One of my coworkers and I were discussing all of the talk and preparation in the lead up to this past weekend’s blizzard, which blanketed much of the Northeast. She remarked that, the people here (in the Washington DC Metro area) were acting crazy, clearing out store shelves grabbing everything and anything they could lay their hands on as though being snowed in for a few days was more serious than the Day of Judgment, which of course, very few people actually fear much less think about and begin making preparations for it.
If we had our priorities in order, we would be preparing even more seriously for the day we will all be called to account. The day that will be equal to 50,000 years. A day when we will be swimming and some drowning in their own sweat. A day when we will be standing all alone, afraid of what we have sent forth, of our mistakes, of our sins, of our intentions (were they purely for the sake of Allah?). There will be no ties of kinship or friendship on that day, all will be standing naked. Aisha (radiy Allahu anha) asked the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam): “Won’t the people be looking at each other?” and he (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) replied, “The affair [on the day] is more severe and more serious than that.”
At Home Depot, there were only garden shovels left and the people were still snapping those up. I lost my gloves sometime last week and went to Target to try to find a new pair, I looked for the glove display only to be told by a worker that their entire inventory was sold-out. There were massive lines at grocery stores and gas stations, it looked like the aftermath of a natural disaster. All this before the first flakes of snow fell from the sky.
I’m from upstate New York where snow is just a matter of daily life in the winter. So I tend not to “freak out” over every little bit of potential snow accumulation. As a believer, I am reminded to take stock of not only if I have enough food and gas to make it through the weekend but of what I am sending forth and preparing for the real calamity. The day when the books, which omit nothing large or small are laid open and my Lord calls me to account. One of the salaf said, “Know that if Allah questions you about anything on that day, you will be punished.”
May Allah azza wa jal make us of those who remember and prepare for the final day and make us from those given our book of deeds in the right hand, and make us of those who have truly suceeded. Ameen.
Ify Okoye 
Allahumma Ameen.
SubhanAllah amazing reminder. My dad and brothers have been sending me pictures of the snow and I haven’t seen snow like that since moving from Ottawa.
Over here on this side of the world, there have been sand storms and I also remembered the Day of Judgment and specifically hellfire when I would hear the wind outside or would be walking through it. One of the names of hellfire is “samoom” which means a scorching hot wind that burns. I never understood how painful and scary such a wind could be until experiencing it here. May Allah protect us from hellfire.
I’m always fascinated at how people accumulated supplies and stocked up on things they may not even use, *just to be on the safe side*.
Imagine subhanAllah if we took account and enumerated our deeds, just to be on the safe side, like we stock up on supplies for a storm.
I was reviewing some qur’an a few minutes ago and came upon an ayah that always shakes me when I read it…Allah says:
يَوْمَ يَبْعَثُهُمُ اللَّهُ جَمِيعًا فَيُنَبِّئُهُم بِمَا عَمِلُوا ۚ أَحْصَاهُ اللَّهُ وَنَسُوهُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ
On the Day when Allah will resurrect them all together and inform them of what they did. *Allah has kept account of it, while they have forgotten it.* And Allah is Witness over all things. (58:6)
PS- I like the new look 🙂
Ameen. My co-worker is Christian but she and I were on the same wave-length, ma sha Allah. Any intense weather conditions can be scary and reminds me of the Day of Judgment and the awesome power and might of Allah. Even on pleasant days there is so much mercy, truly Allah is the one who holds back the winds and who has created the clouds so that they can hold such amazing amounts of moisture.
I love this hadith:
Thanks, I just saw that WordPress introduced this new theme and I felt like I needed a change.
SubhanaAllah great Reminder and in a great blog as usual. I love your blogs you get to the point, realistically with examples and you speak of things that are relevant (Quran and Sunnah) Just wanted to say I do read your posts even though I don’t always get to comment on all of them and great Job!
Thanks for your support Holly.