SEEING WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING AS MUSLIMS AND WORRYING PROPERLY ABOUT THEM AS MUSLIMS

When we think of the fear of death, we think of dying too young, or having an unfinished short story; For every mother, their children is to think first. However, every death is early because every age has its own excitement and because no one finishes his job and then dies.

On the other hand, the death is the "Ecel (fate)" for the believers. “Ecel”, on the other hand, is our greatest reality, which has been individually appointed for every each of us, and has not been informed to us just like “the hour of the Doom”: "And spend [in the way of Allah ] from what We have provided you before death approaches one of you and he says, "My Lord, if only You would delay me for a brief term so I would give charity and be among the righteous." But never will Allah delay a soul when its time has come. Allah is aware of what you do. ”(Al- Munafiqun/ 10-11)

Therefore, it is said that "the Ecel protects person from death."

The time of our death is clear from the very beginning, it is not possible to delay or postpone it; moreover, it is a mystery, there is no difference between the death of tomorrow and the death in later years. Instead, we have the opportunity to "repent" instead too much thinking about the past and the "pray" instead of worrying about the future. We have the opportunity to live the “moment” and put valuable things forth for the post-mortem:

"O you who have believed, fear Allah let every soul look to what it has put forth for tomorrow - and fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is well aware of what you do. ”(Al-Hashr / 18)

We have the opportunity to beautify our death:

"O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims [in submission to Him]. (Ali-Imran/102)”(Al-i İmran / 102)

Moreover, the prophets having the characteristics of "ismet", that is, "sinlessness" and yet their great effort to welcome the death as true believers is meaningful to us: "Cause me to die a Muslim and join me with the righteous." (Yusuf/101)

How is it possible to beautify the death?

A man came to our Prophet, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and said: “–O Rasulallah! when is the doom?. He (pbuh):

"–What did you prepare for the Doomsday?" and the man said:

"–The Love for Allah and His Messenger ..." he replied. Thereupon, our Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

"Then you will be with your loved one." . (Muslim, Birr, 163

Is Difficulties Punishment or Mercy?

Allah the Almighty states in the Qur'an that the believers have been tested to demonstrate who will do good work, and they are all as a warning to remind Himself because of what the person is doing in the world. In addition, in some hadiths, it is said that believers are tested in order to make them better and worthy for the positions in the hereafter. "If any misfortune, distress, grief, sadness, torment comes to a Muslim, or even a thorn is harmed him, Allah will surely make them redemption to his sins." (Bukhari, Marda, 1)

On the other hand, the sending of the misfortunes are always be in the form of “destruction”. When human being, whose duty is to provide “justice” on earth, become cruel through his “persecutions”; and when the earth groaning in pain because of his “persecutions”, Allah the Almighty intervenes and destroys those societies. In fact, when the spirituality of the heart died completely, their hearts were also literally stopped with a divine intervention by Allah The Almighty. Although The Creator used the word “punishment” while these destructions are being told to us, there is also expression that we “make them signs for you” referring the destruction of many nation. That is, some archaeological remains are left from those ruins; these destructions have a new meaning for us, not just show the revenge of The Creator. The next generations are expected to take lessons and make better themselves.

Regardless of the misfortunes we have experienced- since the revelation period is over- seeing these misfortune as “punishment” is like making divine judgments with our limited intelligence and interpretations; and this also means going beyond the limits of being “human” while there are zillions of things that are unknown. In verse: “And if Allah were to impose blame on the people for what they have earned, He would not leave upon the earth any creature. But He defers them for a specified term. And when their time comes, then indeed Allah has ever been, of His servants, Seeing." (Fatır / 45)

In other words, if he is to punish his servants directly for every mistake, there would be no living thing on earth.

And We have already sent [messengers] to nations before you, [O Muhammad]; then We seized them with poverty and hardship that perhaps they might humble themselves [to Us] Then why, when Our punishment came to them, did they not humble themselves? But their hearts became hardened, and Satan made attractive to them that which they were doing. (An'am / 42-43)

The divine will of Allah the Almighty is not to punish, but to send various warnings to invite them to have faith. We can illustrate this as follows; Think of a system that aims to reduce criminals' inclination towards crime, not punish criminals; Not to build new prisons and punish every criminal; It aims to meet the prison needs and zero out the number of people that need to go to prison.

In Hadith-i Sharif: “How nice is the situation of the believer! Every case has benefit for him and this situation is only for the believer. He is thankful when a good thing happens in his her live; that action would be good for him. Whenever a difficulty come to him or her, s/he becomes patient; which would be good for him.” (Muslim, Zuhd, 64)

He does not know for which of these reasons the troubles come. But for whatever reason they come; He should be strengthening his relationship with The Creator, trying to read these warnings.

Believers and Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy theories have two different aspects; first they are known as being an assumption and the second one is the theories that are put forwarded as "the only truth". They do not think of other possibilities. Conspiracy theories can be true like any other theories. Here are two things that a believer should pay attention to: This information should not make us forget that, in the case of coronavirus for example, if the virus claims not to be a natural mutant, but to be mutant in the laboratory environment, every things that happen to us can only be happened by the permission of Allah : “No disaster strikes except by permission of Allah . And whoever believes in Allah - He will guide his heart. And Allah is Knowing of all things." (At-Taghabun/ 11)

The thinking that giant powers, super-power countries, evil-oriented people, or any race can harm us should not make us forget that the real power is Allah The Almighty and he is the one who let the harm reach us.

The other thing is that these theories should not make us believe that we are passive in this world, like a helpless being swept in the middle of the giant forces in the universe. There are also possibilities for conspiracy theories to be true. But let's not forget that "Not a leaf falls but that He knows it." (An'am/59) and that Allah is the Fail’i Mutlak (The absolute Creator for everything) and Esbabu’l Musebbib (The Creator of all causes), and also forgetting these things may harm our faith. And these approaches towards these misfortunes prevent us from thinking " what messages that Allah give through these misfortunes?" ..

Then; our attention, energy, perception should be focus on how we are spending our precious and limited time and the actions that make us closer to being "a representative of Allah on the earth"; not to things that we cannot change, or the things what we are not responsible for, or any useless pastimes activities.

How can we welcome the difficulties and challenges that are sent by Allah in a best way? We can go to the nearest mirror, look ourselves and ask this question.

Like many people we are at homes, because of the Virus we are in a sort of isolation. "What can I do for humanity?" may be another question in this self-isolation days. We can search for answers that fit in with our own rhythm of life

In this way, our mind and heart are protected from the unnecessary flow of information that is going around these days more than ever, pushing us to anxiety, and the worst of all; into despair. Let's not forget that we need to get one of the masks we wear while going out to protect our inner world too.

I wish healing for the sick, mercy and grace for the dead, health and welfare for the rest.