Extreme fear of death: Is it one of the diseases of the heart?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Is extreme fear of death considered one of the diseases of the heart?
The Shaykh:
No, this is from Shaytan. I mean, this is from Shaytan: the extreme fear of death and the intrusive thoughts, like what happens to some people. This is from Shaytan. A person knows that he will die, without a doubt; he knows that he will die, but the fear of death does not increase to the point where he is driven to abandon his deeds, abandon his brothers and relatives, and perhaps abandon his parents and children. No, this is from Shaytan. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was the greatest of those who feared Allah, and yet he had wives. Also, his soul was at peace and his mind was at ease, and he knew that he would die (peace and blessings be upon him). Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh:
I felt extreme fear of death, so I seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, because this is an intrusive thought. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Is extreme fear of death considered one of the diseases of the heart?
The Shaykh:
No, this is from Shaytan. I mean, this is from Shaytan: the extreme fear of death and the intrusive thoughts, like what happens to some people. This is from Shaytan. A person knows that he will die, without a doubt; he knows that he will die, but the fear of death does not increase to the point where he is driven to abandon his deeds, abandon his brothers and relatives, and perhaps abandon his parents and children. No, this is from Shaytan. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was the greatest of those who feared Allah, and yet he had wives. Also, his soul was at peace and his mind was at ease, and he knew that he would die (peace and blessings be upon him). Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh:
I felt extreme fear of death, so I seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, because this is an intrusive thought. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، بداية من قول المُصَنِّف : ومن علامات صحة القلب — islamhouse.com (52:02)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.