Do We Forget the Day of Reckoning While Living in This World?

15 September 2023

Do We Know What Today’s Choice Carries into Tomorrow?

Question: When we look back one day, what will we most regret not having done?

Not having earned more?

Or the right things we neglected for the sake of earning?

Verse 31 of Surah Al-An’am brings before us the regret of those who deny meeting Allah.

People suddenly face the responsibilities they have ignored throughout their lives.

A choice they consider insignificant today may confront them as a heavy burden that day.

This reminder does not merely describe a scene we will experience in the future.

It also makes us consider how we will live now.

Because remembering the reckoning gives a standard to our behavior today.

What do we do when no one sees?

How do we respond when we hear a truth that does not suit us?

When an opportunity for gain arises, do we also take into account the responsibility it places upon us?

Sometimes people give all their attention to the opportunity before them.

A business will grow, a customer will be gained, a property will be purchased.

But the size of the opportunity does not automatically determine whether the choice is right.

We also need to consider what lies behind the door opening before us.

The justifications we give ourselves may be very strong.

Still, a strong justification does not make a wrong action right.

Awareness of accountability stops us precisely here.

It asks us to see the cost alongside the gain, the responsibility alongside the desire, and tomorrow alongside today.

Let us not increase with our own hands today the burden we do not want to carry tomorrow.

By What Standard Do We Evaluate Worldly Life?

Question: Does knowing that worldly life is temporary mean caring about nothing here?

No.

Verse 32 of Surah Al-An’am compares worldly life with the abode of the Hereafter.

This comparison does not devalue all the responsibilities of the life we live.

It makes us question our attachment to what is temporary while forgetting what is more lasting.

People need to work.

They need food, rest, and shelter.

They love their family, desire their spouse’s love, and think about their children’s well-being.

These are part of life.

The issue is the standard by which all these desires are governed.

Asking for good in both this world and the Hereafter is not making two mutually exclusive requests.

People can live their worldly lives without forgetting their Hereafter.

Indeed, fulfilling their responsibilities in this world may be the expression of their faith in daily life.

Being trustworthy at home is part of this.

Acting rightly in one’s work is part of this.

Respecting the rights of the people one lives with is also part of this.

Faith does not mean withdrawing from life and standing apart without touching anything.

It means preserving the standard within life while making choices.

A person may want their spouse to love them.

But if this desire becomes a justification for accepting behavior that displeases Allah, they should stop and reflect.

Being loved and acting rightly do not always conflict.

Where they do conflict, however, the value we prioritize becomes apparent.

What we call intention, then, is not merely a sentence we think to ourselves.

It is the direction visible in our choices.

Without giving up the world entirely, we can stop making it the sole measure of our lives.

We can use what we possess.

Not allowing those things to govern us, however, requires a separate attentiveness.

This attentiveness does not continue automatically after a one-time decision.

It is tested anew with every new opportunity, every new fear, and every new desire.

Does Patience Mean Standing Still?

Verses 33 and 34 of Surah Al-An’am recall the sorrow felt in the face of denial and the patience of earlier prophets.

It may sadden us when words we know to be true find no response.

We experience this most with those close to us.

We explain, we want to be understood, and we do not receive the response we expect.

Then sometimes we grow tired of speaking the truth.

Sometimes we begin to pressure the other person.

Yet patience means neither abandoning the truth nor taking control of another person’s will.

Patience means not losing our standard while continuing to fulfill our own responsibility.

We may feel sorrow.

But we should take care that our sorrow does not make our words hurtful.

The outcome may be delayed.

But a delay does not immediately show that all the effort has been wasted.

Question: Am I trying to live by what is right, or do I want everyone to agree immediately that I am right?

These two desires sometimes become confused.

In the first, we correct our behavior.

In the second, we constantly monitor other people’s reactions.

If our entire inner balance is shaken when the approval of those listening to us does not come, we need to reconsider our expectations.

Because doing our duty and everyone changing in the direction we want are not the same thing.

Verse 35 of Surah Al-An’am also reminds us of this boundary.

People cannot create another person’s faith through their own power.

Even wanting to show the most extraordinary sign does not change this reality.

Our part is to present our words and conduct honestly.

We cannot find peace by forcing the other person toward the outcome we want.

Knowing the limits of our own responsibility does not mean remaining indifferent.

We continue to love them and wish them well.

But we also accept that we cannot choose in their place.

Are We Truly Open to Listening?

Hearing a sound and paying attention to the words are not the same.

As we reflect on verse 36 of Surah Al-An’am, we should ask ourselves about this distinction, too.

Do we allow the words we hear to touch us?

Or are we merely waiting to give the answer we have already prepared?

People may find it difficult to let go of familiar ways of thinking.

If they have placed their trust solely in their resources for years, they may not immediately adopt another standard.

This change sometimes becomes visible through small and sincere steps.

Even when buying a product, we may first purchase a small quantity and observe its quality.

We compare the promise made with the result that emerges.

Trust becomes clear through behavior over time.

In our own lives, too, we need to see the expression of the truths we speak.

If we defend honesty, can we remain honest when our interests are challenged?

If we speak of patience, can we be patient when we need to wait?

If we want trust, do we show the consistency that will enable someone else to trust us?

If we only wait for others to change, we miss the work before us.

Yet even a small action of ours may be a clearer answer than our lengthy words.

Verse 38 of Surah Al-An’am reminds us that the creatures on earth and the birds form communities.

It also opens up room for reflection so that we do not see only ourselves when we look at life.

The world is not a narrow stage built around our desires.

There are living beings other than us.

There is a creation and a life beyond our calculations.

Recognizing this may reduce our tendency to exaggerate our own importance.

It may also deepen our gratitude for the resources we possess.

How right is it to behave as though we produced everything ourselves and provided everything ourselves?

We did not bring even the breath we take into being entirely through our own will.

This awareness does not turn us away from work.

It calls us to consider our effort, gratitude, and responsibility together.

Do We Remember in Comfort What We Remember When We Are in Difficulty?

Verse 40 of Surah Al-An’am confronts people with the possibility of great distress.

To whom do we turn at such a moment?

What do we do when we feel that all the resources we rely on are insufficient?

At that moment, people see more clearly that they are not sufficient for everything.

But the real issue is not merely turning to Him in hardship.

It is being able to maintain the same sense of responsibility when comfort comes.

We must still value integrity when things fall into place.

We must still respect others’ rights when we achieve the gain we hoped for.

We need a standard when we are loved, when we grow stronger, and when our resources increase, too.

Because people are not tested only through their losses.

They also reveal themselves through how they behave in the face of what they gain.

We can begin today without setting ourselves distant goals.

Let us think of a responsibility we bear.

Let us remember a right action we have neglected.

Let us see whether we stand behind a promise we have made.

The value of life is not measured solely by how much we possess.

What we do with those things also matters.

As an opportunity becomes more attractive, people sometimes increase the exceptions they allow themselves.

This time, they may give a different name to behavior they would not normally consider right.

When a major customer is involved, they may find it harder to maintain their boundaries.

The possibility of losing the gain may narrow their thinking.

It is in these moments that what we truly accept as our standard becomes visible.

If we preserve our values only when doing so will cost us nothing, we should think about them again.

People cannot resolve every difficulty at once.

But they can honestly name their own decision.

Without presenting their choice as a necessity, they can see the reason they made it.

This honesty may also help them look for another way.

Awareness of accountability does not mean only fearing the consequence of wrongdoing.

It also means remembering the value of choosing what is right.

The fact that an action does not receive immediate applause in this world does not mean it is insignificant.

A person’s truthful words may cause them to stand alone.

Still, they do not have to measure the value of their words solely by the crowd’s reaction.

The reminder of the denial faced by the prophets and their patience takes on meaning at this point.

Walking on a right path does not always promise ease.

Patience is the effort to maintain one’s direction amid difficulty.

This effort extends into our daily lives as well.

It becomes visible in family responsibilities, decisions at work, and the promises we make.

Let us not place an insurmountable wall between caring about this world and remembering the Hereafter.

Our behavior in this world can show our seriousness about the Hereafter.

How we spend today determines what we carry into tomorrow.

So let us not belittle the choices we consider ordinary, either.

Question: Alongside what we have gained today, what action of ours can we account for with a clear conscience?