Having been back from the first day of an intense weekend course on Akhirah, I am quite shaken. I do want to stay this shaken for as long as can (in other words, forever), because I find it really hard to stay constant in my actions, words and motivation. One of the things that really shook me was the supplication of the Prophet (S) for a dead person he would come across, so that the departed soul is granted 'a better family' than his current one, and 'a better home' than his current home.

In other words, when there are some people in the family that are disproportionately less true in faith, then they can be forgotten and not missed at all, rather Allah will grant the rest of the more believing family members with another family that they much prefer over their previous family.

I shudder to think about that...

Or the humiliation after a life full of wrong deeds and disobedience, the humiliation that starts right from death. First the soul refuses to leave the body, then once its harshly torn out of the body, then it starts smelling bad and is cursed by angels. "When a person dies, then either the person is in comfort or other people who he departed are comforted by his departure". Dear God, do not make me one whose departure comforts a single innocent soul or creation.

And the life in the grave... simple things in life can make so much difference: firm steady faith and practice, recitation of Surah Mulk every night, speaking the truth, having a good character... all of these simple, consistent, daily efforts. Efforts that are so hard to make, but the consequence of not making which are so very severe...

Dear God, never let me lose the Akhirah, 'the other choice', from its right perspective...