Chapter: "Encouraging the remembrance of death, the brevity of life, hastening in deeds, the virtue of a long life for one whose deeds are good, and the prohibition of wishing for death" Discussion of

The Shaykh : The chapter we are now opening anew is the statement of al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri in his book al-Targhib.
He said: "Encouraging the remembrance of death, the brevity of life, hastening in deeds, the virtue of a long life for one whose deeds are good, and the prohibition of wishing for death" This is the title of this chapter.
The first hadith, which is a hasan hadith, he said.
From Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: meaning death. It was narrated by Ibn Majah and al-Tirmidhi, who graded it hasan, and it was narrated by al-Tabarani in al-Awsat with a hasan chain, and by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih. With this addition, meaning he said: The hadith that follows is weak.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : Yes, the hadith that follows is weak.
And the one after that is hasan, and it is his statement: From Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) passed by a gathering where they were laughing, and he said: I think he said: It was narrated by al-Bazzar with a hasan chain, and by al-Bayhaqi in abbreviated form: meaning the severs of pleasures. Some narrate it with the letter dal (d) as "the destroyer of pleasures," and the meaning is the same, except that the most common in terms of narration is the letter dh (dh) as "the breaker of pleasures." "Increase your remembrance of the breaker of pleasures." This is how the hadith came in some of the well-known narrations. In some other narrations, as we mentioned, with a hasan chain, it contains this addition and this sentence, which is considered an explanatory clause, where he (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) said: The intended meaning of this sentence is that the Muslim has two states: a state of ease in life and a state of hardship and austerity in this life. The prevailing state for those whom Allah has expanded in their provision and blessings is that heedlessness takes control of them, because wealth is a trial, as he (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) said: So ease in life is always and forever accompanied by much wealth, and thus this ease becomes for the person a cause of falling into heedlessness: heedlessness of his Lord, heedlessness of his worship of Him (Blessed and Exalted is He), heedlessness of everything he is required to do. So when he remembers death, and the intended meaning of remembering death is that he remains constantly remembering it, not that he remembers death once in his life or five or fifteen times, but rather he is always remembering this death which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has decreed for him at all times. So if it is his habit and his constant preoccupation to remember the death that he will soon meet, then if he is in a state of ease in life, he restricts this ease for himself, meaning he narrows the circle of trial through this ease. And his remembrance of death becomes a cause for him to remain mindful of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) and to fulfill what Allah has made obligatory upon him. And conversely, if he is in the other state, that is, in hardship in life, his remembrance of death expands it for him. How is that? Because he will find himself, as long as he is approaching his Lord through this death, in a state of ease, because no matter how much a person is in hardship, the matter is as Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said:
So, the remembrance of death benefits the person whether he is in a state of ease in life or in hardship. And this is a reality. Therefore, it follows from the Muslim's habit of remembering the death that is coming upon him, whether near or far, that he remains remembering Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and fulfilling everything that is required of him.