Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Reflecting on death: spontaneous or forced?

“What if the thought of death does not come to us spontaneously? Should we force ourselves to reflect on death? Would that reflection be authentic? Does reflection on death not make us disinterested in our daily activities?”Asked by Kaif, Delhi

He answers at 1:15:36 in Concept of Death in Islam · 2 min 23 sec

His answer, in his own words
1:15:36
Maulana, agla sawal Delhi se hai, Mr Kaif ka. unhon ne likha hai what if the thought of death does not come to us spontaneously? Should we force ourselves to reflect on death? Would that reflection be authentic? Does reflection on death not make us disinterested in our daily activities? dekhen, maut ek jab yeh maloom hoga ke maut ek reality hai, to hamein sochna hi hai is ke upar. jab yeh maloom hoga ke
1:16:15
jaara aane wala hai, to hamein sardi ka samna karna hi pare ga. to jab maut ke bare mein yeh bar bar tajurba hai ke aadmi marta hai, marta hai, marta hai, to hum us ko kaise ignore kar sakte hain? humein sochna hi parega is ko, lazman. baqi yeh baat ke maut ke sochne se aadmi mein yaani kya hai, activity kam ho jayegi? maulana, ke haan, disinterested ho jata hai insaan agar zyada soche maut ke bare mein. dekhein, yeh baat sahi nahi hai. maut ke bare mein is waqt urgency paida hoti hai, zyada active ho jata hai. maut ka yaad karenge aap to sense of urgency aayegi ke bhai waqt bohat kam hai, cut dalo jo karna hai. yeh ajeeb ghareeb baat aksar log kehte hain mujh se,
1:17:09
halanke ulti baat hai. maut jo hai, aap ke andar sense of urgency lati hai ke bohat kam waqt hai, cut dalo jo karna hai. to mera tajurba to yahi hai ke main har waqt is mein is hisab se jeeta hoon ke ke kal mauqa rahe, na rahe, aaj hi cut dalo. kal pata nahi mauqa milega ya nahi milega, aaj hi cut dalo. to bohat zyada chobees ghante bas busy rehta hoon. to mere andar maut jo hai, aur main rozana maut ko yaad karta hoon, bohat zyada. to mera tajurba yeh hai ke maut aadmi ke andar sense of urgency lati hai, jo apne aap mein bohat valuable cheez hai, bohat valuable cheez hai.
1:17:59
maulana, yeh sawal Delhi se hai, mahbub ilahi sahib ka. unhon ne likha hai how Allah will take a man who was born in a non-Muslim family, followed his family's faith and led righteous life, but never received an elaborate message from Islam
All questions he answeredThe whole lecture, from this momentWatch on YouTube

Machine transcription. These are his recorded words, written down by software from the Urdu he speaks — so a line may carry a misheard word. Every timestamp above opens the video at that second: one tap and you can hear him say it. Quote it as speech, and link to the moment.