Remember death much to keep negligence away
(133) Ubbi Bin Ka'ab related to us that “when two-thirds of the night had passed, the Apostle of God would get up and say, ‘O people, Remember God ! Remember God ! The convulsion of the Last Day [i.e., the first blast of the Trumpet] is near and closely following it is the second [blast]. Death, with all the things that go with it, is hovering over the head ! Death, with all the attendant details, is about to strike.'”
Tirmidhi
Commentary.-According to the Traditions, the usual practice of the Holy Prophet was to divide his nights into three parts. The first part was spent in attending to his special needs and occupations and in offering up the Isha prayers, during the second part he slept, and, then, he would get up for Tahajjud, and when the third part of the night began, he wanted to wake up, as related by Ubbi in the above Tradition, the members of his household and the general body of the Believers for prayers and Zikr. In order to drive away drowsiness and lethargy, he used to remind them, at that time, of the terrifying events of the Last Day and the extreme agony of death which is an unfailing recipe for stirring up people from negligence and slothfulness to the veneration and remembrance of God. Even today, it is most effective for anyone who may be finding it hard to leave the bed for Tahajjud to call to his mind the sufferings of death and of the grave and the Day of Final Reckoning.
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