 with the sisters. This fear of death that we have drives us to prepare for the next life. And that's why we shouldn't postpone. We've been given a limited unknown amount of time. Don't waste it on this world. Waste it. Spend it on the next life. Spend it building your next life. And you do that by doing good deeds. So this is number one. The first benefit of this fear is that what? It motivates us and drives us to build our next life, to do good deeds. The second benefit of the fear of death is that it serves as a deterrent from committing sins and oppressing other people. It makes sure that we're just, that we don't infringe on other people's rights. How? Look in any country, here in this country and every country in the world, there are laws, correct? And there's a law enforcement agency like the police and the FBI and the IRS and all those other agencies. Now, and usually the citizens of that country, they fear breaking the law, correct? Now, is this fear good or bad? Of course it's good, because if it was not for the fear of breaking the law, most people would not follow the law. Most people aren't angels. Now, today I'm coming from let's say Dearborn. It's a one-hour drive. The speed limit is 70. If there's no cops to, you know what, to make sure that I don't speed, what's going to prevent me from speeding? I personally would drive 100 miles an hour if there's no cops and it's, and you know, the highway is empty, correct? So what makes sure that you drive safely? You wear the seatbelt, you don't pass the red light, correct? You don't pass the stop sign? Usually it's the fear that you have of the cops. It's not because you're a good obedient citizen and you love obeying the law. Maybe 1% of the population are like that. 99% they obey because there is what? Because there's fear, because you don't want to get a ticket, because you don't want to what? Be prosecuted, you don't want to be given a fine, you don't want to spend time in jail. That's what makes sure that I am a good obedient citizen. What prevents me from paying my taxes because I love paying taxes? Trust me, no one loves paying taxes because you fear the law, breaking the law, correct? The same thing applies to the next life. When we have fear of death, when I know that one day I will die and be placed in the grave and Allah will hold me accountable for every deed. Do you know what that will do to me? I will think twice before I commit a sin. I will think twice before I oppress any other individual. You see, there are so many people, they get away with crimes in this world. Nobody knows about it, no one can prove it. But with Allah, you can never get away with any crime. You know Allah is watching you 24-7, no matter where you are. That's why the Holy Qur'an says, Allah never sleeps. Never. He never takes a nap. He's always watching you. When I know God's watching me 24-7, what will I do? I'm going to behave, correct? I will not oppress other people. I will not, for example, steal other people's possessions. I will be kind and good with other people because he's watching me. A few days ago, they sent a video. There's a camera, you know, those street cameras. I think it's in India or Pakistan or somewhere. And there's this motorist. He's trying to fix his motorcycle and then a guy comes from behind him. He acts like he's just, you know, wandering there and then he snatches his wallet. After he snatches his wallet, he says, oh my God, there's a camera. It caught me. So then he throws the wallet back and then he starts going like this to the camera. Please don't, you know, prosecute me. He starts to, he starts to beg the camera, whoever is looking. Don't hold me accountable. You know, I gave the wallet back. If that camera was not there, you think he'd give the wallet back? Allah's camera is on 24-7. Do you know what this does to us? This fear of what? Of being caught? It makes us behave. Allah is watching me right now, tomorrow, every day. There's no way I can run away from Allah SWT. So this fear of dying and being placed in that grave and being held accountable by Allah is a deterrent from you committing haram, committing oppression, committing transgression, oppressing other people and being unjust with other people. And that's why you find there is a hadith, a beautiful hadith that says when we die and we are placed in our graves, there is an angel that will come and that angel will come and tell you to write every good and bad deed that you have done. You lived 80 years, you've done millions of bad deeds and some good deeds. So he tells you to write them. You tell them write them with what, where? He tells you your kafan will be your paper. Take a piece of your kafan. What do I write with? Your finger will be your pen. What's the ink? The ink will be your saliva. He tells you to write. You begin to write, you see it's writing. So you try to remember and if you forget, he reminds you. And then the hadith says you only write your good deeds. I prayed, Salat al-Lil, I went to Hajj, I gave a donation, I came to the Majlis of Ashura, and then, okay, I'm done. Tells you, wait a minute, what about all the haram things you did? What about all the times you hurt other people's feelings? What about the times that you missed prayer that you stole, that you looked at the opposite gender in the haram way? What about those? So the hadith says you just nod your head down. You don't write it. He tells you, why won't you write it? This is where we tell him, I am embarrassed to write those things in front of you. Sometimes we commit certain indecent acts in private. We don't want anyone to know, Allah knows, He watched me, we don't care. So the angel is angered here. He tells you, you should be ashamed of yourself. You were not embarrassed of Allah when you did it. He saw you, you're not embarrassed of Him. Now you're embarrassed from me. Just a normal angel. He tells me write it until I write every good deed and every bad deed. And then, after I finish it, the hadith says the angel takes this kefen, which is only Allah knows how long, and then He turns it miraculously into a ring. And then He puts the ring on my neck, and then He reads the verse where Allah says, وكل إنسان الزمناه طائره في عنقه, ونخرج له يوم القيامة كتابا يلقاه من شوره. Allah says in the Holy Quran, every human being, we will place his deeds on his neck. This hadith says, how Allah will place it on my neck like a ring. And the hadith says, when the ring is placed on my neck, I will feel like the mountains have been placed on my neck. How heavy my deeds are, especially the bad deeds. And then Allah on the day of judgment, He will present it as a book, and it will mention every small deed and good deed. Allah mentions after that, He says, فَتَرَلْ مُجْرِمِينَ مُشْفِقِينَ مِمَّا فِي When Allah says, read this book, they're afraid, oh my God, this has all my evil acts, all my sins, all of them, فَتَرَلْ مُجْرِمِينَ مُشْفِقِينَ مِمَّا فِي They say, oh my God, they begin to flip the pages every single deed, every single sin, every time they did anything bad or good. It's written in this book, they forgot it, but Allah does not forgive. It's mentioned in that book, so they say, oh my God, I'm doomed. It's all there, I thought I got away with it. When I heard someone's feelings, when I stole something, when I was by myself and I did some wrong acts, I did not get away with it. It's all written in this book. And then Allah says, وَوَجَدُوا مَا عَمِلُوا حَاضِرًا All their actions are there. Allah does not oppress you. He'll show you your bad deeds and then hold you accountable. And Allah will hold me accountable for everything. The Holy Quran says, فَمَا يَعمَ المِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرَّنْ يَرَةً فَمَا يَعمَ المِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا If you do a deed as small as a particle, Allah will save it. He'll record it. He'll record it and on the day of judgment and in our graves, He will show it and He will hold me accountable for all of that. Now when I, the human being, know that Allah is monitoring, is so strong and nothing will, He will miss nothing. I'll think twice before I do Haram, correct? So this fear of death is what will make me behave. And that's why brothers and sisters, we have to always ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He tries us with mercy, not justice, because most of us can't handle the justice of Allah. If Allah wants to be just with every single one of us, we'd be doomed because we're unjust beings. And that's why the Holy Quran says, وَلَو يُعَخِذُ اللَّهُ النَّاسَ بِضُلْمِهَمْ مَا تَرَكَ عَلَيْهَا مِنْ دَابٍ If Allah wanted to punish us for every deed, He'd have to destroy the entire human race, because there's no one that's infallible, correct? We all do so much mistakes. But Allah is tolerant, Allah is patient, Allah is merciful. That's why we should tell Allah, ya Allah, please, don't judge me based on my book. I know I deserve to go to the fires of hell. I know I deserve punishment because I've been so bad. Please, I want your mercy. Be kind with me, be generous with me. Be merciful with me. Don't even open my book because it's all black. It's all wrong. It's all haram. Show me your mercy. Show me your forgiveness. And Allah will show us, insha'Allah, His forgiveness. And that's why it's narrated that there was a alem, a scholar. This scholar, he used to, you know, we have a dua'at that says, Oh Allah, treat me like I said with your mercy, not with justice. This scholar was kind of arrogant. He used to say, Allah, I don't need Allah's mercy. Allah is just, I'm fine, because I'm a just being. And if Allah won't oppress me, then I don't need His mercy. And then one night while he's writing one of his books, there's a candle lit and he sees a mosquito. There's a, there's a needle. What does he do? The mosquito is bothering him. So he takes the needle and he inserts it inside the mosquito. So it goes inside the needle. And then he puts it over the what? The candle. Like she's, like he's frying it like shishkaba, the mosquito. It's just a mosquito. What's the big deal? And then he puts it away. He sleeps that same night. He sees a dream. Remember we spoke about dreams and we said sometimes Allah makes you see a dream in which it makes you stop doing something Haram where he guides you in your dream. He sees a dream. It's the day of judgment and the angel, he's being tried. And he sees a few angels are carrying a huge needle and they're coming after him. He says, what is this? They tell him, you want to put this in your stomach and then fry you over the fires of hell. He says, what, why? They tell him, because on that night, remember what you did to the mosquito? Allah is just. Whatever you do to someone has to be done back to you. This is complete 100% justice even with animals. Didn't you say when you were in the dunya that I don't need Allah's mercy? I want Allah's justice. This is Allah's justice. Can you handle Allah's justice? Even if you heard to ant, Allah will punish you. But we cannot bear and handle the mercy of the justice of Allah. That's why we should say Allah treat us with mercy. So this halim, he woke up. He was so afraid from that day on, he began to say to Allah, Allah, I need your mercy. I was wrong. We all are in need of the mercy of Allah. From some point tonight, brothers and sisters, we have to take this fear and we have to benefit from it so that we build our akhir, that we stay away from haram because Allah is monitoring us 24 seven.