The Angel of Death visits every single one of us every single day. I for one certainly don’t live as if this is a reality.

Imam Ghazali tells us a parable of a man walking in the jungle. A hungry lion began to chase him and the man ran as fast as he could to escape. He noticed a well in front of him and jumped inside, the only hope for escape he could see.

As he was falling inside the well, he grabbed onto the rope and saved himself. He was relieved but on looking down again felt terror as he saw a huge snake at the bottom of the well.

The man then looked up and saw two mice nibbling at the rope, one black and one white. The lion prowled around the well, waiting.

The man’s heart was pounding as he wondered how he could escape from this. Then he noticed a honeycomb in front of him which had sweet honey dripping from it. He stuck his finger into the honey and tasted it. For a split second in its sweetness, he forgot about the lion, the snake and the two mice chewing at the rope.

Imam Ghazali explained that the lion represents the Angel of Death who is always close behind us. The snake symbolises the grave and its punishment. The black mouse and white mouse were like the night and day respectively which are always nibbling away at the fabric our life (the rope). The honey was like this Dunya which with its momentary sweetness distracts us and we forget death and the eternal life.

Sitting in the graveyard and contemplating the ‘dead’ made it evident that in fact, they are far more alive than we are. Their real, eternal lives have begun, whereas we exist in a sort of limbo, a collapsible world that masks us from the realities of existence. They are fully aware of the truth, they can now see it with their naked eyes, while we are limited to our faulty perceptions, veiled from the ‘worlds’ and their content and meaning.












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