# When Life Comes Full Circle | Why Me? **Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman **Series:** Why Me **Published:** 2024-04-07 **YouTube:** https://youtu.be/N1m0lM-EuNA **URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/when-life-comes-full-circle-why-me **Topics:** Afterlife, Faith ## Description During its funeral, a righteous soul will wish to speed up its body's burial, so that it can move on to enjoy its time in the barzakh. It will hear its family and loved ones pray and mourn over it as it is placed back in the earth. It will face the qiblah to reflect its dedication to prayer during... ## Transcript **[0:00]** Farewell, tired soul. Your entire life has been a brief moment away from Allah and the realm of the unseen. Now you're on your final journey home. As the angels carry your soul **[0:24]** up through the heavens, your family on earth is preparing your body for burial. **[0:53]** Ya ayyatuha al-nafsu al-mutma'inna irji'i ila rabbiki radhiyatan mardhiyya O soul that is at peace, come back to your Lord, pleased and pleasing. We are pleased with Allah's legislation and we are pleased with Allah's decree. **[1:10]** Radheena billahi rabban wa bil-islami deenan wa bi-Muhammadin sallallahu alayhi wa sallam nabiyyan. We are pleased with Allah as our Lord, with Islam as our religion, and Muhammad (ﷺ) as our Prophet. Have you been pleased with Allah as your Lord? **[1:27]** Al-Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim says that throughout your life you have these three stages of tawakkul, learning to trust Allah. He says first you learn to trust Allah the way that one trusts his agent, where you still seek to assume control and you question your agent on every **[1:43]** move. And then you learn to trust Allah the way that a child trusts its mother. And then you learn to trust Allah like a dead body trusts its washer. It lets the washer turn it over and over and over as he best sees fit, never objecting to the method of purification. **[2:03]** You were supposed to already be living your life like that dead body, but now you're actually dead and every single thing about the way you leave this world has a parallel with how you came into it. When you were first born you were completely dependent and needed your **[2:20]** family to wash you, and clothe you, and put you in your cradle. As you breathe your last breath you return to that state, completely dependent as your family arranges your ghusl, **[2:37]** shrouds you, and lowers you into your final resting place. As your soul begins to witness the wonders of the unseen realm, it also witnesses the last moments of its time on earth. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that the deceased are hurt when their families wail over them, **[2:56]** which is one of the reasons why this practice was prohibited in Islam. The dead has some sense of those around, even if not fully. In one narration though it has some weakness in its chain, Inna al-mayyita ya'rifu man yahmiluhu, wa man yaghsiluhu, wa man yudallihi fee qabrihi. **[3:13]** Verily the dead one recognizes those who carry him, and those who wash him, and those who lower him into his grave. And some of the scholars mentioned that an angel presides over your funeral in some ways just like your birth. Amr ibn Dinar rahimahullah said, **[3:29]** ma min mayyitin yamutu illa wa ruhuhu fee yadi malakin yandhuru ila jasadihi kayfa yughassalu wa kayfa yukaffanu wa kayfa yumsha bihi wa yajlisu fee qabrihi. That not a single person dies except that his soul is in the hand of an angel who observes his body, how it is washed, **[3:49]** how it is shrouded, how it is carried, and then enters into the grave to make sure that it is buried properly. Al-Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Qabisi rahimahullah connects the narrations of the soul ascending through the heavens while still witnessing what is happening on earth. He says **[4:05]** for righteous souls, they will be told when they reach Allah, go and see your place in paradise. And so they will journey through paradise for the time that it takes for their body to be washed. Then if you are of the truly righteous, perhaps you will witness paradise for as long as you are **[4:22]** being washed which is one of the wisdoms of the ghusl. Just like the Prophet's heart was washed by Jibreel before he could take his heavenly journey of al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, so too the body needs to be cleansed as the soul witnesses paradise. So the longer, the more thorough, **[4:40]** and the more perfect the washing, the more time spent by the soul in the realm of the unseen witnessing its wonders. And then once the ghusl and the shrouding is complete, the soul returns to this world. **[4:56]** And at that point, it desires to be buried as fast as possible so that it can be free once again to enjoy the wonders of the barzakh. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, when the janazah is picked up and the men lift it onto their shoulders, **[5:13]** if it was a righteous soul, it says, hurry up, hurry up, take me quickly, take me quickly. I want to enjoy my new home. And if it was not a righteous person, it says, **[5:31]** woe to me, woe to me, where are you taking me? And the Prophet (ﷺ) says that everything of the creation of Allah hears that cry except for the human beings around. And if they could hear that cry, they would faint. **[5:47]** This is why the Prophet (ﷺ) encouraged the burial to be done so swiftly. Hurry up with the burial, for if it is a righteous soul, you would bring it quicker to a beautiful abode. And if it is otherwise, it is an evil which you discard into the earth. **[6:06]** So as you are being carried, you will hear the people talking about your legacy. Comforting your loved ones based on the deeds you used to do in this world. You will hear them warn you. But if they say about you what is untrue of you, then the angels interrogate you. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that they **[6:24]** would poke you and they would say, were you as they claimed you are? And right before your body is buried, as your janazah has been performed, I want you to imagine the masjid and then the graveyard filled with all of the people in your **[6:39]** life. Some people you may have forgotten. Some of them friends. A lot of them family. And maybe even some of those you didn't get along with, but they attended your funeral out of respect. All of them praying for your forgiveness before you go to your final resting place. **[6:56]** Do you fear their witness or do you look forward to it? And then finally you are placed six feet under the ground. And your loved ones bury you in this earth with the earth. **[7:15]** From it you were created and in it you will return and from it you will rise again. You're buried facing the right side towards the qiblah as hopefully you did all those times that you used to pray. And your heart always longing for the one who sent you here only after affirming **[7:34]** to you that he is your Lord. And you're now about to be asked that question again. Who is your Lord? But this time you know him, you know your prophet, you know your religion. Hence, **[7:51]** the words you are placed with in the grave are in the name of Allah and upon the way of the messenger of Allah (ﷺ), the way of Islam. But it won't be easy when you're asked, which is why the Prophet (ﷺ) would finish burying someone. He would **[8:07]** stand by the grave and say, Ask Allah to forgive your brother and to make him steadfast for he is now being asked. And as everyone goes home, they now leave you to your new home. And the Prophet **[8:27]** (ﷺ) said that you will hear the footsteps of every single person that came to your janazah walking away until the very last footsteps. And I want you to think about what that means. When you came into this world, your parents were in the hospital and they received **[8:45]** you. The guests came and went, but you know who stayed? Your family. And that's why Amr ibn al-As (رضي الله عنه) said to his children, **[9:03]** Meaning don't be so quick. Why? He said, So I can feel your nearness and I can know how to respond to the messengers of my Lord. Don't leave so quickly because they have an entire eternity ahead of them, **[9:20]** where all of the lessons of life and then all of those that are left behind will continue to enlighten that grave. Do you know what else? When you came into this world, you came in with a squeeze in your mother's womb and then through a narrow passage and the Prophet (ﷺ) **[9:40]** said that there's a squeeze in the grave that no one will be spared from. And you enter into that route through a narrow passage, just like you entered into this one. **[10:16]** The crying stops, the footsteps fade, and you're left alone in your grave. Nothing is left to distract you. You have all the time in the world to reflect. What legacy have you left behind? Was your life worth living? Did you do enough to earn your soul **[10:38]** a peaceful hereafter? Did you do enough when you could so that you can finally now rest in peace? Your postponement of deeds till the time when you are free is merely one of the delusions of the self. ## Other Episodes in "Why Me" - [Did My Life Really Matter? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/did-my-life-really-matter-why-me.md) - [What Will The Day of My Death Be Like? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/what-do-i-feel-when-im-dying-why-me.md) - [Will Allah Still Forgive Me? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/will-allah-still-forgive-me-why-me.md) - [How Can I Accept That I'm Dying? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/how-can-i-accept-that-im-dying-why-me.md) - [What If It's Too Late? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/what-if-its-too-late-why-me.md) - [Do Good Deeds Extend My Life? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/do-good-deeds-extend-my-life-why-me.md) - [Why Is There So Much Suffering in The World? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-is-there-so-much-suffering-in-the-world-why-me.md) - [Can I Escape The Outcome of My Sins? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/can-i-escape-the-outcome-of-my-sins-why-me.md) - [Is Allah Testing or Punishing Me? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/is-allah-testing-or-punishing-me-why-me.md) - [Why Is Everything Falling Apart? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-is-everything-falling-apart-why-me.md) - [Why Did They Have to Die? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-did-they-have-to-die-why-me.md) - [How Do I Find Love in Loneliness? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/how-do-i-find-love-in-loneliness-why-me.md) - [I Didn't Mean to Hurt You | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/i-didnt-mean-to-hurt-you-why-me.md) - [Why Do They Get the Life I Want? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-do-they-get-the-life-i-want-why-me.md) - [What If I Could’ve Changed Things? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/what-if-i-couldve-changed-things-why-me.md) - [Why Were Hurtful People Put in My Life? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-were-hurtful-people-put-in-my-life-why-me.md) - [Will I Ever Find True Love? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/will-i-ever-find-true-love-why-me.md) - [Why Make Istikhara? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-make-istikhara-why-me.md) - [Why Won't Allah Answer Me? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-wont-god-help-me-why-me.md) - [Did I Choose To Be Muslim? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/did-i-choose-to-be-muslim-why-me.md) - [Why Do I Have to Carry Their Burden? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-do-i-have-to-carry-their-burden-why-me.md) - [Why Am I Rich or Poor? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-am-i-rich-or-poor-why-me.md) - [Why Do I Look Like This? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-do-i-look-like-this-why-me.md) - [Why Do I Have These (Dis)Abilities? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-do-i-have-these-disabilities-why-me.md) - [What Shaped My Personality? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/what-shaped-my-personality-why-me.md) - [Why Is This My Family? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-is-this-my-family-why-me.md) - [What Happened On My Birth Day? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/what-happened-on-my-birth-day-why-me.md) - [Why Did Allah Choose This Time for Me? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/why-did-allah-choose-this-time-for-me-why-me.md) - [Where Was I Before I Was Born? | Why Me?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/where-was-i-before-i-was-born-why-me.md) - [Trailer: Why Me? | A Ramadan Series on Understanding Qadar](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/why-me/trailer-why-me-a-ramadan-series-on-understanding-qadar.md)