies
not in the realization of dream, but in the abode which we
finally take up in the afterlife. We shall better be able to come
to terms with the anti-climactic nature of human existence, if
we keep our minds firmly fixed on the notion that the greatest
climax lies beyond the grave.

37
 

The Other Side of Death

T he Greek king Alexander conquered many lands, but when

his time to leave this world arrived, he lamented, ‘I wanted
to conquer the world, but Death has conquered me. I couldn’t
get even that peace that an ordinary man is able to enjoy.’

Napoleon Bonaparte’s last words were on these lines:

“I thought despair was a crime, but today there is none

in the world who is more utterly in despair than me. I
was hungry for two things: power and love. I got the
former, but it did not remain with me. I searched a lot
for love but never found it. If human life is what I got,
then it is absolutely meaningless, because its final result
is nothing but despair and destruction.”

The Caliph Harun al-Rashid was the ruler of a vast dominion.

At the end of his life, he commented:

“For my whole life, I tried to run away from my sorrow,

but, yet, that sorrow still remained. I have led a life of
great sorrow and worry. Not a single day of my life
have I spent without worrying. Now, I am at the verge
of death. Very soon, my grave will eat up my body.”

This is what is going to finally happen to every human being.

Yet, every one of us is oblivious to this. When the time came
for the Abbasid Caliph Mansoor to die, he rued:

38
 The Other Side of Death

“If I had stayed alive a few days more, I would have

destroyed this rulership that has repeatedly taken me
away from truth. The truth is that one act of goodness
is better than the whole of rulership. But I realized this
only when Death took me in its grip.”

Most people who are conventionally thought of as ‘successful’

in this world, have died feeling that they were the most
unsuccessful of all. If whatever happens to a man when he
nears death happened before, his life would have been totally
transformed. Whenever anyone stands near death, the
dazzling delights of the world, which he was so taken up with
that he had no time for anything else, appear to him as even
more unreal than a heap of ashes. Behind him is a world that
he has lost and has left forever, while in front of him is a world
for which he has made no preparations at all.

There is absolutely no use remembering death only when it

is about to overtake you. The time for remembering death is
before this, when you are capable of doing evil and trying to
legitimize it as good. But people are not willing to think about
death then. At that time, they will do everything to satisfy
their egos that they ought not to do. But when they lose all
their strength and when they realize that they are in the grips
of the unrelenting Angel of Death, they finally remember their
mistakes. But the time for such remembrance is not while
facing death, but, rather, it is when they are making those
mistakes and are not ready to listen to anyone’s counsel.

39
 Five Seconds to Go

O nce when I was on a visit to Meerut, I went for a stroll

one evening with my host, Maulana Shakeel Ahmed
Qasmi. We were walking along the Sadar Baazaar, when, all
of a sudden, the whole front of a house just a few yards ahead
of us, collapsed without warning, blocking the entire width of
the street with debris.

We were hardly five seconds away from the scene of this

tragic accident. Had we been five seconds faster, or had the
house caved in five seconds earlier, there was no way that
we could have escaped the accident. Our deaths would have
been instantaneous. While we happily imagined that our final
destination lay far ahead, our journey would have been cut
short in the middle.

It occurred to me at that time that man is separated from

death by a mere five seconds. At any point in time there is the
chance that man will make this five-second journey–and find
himself in another world.
If only man could quite finally grasp the enormity of the fact
that the distance between him, at any given point in his life,
and death, could be so infinitesimally short, he would undergo
the most amazing metamorphosis; he would continue to live
in this world, but his thoughts would then become firmly
focused on the life to come. If man could appreciate that
he is standing on death’s doorstep, he would then leave the

40
 A Strange Deprivation

strongest of incentives to lead an upright life, for he should

then have to come to grips with the fact that, immediately
after death, he would, in the words of the Prophet, either
enter the garden of paradise or plunge into the pit of fire.
Each step that man takes in this world leads him relentlessly
towards one of the two extremes. But man has become so
insensitive to this reality that he seldom sees fit to give it any
serious consideration.
People put their trust in false ideals, and worship them as
if they were holy, but in the life hereafter, only the humble
reverence that man has for God in this life can be of any avail
in his final salvation. True worship means fearing God in such
a manner that He comes to dominate one’s thoughts entirely.
He becomes the supreme force in and monitor of all one’s
affairs. Whatever is done then is for the sake of God, for the
love of God, out of fear of God, and for no other. In short,
man’s total concern becomes for life in the world to come.
Given such concern, life’s mundane affairs should pale into
insignificance.

A Strange Deprivation

I f you give a one rupee coin to someone and tell him that
somewhere ahead there is a heap of ten million such coins
and that if he runs quickly he can obtain all that money, what
do you think he will do with the one rupee coin that you have
given him? He will forget about it and run after the ten million
rupees!

41
 The Final Journey

The issue of this world and the Hereafter is somewhat similar.

This world is an introduction to the Hereafter. Here, people
obtain an initial recognition of those blessings and joys that
God has arranged for in their full form in the Hereafter. This
is in order that man can understand the whole from the part,
that he can gauge the ocean from a drop.

If someone truly realizes what this world is, for him it will
seem like the one-rupee coin mentioned above. He will
leave aside this small joy and rush after the much bigger one.
Forgetting this world, he will run towards the Hereafter. On
the other hand, someone who does not understand the true
nature of this world will take it to be everything. Forgetting
the Hereafter, he will remain completely drowned in the
things of this world.

The sun exists in order to introduce to man the life of the

Hereafter that is filled with light. But on seeing the sun, man
starts taking the sun itself for a deity. The beauty of flowers
and trees is in order to convey to people the beauty of the
Hereafter. But man takes them to be the ultimate things and
wants to create a paradise for himself amidst them, here in this
world. The delights of this world exist in order to make people
desire the joys of the Hereafter. But man so loses himself in
these worldly joys that he forgets the Hereafter.

A person who loses himself in the deceptive pleasures of this

world, has lost his Hereafter. When he will reach the Hereafter
and see its eternal joys, his heart will turn into a graveyard of
regret. How foolish he was, he would tell himself, that for the
sake of false comforts, he lost all the real comforts; that for
the sake of false joys, he lost all the real joys; and how, being
deceived by false freedom, he caused himself to be deprived
of true freedom.

42
 The Eternal Journey

M aulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (1859-1943) was on his way to

Azamgarh by train. A railway guard, who was a disciple of
his, came to meet him at a station. Just then a villager appeared
and presented the Maulana with a bundle of sugarcane. The gift
was accepted, and the Maulana asked one of his companions
to have it weighed, and book it in the luggage compartment.
“There is no need to have it booked,” the guard volunteered;
“I’ll speak to the guard on this train. He will look after it.”
“But the guard will only accompany this train,” the Maulana
replied, “And I am going on further.” The guard thought that
Maulana Thanawi would be changing trains at some station.
“Never mind,” he said. “I will tell the guard to inform the guard
on the next train. You won’t have to bother about it.” “But I
am going on still further,” the Maulana repeated. Astonished,
the guard asked: “Where are you going? You told me a moment
ago you were going to Azamgarh.” Maulana Thanawi remained
silent for a moment or two, and then replied: “I am going on to
eternity. Which guard will accompany me there?”
The same is true, not only of rail journeys, but of all matters in
life. Every affair should be looked at in its eternal context. A
“guard” may give someone temporary support in this world, but
when he reaches the next world, there will be no one to lend a
helping hand. If he keeps in mind that he is on the way to the
hereafter, then he will consider everything which will become

43
 The Final Journey

worthless there as being worthless now, no matter how great a

worldly price it may seem to command. He will give weight only
to those things which will be of consequence in the next world,
no matter how inconsequential they may seem in this world.

In this world, a person may have command of impressive

words which he uses to defy the truth; but in the next world
he will find himself lost for words. He may wield his power
unjustly, being content that his victims will never be able to
avenge his wrongs; but in the next world he will be divested
of all power. Beguiled by wealth, he may become proud in this
world, but in the next world he will have nothing to be proud
of; he will have left his wealth behind in this world.

This is the basic difference between a man of true faith and

a disbeliever. A disbeliever lives on earth as if he is going to
stay here forever, while the hallmark of true faith is the belief
that one is on the way to the next world. Basically, then, the
distinction between belief and disbelief is a psychological
one; but these two different attitudes to life make for vastly
different practical lives–so different, in fact, that one leads to
hell, while the other paves the way to the gardens of paradise.

Showing One’s Mettle

A n elderly couple, B.K. Rama Reddy aged 90, and his

wife, Phula Bai aged 80, were sleeping peacefully in their
home at Banjara Hills, Hyderabad on 21st September, 1981,
when they were ruthlessly attacked and killed by their fifty-

44
 Showing One’s Mettle

year-old servant, Ramaya. Now master of the house, he broke

open their boxes and stole jewels worth about rupees one
lakh, then escaped into the darkness.
As he went furtively on his way, he passed by two policemen on
night duty. Sensing something suspicious in his movements,
they detained him for interrogation. On being threatened
with dire consequences, he broke down and confessed to his
crime, handing over the stolen goods to the two policemen,
Sheikh Mahboob and Sheikh Rasheed. They then took him
and his entire loot to the police station.
The police officers on duty greatly appreciated the honesty
of these two policemen who could so easily have felt tempted
to enrich themselves, in such a situation. In addition to giving
them a cash reward, they also had them promoted, Sheikh
Mahboob becoming Station Officer and Sheikh Rasheed
becoming Head Constable.
How opposite were the implications for different people
involved in a single event! Virtue was rewarded and crime was
punished. But there is nothing accidental in the one event
simultaneously giving rise to such different consequences:
such events are the divine instruments by which God puts
different individuals to the test. Where one man would bring
discredit upon himself, another man would cover himself in
glory. In each case, the individual concerned would reveal
himself in his true colours. Where Sheikh Mahboob and
Sheikh Rasheed evinced the sterling qualities of strict honesty
and dedication to duty, Ramaya revealed himself for the base,
unprincipled scoundrel that he was, and was rightly sentenced
to life imprisonment. The world is like a divine stage where
human beings are given the opportunity by God to reveal their
true natures. Human caliber can be discerned all too clearly
from the way people respond to different types of situations.

45
 The Final Journey

Yet it should be borne in mind that man has no intrinsic power.

No one can, by himself, give anything to anyone, nor can he
deprive anyone of anything. All human acts take place according
to the will of God. Man exists in this world to be tested, and
the test is as much concerned with his intentions as it is with
his actions and their outcomes, for man can only desire that an
event should take place and strive to cause things to happen in
the way be wishes, but if God wills otherwise, there is no way
that man can see his wishes come true. Ramaya might well have
escaped under the cover of darkness and enjoyed the fruits of
his hideous crime, but he had failed the supreme test and God
willed that his punishment should be immediate.

He Is Listening

M any years ago, in 1982, the Times of India published a

report titled ‘Careful, Uncle Sam May be Listening’.
It was about a book by a former officer in the NSA, the
American secret service agency. The name of the book was
The Puzzle Palace.
The book contains some very interesting anecdotes and
information. It relates that the number of telephone calls
and telex and telegram messages (this was before the age
when email became popular) sent every day from America is
enormous. These messages are first received by what is called
an Earth Station. From there, they are sent to a satellite, which
revolves around the earth at a height of some 2300 miles. This
entire process is over within less than a second!

46
 The Day of Judgement

This means that every such message that is sent out from
America or that enters America from elsewhere, reaches
an American government agency before it gets to the
intended recipient. If you were to make a telephone call from
Washington to someone in Delhi, an American government
agency would hear your words even before your friend in
Delhi could! And so, if the American secret service agencies
want to intercept the messages someone is getting, all they
need to do is to supply that person’s number to the office of
the Earth Station, where all the telephonic conversations and
messages of the person are being automatically recorded.

Developments like these are signs of God. They happen so

that people can learn how to control their tongue and use it in
a controlled way. If someone says something wrong or bad to
someone else, he imagines that he is speaking to just one person.

But he should know that even before what he says reaches the
person he is addressing, it has already reached God.

This story should serve to alert us that we ought to be careful

and aware, for God is listening to each and every word that
we utter.

The Day of Judgement

T here was a headline in the Bangalore edition of The Indian

Express (September 9, 1983), which read: GLITTER IS
NOT GOLD.

47
 The Final Journey

The story was about Miss Sybil D’Silva, who lives in Artillery
Road, Bangalore. She was visited in her home by a woman
aged about 35, holding a child of about six months in her arms.
She told Miss D’Silva that her husband was seriously ill, and
that she needed rupees 5000 urgently for his treatment. ‘’I
am not begging from you,” she said, taking a golden necklace
out of her pocket. “All I want to do is sell this golden necklace.
Dear as it is to me, my husband’s health is dearer. It would
sell for rupees 10,000 in the market. But, because I need the
money, I will give it to you for just 5000.”

Miss D’Silva said she was not interested, but the woman
kept pleading the desperateness of her case. Eventually, she
persuaded Miss D’Silva to give her the money, and buy the
necklace.

Next day, Miss D’Silva took the necklace to a goldsmith on

Bangalore’s Commercial Street. He tested it on his touchstone.
After examination, its reality came to light. Recounting her
story to the Bangalore police, Miss D’Silva said: “He told me
it was brass.”

So will it be in the next world. In this world, everyone is

delighted with his deeds; everyone thinks of what he has done
as gold. But gold is only real when it is shown to be such on
the goldsmith’s touchstone. In the next world, God will judge
everybody’s actions on His own touchstone.

The value of gold will only be attached to those actions which

are proved to be made of gold when put on God’s touchstone.
If one’s ‘golden actions’ turn out to be made of brass, then
they will only mean disgrace and doom. Actions which people
attach so much value to that they are never ready to forsake
them; they will seek to be rid of these very actions. They will
disown that which was dearest to them in the world. But

48
 O Man!

on that day, there will be no disownment. That which they

were proud of in the world will cause them only disgrace and
humiliation when they come before God.

O Man!

A round a dozen eggs were kept on the table. They all

seemed okay. But when they were broken, one after the
other, they all turned out to be rotten! Not one of them was
good, even though they all looked fine from the outside.

The same is happening with people these days. Externally,

everyone seems to be a ‘decent’ human being. They wear good
clothes. They speak wonderful things. They all have a long list
of stories of their doings that they love narrating. But if you
really experience them, you will discover that from the inside,
they are actually very different. They are beautiful from the
outside and not quite so from the inside.

When a difficult situation arises, when there’s a question

of a business transaction, when there’s some complaint or
bitterness, when it is a matter of someone’s interests being
hurt, and so on—on such occasions one discovers that a
person’s inner reality is not the same as what appears from the
outside. Ugliness is hidden under a beautiful garb. Selfishness,
superficiality, show, pride, jealousy, opportunism, prejudice,
exploitation—all these are hidden under people’s exteriors.
Everyone seems like a ‘good egg’, but the reality is very
different if you break the ‘egg’ and see things for yourself.

49
 The Final Journey

This is how the world is today. If you deeply examine things,

you will hear either the sadistic laughter of the oppressor or
the pathetic cries of the oppressed. You will see people driven
by the most terrible impulses to fulfill their selfish desires in a
state of total unawareness and insensitivity.
But this is not going to remain forever. Very soon, the time will
come when man will find himself in another world, a world
where the power to make decisions will be God’s and not man’s.

The Virtue of Mercy

T he famous hunter, Jim Corbett, was particularly interested

in shooting tigers. To justify this cruel act, he had an
explanation ready: “I hunt tigers to protect my townsmen
from man-eaters.” Most hunters find some justification or the
other for the cruelty of their acts. But some, like Colonel Jaipal,
whose memoirs, “The Great Hunt”, were published by Carlton
Press, New York in 1982, see no need to justify themselves.
Colonel Jaipal freely admits what others fight shy of. He makes
no bones about the fact that killing crocodiles gave him an
intense pleasure. He would creep up on these creatures, fire at
them and watch exultantly as they fled into the water where
they writhed in pain, beating their tails grotesquely, and jaws
agape, gasped for breath. All this gave him “quite a lot of thrills.”
It is perhaps intrinsic to the human mind to want to go after
others, to make plans to trouble them. And when people
succeed in these plans, they revel in what they think is their

50
 These Sleepers!

‘success’. But little do they realize that in the Hereafter they

shall be held accountable for their deeds. In contrast, someone
who controls this urge and lives in the world in such a way
that he becomes a source of mercy for others will find that
the doors of Heaven will be opened to him in the Hereafter.
We have to root out the evils of callousness and cruelty within
ourselves to prove ourselves eligible of entering the gates of
paradise.

These Sleepers!

I n a tradition Prophet Muhammad wondered: “That those

who should be running away from hell are sleeping and
those who should be striving to attain such a precious thing as
Paradise are sleeping.” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 2601)

The punishment of Hell will be terrifying, yet man remains

oblivious of this. The blessings of Paradise will be utterly
delightful, yet man does not show any interest in them.

This, without doubt, is the strangest thing in the world.

People are fast asleep, only to wake up when the sparks

flying out of the fires of Hell make further sleep impossible.
People are oblivious of what is going to happen on the Day
of Judgment, only to be shaken awake when devastation will
strike them, and they cannot escape from it.

Everyone seems to be unconscious. Every person is so

completely lost in his own self that it is as if there is no power

51
 The Final Journey

that is superior to him, although death daily announces

that everyone must face a reality someday that nothing can
counter. Truly, man is totally dependent, although he imagines
himself to be immensely powerful.

People make promises but promptly forget them. They

neglect to fulfill others’ rights. They decline to acknowledge
the Truth when it appears in front of them. They constantly
blame others while refusing to recognize their own mistakes.
They ignore the ‘small’ and flatter the ‘big’. They subordinate
their life to their desires, rather than to principles. They are
crushed by those more powerful than themselves, and, in
turn, they oppress the weak. They make themselves, instead
of God, the centre of their concerns and attention. Instead of
living in the desire for heaven and the fear of Hell, they live in
the desire and fear of this world.

Doing all this, man forgets that he is leading himself closer to

Hell and that he is proving himself unfit for Paradise.

Man has no interest in what should be for him the matter of

greatest interest. He is the least fearful of what he should be
most fearful of!

What Will Happen That Day?

G od is the Lord of everything. Whatever anyone receives

is given by God. No one but God has anything to give to
anybody. And so, if someone were to snatch away something

52
 What Will Happen That Day?

from somebody else that the latter has legitimately acquired,

it is, as it were, snatching something given by God. By doing
so, that person tries to go against God’s plan.

Suppose someone gets a house, and some other people plot to

make him houseless. He has a legitimate source of livelihood,
but some people want to destroy him economically. He leads
a respectable life, but they want to rob him of his respect. He
is at peace with his surroundings, but they institute false cases
against him in order to destroy his peace. All such actions are
an interference in what God has arranged. It is a war against
the All- Powerful God by absolutely powerless creatures.

What do such actions amount to? God wants something,

but these people do not want it. God decided to arrange for
the allocation of livelihood among people in a particular way,
but these human beings do not agree to this. These people’s
defiance of God appears to work in this world, but this apparent
success is only because in this world, people have been granted
freedom in order to test them. As soon as the period allocated
for this test is over, people will find themselves so utterly bereft
of power that they will not have even words to utter against
others or the capacity to harm them.

In this world, human beings have freedom. Here, people have

the freedom to go against what God has laid down as proper for
human beings to do. They have the freedom to try to condemn
the allocation of livelihood among people that God has arranged.
But what will the condition of such people be when this freedom,
linked to the test of life, comes to an end after death? Then,
whatever will happen will be what God wants. Then, it will not
be possible for anyone to change what God wants.

On that day, God will say that He gives to whoever He wants,

and that no one can overturn His will, try as hard as he might.

53
 

Keeping One’s Mind on Tomorrow

I n 1898 Lord Curzon was appointed the Viceroy of

India. He had two daughters. When Lady Curzon was
expecting their third child, both she and her husband were
hoping that it would be a boy. Their hopes were dashed,
however, when in March 1904, another baby girl was born
to them. The couple were staying in Naldara at the time
of the birth, and they named their daughter Alexandra
Naldara Curzon after the place. Later on, Lady Curzon
returned to London. In one of the letters that Lord Curzon
wrote to her from the summer capital, Shimla, he consoled
her with these words: “After all, what does sex matter after
we both of us are gone.”

It is possible that these words were merely an attempt on

Lord Curzon’s part to hide his frustration. Be that as it may,
adopting such an attitude can solve most of life’s problems, if
one becomes conscious of the value of doing so.

Man desires money, offspring and power more than anything

in this world, and he does his utmost to acquire them. But if a
person reflects upon this, finally he is going to leave all these
things behind. What is the good of having something which
he is bound to lose? If people were only to realize this, they
would become content with what they have. It would put a
stop to the oppression and cruelty that is perpetrated in this
world out of sheer greed.

54
 The Danger of Hell

There is little difference between finding and losing in this

world, for no value can be attached to finding something
once it is accepted that he is only going to lose it again. How
much effort man puts into acquiring wealth in this world; yet
the inevitable result of his efforts is that he leaves everything
behind. Every life eventually ends in death. When death
comes, it tears man away from the things he is most attached
to on earth.

People who live for the present, with no thought for the
future, think that they can build happy lives for themselves
at the expense of others. They seek to ruin others by bringing
lawsuits against them in human courts, but it is they themselves
who are heading for ruin; it is they themselves who will be
tried and condemned in the divine court of the hereafter.
They imagine that they can revel in their own glory, having
wrought havoc in the lives of others. But they ignore the well-
being of others at their peril. For soon their material props
will vanish into thin air–who in this world is not bound for the
grave?—and they will be exposed for the helpless creatures
that they really are.

The Danger of Hell

T he Quran (95: 4-6) tells us: “We have indeed created

man in the best of mould, then We cast him down as the
lowest of the low, except for those who believe and do good
deeds—theirs shall be an unending reward!”

55
 The Final Journey

God has made man with a heavenly psyche. Then, He placed

him in this world, where conditions are such that they stir a
hellish psyche in people. Now, he who, while living amidst
‘the lowest of the low’, takes himself to the level of ‘the best
of mould’ (or, in other words, who reawakens the heavenly
psyche that is hidden deep within him amidst the hellish
environment in which he finds himself) will be blessed by
God after death. All other people will be left to suffer the
punishment of Hellfire.

This world is a testing-ground. That is why it has been made

in such a way that conditions repeatedly arise which serve as a
test or trial for people. Here, one is faced with issues of profit
and loss, and situations that stoke emotions such as greed and
selfishness. There are superficial attractions here that attract
people towards lust, addiction and worldly delight. Here
people compete with each other, leading to selfishness and
egotism. Here there are constant clashes of interest, which
stir emotions such as anger, hatred and depravity.

This is ‘the lowest of the low’ of this world. The task before
man is to lift himself above this and take himself to the level
of ‘the best of mould’—which, in terms of his very birth, is his
real or authentic level.

Whether a fruit is good or bad can be decided when it is

cut open and its inside is seen. The same is true with man.
Someone has a heavenly psyche, while someone else’s psyche
is hellish. This reality of people can be discovered when
they are ‘cut open’—when they are faced with difficult or
unfavourable situations, which is when their real or inner
reality is expressed. The way people react at such times
indicates what their mindset is—heavenly or hellish. When
people start fighting over money and property, when people

56
 When Death Will Expose Everything As False

who think differently start quarreling about their respective

views, when people start squabbling over a post that they
each want to grab—these are the sorts of occasions when
their reality can be discovered. On such occasions, if people
express hatred, selfishness, injustice and egotism, they prove
by their actions that their mindset is hellish and that they
are neighbours of the devil. On the other hand, people who
respond in such situations with love, unselfishness, justice,
and humility prove that their mindset is heavenly and that
they are close to God and the angels.

He who is a neighbour of the devil in this world will be so

in the Hereafter, as well. He who lives in this world in the
neighbourhood of God and angels, will live in the same way in
the Hereafter as well.

When Death Will Expose

Everything As False

W hat a strange moment will it be when people realize

that whatever they did in this world, thinking it to be
some very worthy action, is actually inaction of the lowest
sort!

In this world, people think highly of themselves and strut

about, puffed up with pride, whereas actually the only
thing that they can take ‘pride’ in is to submit before God’s
commandments.

57
 The Final Journey

People think that they are being very successful in trying to

rationalize or explain away their misdeeds, while their success
actually lies in openly acknowledging their misdeeds. They
have been given the power of speech so that they can use it
to praise God, but they employ it instead to shower praises
on fellow human beings. Fine emotions such as fear and love
have been placed in them so that they can devote these to God,
but they have made created things the objects of their fear and
love. They think accumulating wealth is the most important
thing, whereas actually, the highest thing for them is to spend
their wealth in God’s path. They should have consideration for
the weak, but they ignore them and flatter the strong. They
should devote themselves to searching for and discovering the
meaningfulness of life, but they drown themselves in furious
agitation instead. The secret of their true progress lies in
engaging in constant introspection, but instead they are busy
inspecting and criticizing others. They should consider worldly
wealth and respect as unreal and have no attachment to them,
but they begin thinking these to be the biggest thing!

Today, people are obsessed with critiquing the oppression of

others, taking this to be ‘bravery’. Imagine their condition
when they will come to know that true bravery is to realize
the oppression that they themselves are guilty of!

People seek the support of some thing or being besides God,

imagining it to be a powerful refuge. Imagine their condition
when they will learn that besides God, there is no one who
can be a refuge for anyone!

People accumulate worldly wealth and fondly imagine that

they have obtained what needs to be accumulated. Imagine
their condition when death will expose everything of theirs
to be false and when they will realize that they have acquired
nothing at all!

58
 This Hell-Bound Caravan

People prepare long lists of other people’s mistakes. Imagine

their state when angels will present them with a list of their
own misdeeds!
People think this life is the be-all and the end-all. Imagine
their state when they will discover that the real issue was
death, and not this life that lasts for just a few days!
People use criteria that they have invented to convince
themselves that they are in the right. Imagine their state when
they will realize that only those who were right according to
the criteria that God has established were right indeed!
Finding a huge crowd to welcome them, people think that
they are very fortunate. Imagine their condition when they
will come to know that the only fortunate person is the one
whom God and His angels are waiting to welcome!
Every person has built a fantasy world of his own, and is happy
living in it. But the Day of Judgment will destroy all these make-
believe edifices. At that time, only those who have taken refuge
in the ‘edifice’ of God and are in God’s shade, will be safe.

This Hell-Bound Caravan

C ontemplating on man’s case I thought, ‘Everyone is

in search of Heaven, yet everyone is searching for his
Heaven in Hell.’ Thinking further on the issue I analyzed
that ‘People are searching for flowers among thorns. They are
reducing their lives to rubble, while imagining that very soon
a big palace of their own is going to emerge!’

59
 The Final Journey

Everyone is busy trying to beautify his life. Someone is busy

in the field of trade or employment. Someone else is busy in
the field of politics, trying to glorify his name. Someone is a
clever wordsmith, using his skill with words to attract crowds.
Everyone carries with him a beautiful dream of his future,
and is busy, day and night, trying to make this dream a reality.
But if you closely examine them, you will realize that for this
dream to be realized, the only asset they possess is a stock of
wrong actions.
Ignoring their relatives’ rights, people want to build their
children’s future. They trouble their neighbours and at the
same time, think of bringing joy to people who live far away.
They do not hesitate to use unjust means when it comes to
their personal affairs, but in the outside world they turn into
flag-bearers of justice. They will not tolerate even a word being
said against them, but they think they can do whatsoever they
like to others, imagining that they are God’s soldiers.
God has placed in this world everything that Man needs—in
fact, even more than this. But the means to acquire every good
thing in this world is good actions. God rewards those who
fulfill the rights of others, who do not harm their neighbours,
who deal justly with people, who lead their lives in devotion
to God, rather than in devotion to themselves, who bow down
before the Truth, even if it is against them, who surrender
their egos to God and who agree to live their lives without
egos in this world.
People think they are prancing among beautiful flowers, but
actually they are leaping into the flames of Hell! They imagine
that very soon they will enter the gardens of Heaven, while
actually they are racing down the road leading to Hell-fire!
O! That caravan that bears no wealth other than empty
fantasies!

60
 Fear God

O! The people who want to build in this world another world

whose permission God has not granted!

Fear God

T oday, there is no place anywhere where there is no

oppression. Whom do people oppress? They oppress
those who they think are weak, who do not know how to boss
around, who do not have companions to come to their rescue,
who want to stay away from the police and the courts. People
turn bold in front of the weak and become meek in front of
those who appear stronger than them.

This is like seeing with a blind eye. If people truly had eyes
that see, the people they would fear most would be those
whom they consider to be powerless, because God stands
behind the powerless.

Whatever happens in this world is according to a plan to test

people. This test aims to identify both God-fearing people as
well as those who do not fear God.

God has made some people to be powerless and bereft of any

status and has placed them among others and sees how the
latter behave with them. Those who fear being unjust with such
people, fear God. Such people will be destined for Heaven. But
those who do not fear dealing unjustly with the weak, do not
fear God. And so, they shall be pushed into Hell.

61
 

When Truth is Revealed

S ome people have not, in their hearts, bowed to God. Their

outward prostration is a mere pretense. In the next world,
they will be told to bow down before the Lord, but they will
not be able to do so. (The Quran 68:42)

Prostration is not just a ritual and time bound physical action;

it is to surrender oneself to sublime reality. It is to make
oneself follow truth in one’s whole life. So, this verse of the
Quran does not just refer to prostration in a limited sense; it
indicates a truth which pertains to the whole of one’s life.

In this world, people – both on an individual and national

level–do not in their hearts bow to the reality; they do not
adopt the path of truth. Yet in their outward demeanour, they
pretend to be on the side of truth; they speak words which
make it seem that they are in the right and are not wronging
or exploiting others.

But such deceit is only possible in this world of trial. In the

next world, everything will change. Fake notes can be passed
on the streets, but banks will not accept them. In the same
way, in the next world there will be no possibility of making
lies appear true, and unjustness appear like justness.
In the next world words will refuse to take on false meanings. No
one will be able to call injustice as justice and disguise falsehood
as truth. The difference between outward and inward will

62
 Ray of Hope

disappear. One will only be able to express what is in one’s heart.

Man will appear exactly as he was in relation to reality, rather
than in the manner which he used to contrive in front of others.

If people can convince others that they are in the right, then
they are sure that they have been proved right. But, in fact,
only those who are proved right in God’s sight are truly in
the right. In the next world, only those who are truly right
will be proved right. Falsehood will be exposed as nothing
but false. This verse, then, does not only refer to hypocritical
prostration; it gives us an indication of the outcome facing
both individuals and nations.

Ray of Hope

T he world beyond death is, as Arthur Koestler (1905-

1983) put it, an “unknown country”. We are all travelling
towards that unknown country. The strangest and the most
mysterious event of our lives is death. Everyone is anxious to
know what will become of him after death.

The American evangelist, Billy Graham, has written a book

called The Secret of Happiness. He writes in this book that
he once received an urgent message from a billionaire who
wanted to meet him at the earliest opportunity.

When Billy Graham reached the billionaire’s residence, he was

ushered into a separate room. There, the politician addressed
him in a heart-rending tone. “I am an old man,” he said, “Life

63
 The Final Journey

has lost all meaning. I am ready to take a fateful leap into the
unknown. Young man, can you give me a ray of hope?”

It was, indeed, only a man of religion who could give him an

answer.

Death is lying in wait for everyone. In his youth, a person tends

to forget death, but in the end, the hand of fate holds sway.
In old age, when his strength is on the wane, he realizes the
imminence of death; he is moved to wonder what lies in store
for him in the hereafter; he searches for a ray of hope which
can illuminate the world he will have to face after death.

It is this ray of hope that God’s prophets have come to

provide to the world. The prophets have taught man that
there is another world–one that is both eternal and ideal–after
death. Those who will be admitted to this perfect world in
the afterlife are who, in this life on earth, prove themselves
worthy of it by their righteous actions. This message has been
summed up in these words of the Quran:

“And God calls unto the home of peace.” (The Quran,

10:25)

The Result of Reaction

M r. G.D. Birla (1894-1983), besides being the topmost

industrialist in the country, was also a very close
associate of Mahatma Gandhi in the freedom struggle.

64
 The Result of Reaction

How the idea of national freedom took shape in the mind of Mr.
Birla, is reproduced here in his own words: “When I was 16 years
old, I started my independent business as a broker in Calcutta.
During this period, I came in contact with many Englishmen,
who were either my customers or my superior officers. I also
saw their organizational capability and other qualities. But one
thing I could not bear was their racial pride. I was not permitted
to use the elevator to reach their offices. Neither was I allowed
to sit on their benches, while waiting. This humiliation was very
painful. As a result of this, I got interested in politics, which
started in 1912 and continues till today.”

The editor of The Hindustan Times (12 June 1983) comments on

this event: “This was the beginning of his nationalism.” Mr.
Birla’s nationalism was inspired by intense feelings of dislike.
Similarly, the Islamism of the present-day Muslim leaders is
born out of hatred for an opponent or enemy, whether real or
imaginary. Both these sentiments are the results of reactionary
forces, even though they speak in different languages. Neither
of them could be termed a positive case.

To act on the strength of a positive incentive is one thing. But

to be spurred on by a negative incentive is quite another thing.
The former is ‘action,’ the latter ‘reaction.’ A satisfactory result
can flow only from right action. Reaction being negative, no
positive result can be expected from it.

65
 

The Precipice

O ne day a friend of mine came to see me unexpectedly, at

an odd hour, and he did not even accept the offer of a
cup of tea. He hurriedly said, “I have to reach home soon. My
wife must be waiting for me.” And then, in a hurry, he started
his scooter and set off. Barely half an hour later, the telephone
bell rang. It was his wife. In a greatly agitated tone, she
stammered, “Your friend....” I could hear her sobs and cries,
and the meaning of the sentence could be guessed. Putting
the receiver down hastily, I rushed to her house. Having said
goodbye to me he had reached home, but while climbing the
stairs he had stumbled and fallen down. Some people had
carried him upstairs and the doctor was immediately called,
but he could only declare him dead.

When he rode off on his scooter, he had apparently set off for
his home but, in truth, he was heading towards death. This is
not an unusual event. Such events take place every day and in
all kinds of places.

On 25th May 1979, American Airlines Flight 191 took off from
O’Hare International Airport, Chicago. Shortly afterwards it
crashed and burst into flames. All 271 passengers were burnt to
death. This particular accident happened with a small number
of people, but such is going to be the fate of all human beings.
All men who are on the move are actually heading towards
death and destruction. Death is closer to man than life itself.

66
 The Impending Day

Everyone is standing on the verge of death. Everyone is in

danger of having come to the end of his period on earth and of
being taken off at any moment to the next world from where
he will never come back. Then his existence will be one of
either eternal hell or eternal heaven.

When a blind man comes across a well on his way, everyone

knows that the greatest thing at that moment is to warn him
of it. How strange it is that the whole human race is standing
on the brink of the most dangerous precipice, yet one never
feels the need to give warning of it! When a servant of
God gives a danger signal, far from being appreciated, he is
ridiculed and labeled a traitor. He is accused of wanting to
lull the nation into the comfortable sleep of cowardice, of
trying to dampen the spirit of holy war among the Muslims,
of wanting to shift the emphasis from real issues. He is
vilified as being not the messenger of life but of death and
doom. Humanity stands on the brink of a precipice, but
people are so disinclined to look in front of them that they
have the illusion of being safe at home. People are heading
towards death but are happy in the thought that they are
advancing on the journey of life.

The Impending Day

I n the present world, when someone believes in God, he

does so on the basis of evidence. But in the Hereafter, those
who will accept God will do so on the basis of His power. And

67
 The Final Journey

so, it is as if in this world evidence is the representative of

God. In contrast, in the Hereafter, God will appear with His
complete Being in front of people to enable them to accept
Him.

From this we learn who those people are who really believe
in God and who do not. Someone who believes in God is one
who accepts the weight of evidence, who bows before the
Truth when it comes along, with nothing but verbal evidence.
In contrast, someone who is not affected by something simply
by its truth, who accepts the truth only when he is in some
way compelled to do so, and who is not willing to accept the
truth which does not involve an element of compulsion to
accept it, will not believe in God.

God wants us to believe in Him while He is invisible to us, while

people want to believe in Him only if they can visibly see Him.
God wants people to bow down before the Truth, but Man is
willing to bow down only before Power. God wants people to
behave justly only out of the fear of Him, but people are willing
to act justly only when they are compelled to do so. Where
there is no compulsion, immediately they become defiant.

This world is a testing ground. Here you are given the freedom
to conceal your reality. But the Hereafter will expose every
person for what he truly is. On that day, many people who
appeared to be devoted to God will be made to stand in the
company of people who were not devoted to God. Many of
those who presented themselves as followers of the Truth will
be shown to be guilty of not following the Truth. Many people
who think that they have been allotted a place in Heaven will
find themselves on Hell’s doorstep.

How utterly bereft of fear man is, although what an enormously

frightful moment will he soon confront!

68
 

The Greatest News

A young man I know is a government employee in Delhi.

I have known him for a long time. One day, I had gone
out for some work, and when I came home at night, I was told
that he had come several times to my house to meet me.

Just then the bell rang. It was the very same man. Seeing me,
he burst into a smile and said, ‘I’ve come to give you some
good news.’ And then he told me that he had been promoted
at work and had received a raise in his salary.

I thought to myself, ‘If someone has some important news,

he just can’t keep it to himself. He simply has to share it with
others. In fact, sometimes he goes out of his way to find
someone whom he can share his news with. If someone buys a
new car or builds a new house, he just can’t help talking about
it. If in a gathering, his car or house does not become a subject
of discussion, he turns the ongoing conversation in such a
direction that he can tell others about his car or house. This is
human nature. There’s no human being who isn’t eager to tell
others his important news!’

Today, uncountable voices compete with each other for

attention. Everyone has some message or the other which he
wants to convey to others. But in this enormous crowd of people
desperate to say something or the other, there is no one who
is eager to convey news about the Hereafter, to make others
aware of Heaven and Hell. There is no dearth of speakers and

69
 The Final Journey

writers, but none is concerned about the Hereafter. Everyone

has news about something or the other to do with this world.
But no one has news about the Hereafter that they want to
tell others about. If they had such news, they would obviously
share it with others. In fact, given the enormous importance
of the Hereafter, all other news would be no news at all which
people would want to share with others. They would spend
all their energy and time only in sharing with others the news
about the Hereafter. They would see no work as work other
than the work of making people fearful of Hell and conveying
the good news of Heaven.

If people come to know that in the next few moments, an

earthquake will strike or a volcano will erupt, they will talk only
about that and nothing else at all. They will forget everything
else and will talk only about the impending devastating event.
But speakers are carrying on with their speeches, and writers
are carrying on with their writings, and all these speeches and
writings are so utterly empty of mention of the Hereafter
that it is as if people have no news at all of this impending
terrifying Day.

People are generally entangled in the problems of their

immediate environment—such as their personal or
community issues of an economic, political and social nature.
Experiencing these all around them, they begin to think that
they are the matters of real importance. And so, they get
involved in discussing and debating such issues. However, the
biggest issue is the issue of the Hereafter. The Hereafter is
hidden from our sight, but it is the biggest of all impending
events, and is so much more deserving of being talked about
than all other events.

70
 A Call

P rophet Muhammad was given the responsibility

of calling people to the Truth. He gathered the
inhabitants of Makkah near the hill of Safa and said to
them that they would die in the same way as they slept,
and that they would be brought back to life in the same
way as they woke up from sleep. After that, there would
be either eternal Heaven or eternal Hell. (Sahih al-Bukhari,
Hadith No. 4770)

When the Prophet became the head of Madinah and entered

the town, he delivered a similar speech. On this occasion, too,
the biggest thing that he had to talk about was about people
saving themselves from the punishment of Hellfire. (Sahih al-
Bukhari, Hadith No. 1413)

Our work at the Centre for Peace and Spirituality is to carry

on with this mission of the Prophet of Islam. There are many
people who are actively involved in issues related to the
manifold problems of life in this world. We focus, instead, on
issues related to the problems of what happens after death. Is
there anyone who would like to join this mission?

People are concerned about war and strife and riots in this
world. Is there anyone who is concerned about the leaping
flames of Hell and who would like to support us to warn
humanity about this fire?

71
 The Final Journey

People’s sights are fixed on the delights of busy cities, but we

are looking for those people who can see the solitude of the
graveyard.

There are millions of people who are greatly agitated because

they were not given admission into some particular institution.

We want people who fear that they may not be given admission
into Heaven.

People bemoan loss and destruction in this world. We are

searching for people who are overwhelmed by the fear of
facing loss and destruction in the Hereafter.

Everything is happening today in this world of God, except

for one thing. And this is the thing that God desires the most.
And that is, to make people aware of that impending, terrifying
Day. If people do not stand up for this work, then the Angel
Israfil’s trumpet, announcing the Day of Resurrection, will call
them. But that will be an announcement of their destruction,
not an alarm for them to wake up!

72
 Prophet Muhammad was given the responsibility of calling

The Final Journey

people to the Truth. He gathered the inhabitants of Makkah
near the hill of Safa and said to them that they would die in
the same way as they slept, and that they would be brought
back to life in the same way as they woke up from sleep.
After that, there would be either eternal Heaven or eternal
Hell. (Sahih al- Bukhari, Hadith No. 4770)

Everything is happening in this world of God except for one

thing that God desires the most—making people aware of that
impending, terrifying Final Day—The Day of Resurrection. If The
Final
people do not stand up for this work, then the Angel Israfil’s
trumpet, announcing this Final Day will call them. But that
will be an announcement of their destruction, not an alarm
for them to wake up!

Our work at the Centre for Peace and Spirituality is to carry

on with this mission of the Prophet of Islam, of making man
aware of the Creation Plan of God and the inevitable Final
Journey
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Day, so that he may prepare for ‘The Final Journey’.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is an Islamic scholar,

spiritual leader and peace activist. He is the founder
of Centre for Peace and Spirituality and has been
internationally recognized for his contributions to
world peace. The Maulana has authored over 200 books
dealing with Islam’s spiritual wisdom, the Prophet’s
nonviolent approach, religion’s relation with modernity
and other contemporary issues. His English translation
of the Quran is popular because it’s language is simple,
contemporary and easily understandable.

ISBN 978-93-89766-32-5

Goodword

www.cpsglobal.org www.goodwordbooks.com
info@cpsglobal.org info@goodwordbooks.com Maulana Wahiduddin Khan