The way you live is the way you die

In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious (Ar-Rahman), The Most Merciful (Ar-Rahim)

This expression is taken from a song I used to listen to and I had thought about this phrase for many times and wondered what it meant. After reading plenty of books and articles, I have now able to define what it means, at least I think so. Alhamdulillah.

Have you ever seen people died over drug or died while playing soccer or died doing what they do? Do you know the Australian "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin? He was killed by a deadly stingray. I heard that he had his ways to nature and this is true, in fact, he had had close shaves before the final run. The bottom line is, he died doing what he did best. A drug addict will probably die from taking too much drug; a stunt actor/rider/driver would probably die from doing a dangerous breath-taking event. I have just googled “stunt dies” in the search box and found this

A motorbike stunt rider has died after crash-landing while trying to jump between two ramps at a festival at Exmouth in Western Australia”. [www.news.com.au]

As a faithful servant of The Al-Mighty, we pray and hope to die peacefully [husnul-khotimah] . And then probably, you might ask? What the point? You see, death is the first step towards meeting Allah and if a person died having said shahadah (Laa Ilaa Ha Illallah), the perhaps, that person, InsyaAllah, will meet His Creator in once piece and vice versa. But we are warned not to judge people, not to say the things we do not have knowledge of. That kinda reminds of someone who likes talking about bad things (even if it is true) of that person is called "ghibah" or slander. It is strongly forbidden in Islam. Ghibah or slander is mentioned many times in the Qur'an:

'O ye who believe! let not some men among you laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): nor let some women laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: and those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong. [Surah al-Hujurat:11]

Now, I know for a fact that women are more inclined to gossiping but NOW, men are also slowly 'descending' to that part of the hill. But both sexes should even start slander in the first place as it will and has proven in history that it can only bring disorder in the community. The theory is that people have the tendency to exaggerate one matter because otherwise, it would NOT be spicy enough for people to hear. Let's experiment...

A says to B, "Hey! I heard a house lizard fell into the pond.."
B says to C, "Hey! I heard a lizard fell into the pond.."
C says to D, "Hey! I heard a baby croc fell into the pond.."
D says to E, "Hey! I heard a croc fell into the pond.." I hope you see where this is going because you DONT WANNA KNOW what Y said to Z.

So, the point is yes, it IS fun to exaggerate but if you're talking about someone, then its best if you just leave them alone. I hear that there are instances where slander can be a good deed. You can tell your friend that a person is a thief or a rapist and so on so that people are extra catious when he or she is around that person.

Up to this point you may think that I have gone beyond the main heading and yes! You are right but its not entirely out of the point. You see when you like gossiping, on the phone, at work, while taking a shower (I don't know if thats possible), and so on and so forth, you will probably, insyaAllah, die that way i.e. while you mouth is running. I actually had the intent to quote one of The Prophet's hadith about how a person's habit will be 'part' with him but I can't seem to find it anywhere. May Allah forgive us for all of our sins and wrong-doings.