:: Dying Words of A Father pt 2 ::

When you hear hoofbeats think of a zebra

By: Shems Friedlander

My dear son, remember not to overload yourself, do not entrust yourself with so many obligations and duties that you cannot honourable fulfil them or burden yourself with a life so luxurious as to be wicked and vicious. 

Because of this load is more that you can conveniently bear, then your journey will be painful and toilsome. If you find around yourself poor, needy, and destitute people who are willing to carry your load as far as the Day of Judgement, then consider this to be a boon, engage them and pass your burden onto them. 

Distribute your wealth among the poor, destitute, and needy – help others to the best of your ability and be kind and sympathetic to human beings. Thus, relieve yourself of the heavy responsibility and liability of submitting an account on the Day of Reckoning of how you made use of His Favors of health, wealth, power, and position. Thus you may arrive at the end of your journey light and fresh, and may have enough provision for you there, reward for having done your duty to man and Allah in this world. Have as many weight carriers as you can and help as many people as you can, so that you may have them when you need them.

Remember all that you give out in charities and good deeds are like loans that will be paid back to you. Therefore when you are wealthy and powerful, make use of your wealth and power in such a way that you get all that back on the day when you will be poor and helpless: the Day of Judgement. 

Be it known to you, my son, that your passage lies through the dreadful valley of death, and the journey is extremely trying and arduous. Here a man with light weight is far better than an overburdened person, and one who can journey fast will pass through the valley more quickly than one whom encumberment forces to go slowly. 

You shall have to pass through this valley. The only way out of it is wither in Heaven or Hell: there is no other way out and no possibility of retracing your steps. Therefore, it is wise to send your things beforehand, so that your good actions arrive before you; prearrange the place of your stay before you reach it, because after death there is no repentance and no possibility of coming back to this world to undo the wrong done by you.