here and there.

Reported by Abu Huraira (RA): The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “ It will be said to the people of Paradise, ‘O people of Paradise! Eternity (for you) and no death,’ and to the people of the Fire, ‘O people of the Fire, eternity (for you) and no death!”
(Bukhari)

I actually chanced upon this image on one of my friend's FB a few weeks back and since then, I have been thinking long and hard about life and death and everything surrounding the journey between here and there.

This image is by far the most visual, and really the clearest about hell and heaven that I've seen in almost 30 years of my life. Suddenly, the whole Pendidikan Islam curricular through out my education makes sense to me.

If you're seeing this for the first time and you still don't feel intrigued, then I really don't know what to say. All I know is that I was intrigued when I first saw it and I frankly, I still am. And it has made me think alot about my iman and amal.

Iman and amal, for me is a thing that fluctuates on a daily basis. Normally, when I'm tested with a calamity, my search for Allah is greater. Not that it's wrong, of course, since we are all told to find refuge in Allah, but the operative word here is greater.

It means that in times of joy and happiness or pure contentedness, while I do not forget Allah, I tend to take for granted the fact that those blessings also come from Him and that I should also similarly seek refuge, and say my thanks for such a good life. 

And that's only one chapter of my thoughts.

That's just about my remembering Allah, not yet about my actual amalan; my pahala and dosa; my shares to enable (immediate or fast tracked) entrance into Jannah. I say immediate or fast tracked because as you can see from the image above, most people eventually get to Jannah, even after a long and hard journey (if you managed to cross the bridge, of course), but if I want to immediately get there, I wonder if what I'm currently doing and practicing is enough.

If my dosa and pahala are placed next to each other, which would outweigh the other? Would I be ready to die... now?

While my fear of death is mostly centered around thoughts of my child's fate if I were dead, I do think that it's also because I don't have the answer to my own question above. I really just don't know. 

Will I be a member of Jannah? Eventually, In sha Allah.

But will I have a long and torturous life before I get there?

That would be for me to decide - and work on. Work really hard on. 

May Allah ease. And may Allah place me among the righteous.

Neraka certainly doesn't look like much fun.