It's exactly like that… the Day of Judgment.

I mean ain't it true? Once you hear the words 'Day of Judgment' يوم القيامة, don't you just remember school? Doesn't it feel like a title to one of those poems you've managed to forget along the years, one of those biology chapters, one of those theorems they now have scientific calculators to solve in a matter of seconds?

We've forgotten what's important haven't we? We've managed to do everything that God has asked us not to do and forgot about the things that would make us immortal in Heaven.

Heaven!! Heaven has been described so many times in the Holy Quran.

تجري من تحتها الأنهار...… So many times that that's probably all one can remember if asked to describe it.

Last week, a friend of mine described a Depeche Mode concert by saying 'It felt like Heaven'. يا سبحان الله

Al donya is just too slippery, isn't it?

People also refer to many things as heaven. Drugs, sex, a music concert, wine…

اللهم نسألك الجنّة و نعوذ بك من النار

Now close your eyes for two minutes and picture that you've just died… right here and right now. I won't go into details of عذاب القبر (The torment of the grave), but picture that it has begun… Yawm El 7ashr, Yawm Al Qiyamah. Allah said in the Quran that He will change the Earth. Maybe Yawm el 7ashr will be when God flattens the earth; no plateaus, no oceans, no rivers, no mountains… just one clear and round planet… and we're all gonna be standing there next to each other.

Now think of an excuse for the things that you've done, for the things that you haven't. God said do this and don't do that… I, for one, am probably gonna be standing there, crying my eyes out, begging for forgiveness and mercy. You can't say I didn't know. You can't say that you're sorry. It's right there. It's everywhere. We're in 2007 and if you want to learn about Islam you can find out through books, the internet, or the nearest mosque of Islamic center. If you're not sure about a certain issue you can ask. The excuse that you didn't have time to look it up won't be valid then, will it?

Just try to picture it and you'll know what I'm getting at.

We tend to do certain things to move up in the world, or at least to delude ourselves that we are actually moving up. The many nights that we go to bed and remember the number of times we've lied today… the zillion times we've called it a white lie.

Is it really?!

We lie to escape a meeting and we lie to our parents to go out. We lie to get more money and we lie to do less work. We lie to avoid a friend and we lie to smoke and do drugs. We lie to get a date and possibly… just possibly… get laid.

The number of times we were asked 'Hey have you heared about XYZ?' and said yes when we actually haven't… because we didn't want to look like a fool.

When The Day comes, we might just feel like one.

Society demands things that we tend to forget are not necessarily right.

What if right there and then, on that day, we face another truth… what if we're told then that there are no white lies?

What are we going to do then? The number of sins we'll be carrying on our shoulders, on our Meezan.

Don't some of us pray, fast, and do their zakat, and think that they're doing just fine? For some people (we may be included), the catastrophe won't be the major sins (الكبائر)… it may be the minor sins (الصغائر)… the ones we do on a daily basis and actually believe are okay.

The number of times we've spoken about people behind their backs, the times we've made them look bad. Don't we all do that at work? Talk about a supervisor, a colleague? Call a certain someone on their office number and tell them about an incident that involved your manager and made him look like an idiot? The number of times we were glad we witnessed it just to have a story to TELL.

Surprise surprise… Ghayba (backbiting) and Nameema (gossip)… do they ring any bells?

Those may just be the things that throw some people in hell. اللهم احفظنا

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once was walking with some of his companions when he stood in front of two graves and prayed for them. When asked why, he said that they're being tortured (عذاب القبر), and not for major sins. One is being tortured for not cleansing himself after urination, and the other for habitually spreading intimate or private rumors or facts (gossip - نميمة).

إنهما ليعذبان وما يعذبان في كبير أما أحدهما فكان لا يستبريء من البول وأما الآخر فكان يمشي بين الناس بالنميمة.

The things we do to get the acceptance of others.

Are they worthy of such a sacrifice?

ربنا ظلمنا أنفسنا و ان لم تغفر لنا و ترحمنا لنكوننّ من الخاسرين

Are you willing to trade God's forgiveness for the approval of your society?

اللهم لا تجعل الدنيا أكبر همّنا

و لا تجعل مصيبتنا في ديننا

آميــن