Best Place to Die

As Salaamu Alaikoom

A question on a list serve I am a part of was asked as follows: "What are the virtues of dying while performing Hajj? Is it permissible for a person to ask for such a death before leaving for Hajj? Can this be included as part of the intentions for performing Hajj? To me Hajj seems to be the perfect place and time to die."

The response by Shaykh GF Haddad is awesome, mashaAllah, and an important one to understand:

"Yes, Hajj does seem like the best place and time to die, but this is only provided it is a Hajj mabrur, i.e. accepted in the Divine presence, so that one comes out of it like a newborn babe according to the hadith to that effect. Such a certitude cannot be taken for granted.

In addition, there are many other times and places, each of which can be argued to seem to us as the best time and place to die.

Among them is prostration, since the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, said that the servant is nearest to his Lord at that time. Among them also is jihad, since the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, himself so wished, and he said such a person is the best servant of Allah Most High. Also among them is Makka and Madina regardless of pilgrimage, since the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, said that one should try, if one can, to die in them. He also supplicated for Allah Most High to make Madina "as beloved to us as Makka, or more" and his grave here is the most preferable spot in creation. Also among them is dhikr because of its countless benefits, such as the Divine forgiveness, which is obviously preferable to being in Hajj in an unrepentent state or with an inappropriate intent. However, all this does not mean that one is allowed to ask for death. Such a supplication is forbidden unless one is sure that overwhelming temptation is threatening one's religion. What the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, taught that one should ask for is, "O Allah, grant me life as long as life is best for me, and grant me death as long as death is best for me" as in the Sahihayn and Sunan.

So the best time and place to die is not this place or that time specifically and uniformly for everyone; rather, it is the time and place Allah Most High in His supreme wisdom has chosen and decreed for us in His Qadar, the foreordained destiny in which we believe and to which we submit with full acceptance, pleasure, and thanks."

May Allah grant us satisfaction in what He has ordained for us. Allah huma sali Allah Muhammad. Ameen.

Fi Aman Allah