Friday Sermon: Death and Its Mysteries 1: What is Our True Nature?

By Babatunde Jose

No one knows what death is, and whether it be the greatest of all good things for man. Nevertheless, it is feared as though it is the supreme evil –  Socrates

“Indeed, Allah [alone] has knowledge of the Hour and sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs. And no soul perceives what it will earn tomorrow, and no soul perceives in what land it will die. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.” (Quran, 31:34)

Man’s greatest wish has remained an open question and the survival of the soul, either in space or on other worlds or through earthly reincarnations, still confronts us as the most formidable of problems: Death.

Man may well ask himself if he is as insignificant in soul as he is in body, if the law of progress can raise him in an indefinite ascent, and if there is a system of order in the moral world that is harmoniously associated with the order of the physical world.

To start this series of inquiry into the nature of man, the mysteries of death, relationship of man and soul and related matters, it is appropriate to interrogate the conceptual foci of our sermon: Man.

Man only shares some biological relationship with animals; alimentary canal, heart, blood, kidney, lungs and the white matter. But differ a trillion ways from them. Man is both a physical and spiritual being, he is said to possess a soul which possesses supra normal faculties which is not only unknown but very little understood, he has a will with which he could act without the spoken word, without a sign and at a distance. Man could be telepathic and make psychic transmissions at a distance. Man possesses vision without eyes or the spirit vision. And most important Man has sights of future events: The present future, the already seen and the knowledge of the future.

Is spirit superior to matter? What is our true nature? What is our future destiny? Are we merely ephemeral flames shining an instant to be forever extinguished? Shall we never see again those whom we have loved and who have gone before us into the Great Beyond? Are such separations eternal? Does everything in us die? If something remains, what becomes of this imponderable element – invisible, intangible, but conscious – which must constitute our lasting personality? Will it endure for long? Will it endure forever?

Is death an end or a transformation? Are there proofs, evidences of survival of the human being after the destruction of the living organism? Until today the subject has remained outside the field of scientific observation. Are we not face to face with the mysteries of an invisible world that is different from that which lies before our senses and which cannot be penetrated by our methods of positive investigation?

Those who have never lost by death someone deeply loved have never sounded the depths of despair; have never bruised themselves against the closed door of the tomb.

Does our soul survive somewhere? Can I preserve the hope of seeing my departed ones, my wife, my sister, my father and my mother, and my dear friends which will form an endless list? If there exists any way of communicating with them? We simple mortals can neither know nor understand. Do souls survive somewhere, do they remember, do they still love those who remain on earth; do they see us?

Men of God are considered endowed with the power of penetrating the riddle of the supernatural and solving it. They answer such grief with the consolations of religion.

They speak in the name of Faith and Revelation; but faith is not even as generally held as we imagine. There are priests, Alfas and pastors who are without it, even while they teach it as a social necessity.

There are a hundred different religions on earth, all of them perhaps useful, but unacceptable from the point of view of philosophy. Face to face with such events as the riddle of death, their ministers are unable to convince us that a just and good God rules over humanity. Which raises the question of why God allows suffering and the issue of Theodicy.

We can understand the revolt of the afflicted against the consolations of the priests and Alfas especially when the pain of loss is much owing to the attenuating circumstances of death, such as the loss of couple and their 3 children in a gruesome accident. What manner of consolation and preachment can satisfy the bereaved? They are mute and only say ‘hmmm! God knows best.

With all the false consolations of religion, taking as a text the injustice which we see about us, men often console themselves with skepticism, by submission to the inevitable, by convincing themselves of the indifference of nature to human efforts.

More than ever, the frightful problem of our destiny rises before us. Is it really insoluble? Cannot the veil be pushed aside, lifted, if only for a moment? Alas! The religions which have all sprung from this heartfelt need, this desire to understand, this grief at seeing before us the mute shrouded body of our beloved ones in front of the congregation during Janazah prayer, have not brought the promised answer. The finest theological discussions prove nothing.

Death is the profoundest subject that has ever occupied the thoughts of men, the supreme problem of all times and all peoples. It is the inevitable end toward which we all tend; it is a part of the law of our existence, as important as birth. They are both natural transitions in the general evolution, and yet, for all that, death, which is just as natural as birth, seems to us to be against nature.

Hope in the continuation of life is innate in human nature. It belongs to all periods and all peoples. The development of science plays no part in this universal belief, which rests on personal aspiration and which nevertheless is not based on positive foundations. That is a fact that is valuable to state.

Can our efforts succeed in throwing some light upon this darkness of ages that surrounds the problem of death?

“Porro unum est necessarium,” or in English, “one single thing is necessary.” This single thing is the salvation of our souls.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. The subject of the text retains its value, whatever may be one’s beliefs. It cannot be disputed that the one all-important point for us is to know what fate is reserved for us after our last breath. The life of a thinking man is a meditation upon death.

If the existence of human beings leads to nothing, what is all this comedy about? Whether we face it boldly, or whether we avoid the image of it, Death is the supreme event of Life.

The funeral aspect of death is due, above all, to what surrounds it, to the mourning that accompanies it, to the religious ceremonies that envelop it, to the Dies Irae, to the De Profundis or the heartfelt deep feeling of anguish and sorrow. Who knows if the prayers of the dying would give solace to the bereaved?

It is hard not to desire an answer to the formidable question that presents itself when we think of our destiny, or when a cruel death has taken from us someone we love. How is it possible not to ask whether or not we shall find each other again, or if the separation is for eternity? Do injustice and evil rule over the progress of humanity, with no regard for the feelings that nature has placed in our hearts? And what is this nature itself? Has it a will, and end? Could there be more intelligence, more justice, more goodness, and more inspiration in our infinitesimally small minds than in the great universe? How many questions are associated with the same enigma!

Ought we to fear death for ourselves, or for those whom we love? ‘Horror of death’ is a senseless expression. One of two things is true: either we shall die wholly, or we shall continue to exist beyond the grave. If we die wholly we shall never know anything about it; consequently we shall not feel it. If we continue to exist, the subject is worth examining.

Someday our bodies will cease to live: there is not the least doubt on this point. If our thought, our psychic entity survives the dissolution of the material organism, we shall have the joy of continuing to live, because our conscious life will continue under another mode of existence that is superior to this. It must be superior, for progress is a law of nature that manifests itself throughout the whole history of the earth.

As concerns this great problem, we can say with Marcus Aurelius: “What is death? If we consider it in itself, if we separate it from the images with which we have surrounded it, we see that it is only a work of nature.”

Although often forgotten about or guiltily pushed away from our thoughts, the fact remains that this world is but temporal. Death is the only thing certain for us all, and is the only thing truly guaranteed in this life.

But Islam teaches us not to fear death, and to embrace our fate with the next world. While it is easy to fear the pain of death or the unknown, it is in fact our lives here on earth today that we must fear the most. For those who truly believe in Allah, death is a welcome passage.

As friends and family gather today to pray for the repose of the soul of Mohammed Babatunde Lediju, may Allah obliterate his shortcomings and grant him Jannatul Firdous.

“O soul that are at rest! Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with him), well-pleasing (Him), So enter among My servants, And enter into My garden.” (Quran, 89:27-30)

Finally, last week Thursday 14^th August marked the 27^th anniversary of the passing of my wife Zainab Onoriode Jose. May Allah grant her Jannatul Firdous.

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend