And the Hour is coming without any doubt and Allah will raise up all those in the graves. (Surat al-Hajj: 7)
Now stop and look at your watch; with every second that passes, you are rushing towards that final moment, the moment you will be returned to your Lord to account for your deeds. That predetermined time will certainly come. This will most likely be at some quite unexpected moment, a moment at which your soul will be taken away by the angel of death. After that, you will find yourself at the Day of Resurrection. At once, anything related to this world will lose its significance for you, and you will clearly see that what really mattered is one's faith and earning the good pleasure of Allah.
So, while you still have the chance, do not forget to make preparations for the Day of Resurrection, when everything of this world will perish and all humanity will rise from their graves to give account for themselves to their Lord.
On that day when every single deed done in life will be made apparent, those who sought good will be repaid in full, while the evil-doers will wish to be distanced from their wrongdoings. Alone in Allah's presence, man will be judged with justice and will not be in any way unjustly treated.
While the time flies through the countdown to the Day of Judgment, those who do not heed Allah's warning but follow their whims and desires are in a great loss. This fact is related in the Qur'an as follows:
Mankind's Reckoning has drawn very close to them, yet they heedlessly turn away. No fresh reminder comes to them from their Lord without their listening to it as if it was a game. (Surat al-Anbiya': 1-2)
Never forget that this great day of reckoning is rushing toward you, and that on that day Allah will inform you of all your deeds, including those you remember and those you do not.
On that day, all deeds of a person, kept in Allah's infinite memory, will be presented to man. Every thought, every deed, even those he cannot recall will be made apparent. Indeed, the Qur'an informs us that everything one does is recorded down to its minute detail:
Everything they did is in the Books. Everything is recorded, big or small. (Surat al-Qamar: 52-53)
Man is forgetful, but Allah never forgets, nor does He err. Therefore, wrongdoers will never be able to distance themselves from their misdeeds. A person may forget a word displeasing to Allah he uttered 10 years before or an irreverent idea that crossed his mind. But Allah, the Almighty, will make him to know his words and thoughts on the Day of Reckoning:
Say, "Whether you conceal what is in your breasts or make it known, Allah knows it. He knows what is in the heavens and what is on earth. Allah has power over all things." On the Day that each self finds the good it did, and the evil it did, present there in front of it, it will wish there were an age between it and then. Allah advises you to beware of Him. Allah is Ever-Gentle with His servants. (Surah Al 'Imran: 29-30)
On that day Allah will raise them altogether, He will inform them of their deeds:
Allah has recorded it while they have forgotten it. Allah is a Witness of all things. (Surat al-Mujadala: 6)
Never forget that Allah, Who witnesses everything, Who never forgets and is never mistaken, will present you all your deeds and thoughts on that day.
Unmindful of the fact that one will be required to give an account of his deeds, every deed a person commits in this ignorance will certainly bring disappointment and incurable regret. Nothing else a man forgets in this life could bring such a grievous penalty. This being the case, never forget this fact, which may jeopardize your eternal life, for it is a great sin to be committed against Allah's Will:
...Those who are misguided from the Way of Allah will receive a harsh punishment because they forgot the Day of Reckoning. (Surah Sâd: 26)
The Qur'an provides clear descriptions of the Day of Resurrection in order to make people cognizant of it. The Day of Resurrection is the day when everything will become insignificant.As Allah informs,"that Day will be a difficult day, not easy for disbelievers." (Surat al-Muddaththir: 9-10)
When the trumpet is blown, the material world will come to an end, and the Day of Resurrection will begin. While even an minor earthquake forces people out of their homes in terror, people on that Day will witness terrifying tremors that will convulse even the firmly set mountains. The 6th verse of the Surat al-Qamar describes that day as "...the Day the Summoner summons them to something unspeakably terrible."
That day an unprecedented tumult will permeate every corner of the universe. Oceans will surge into each other (Surat at-Takwir: 6), the sky will be like molten brass, the stars will be extinguished, the moon will be eclipsed, the sun and moon will be fused together, (Surat al-Qiyama: 8-9) heaven will be opened and become doorways (Surat an-Naba': 19), the mountains will be pulverized (Surat al-Mursalat: 10), and become like tufts of colored wool (Surat al-Qari'a: 5), and the earth will become flat so that no dip or gradient will be in it (Surah Ta Ha: 107). When the Trumpet is blasted a second time, people will be resurrected and gathered to give account for their deeds:
The Trumpet will be blown and those in the heavens and those in the earth will all lose consciousness, except those Allah wills. Then it will be blown a second time and at once they will be standing upright, looking on. And the earth will shine with the Pure Light of its Lord; the Book will be put in place; the Prophets and witnesses will be brought; it will be decided between them with the truth; and they will not be wronged. (Surat az-Zumar: 68-69)
Disbelievers will emerge from their graves with downcast eyes, like swarming locusts. With necks outstretched, eyes transfixed, rushing headlong to the Summoner, they will say, "This is a pitiless day!" (Surat al-Qamar: 7-8). Those who claimed that Allah would not fix a time with them for reckoning (Surat al-Kahf: 48) will have no safe place to escape on that day. Then will they be in the presence of the Lord, which is the true final destination. (Surat al-Qiyama: 10-12)
When the Hour comes, those who believed that they would not be raised again, and that death is merely an everlasting sleep, will know that Allah's warnings had been true:
They will say, "Are we to be restored to how we were? When we have become perished, worm-eaten bones?" (Surat an-Nazi'at: 10-11)
Again, they will say, "Alas for us! Who has raised us from our resting-place? This is what the All-Merciful promised us. The Messengers were telling the truth." (Surah Ya Sin : 52)
On the Day of Judgment, those who believed and those who disbelieved will be clearly recognized from each other. While the elation of the believers will be apparent from their faces, the faces of disbelievers will be gloomy.
Faces that Day will be radiant, gazing at their Lord. And faces that Day will be glowering, realizing that a back-breaking blow has fallen. (Surat al-Qiyama: 22-25)
On that day, those who have acknowledged that they would have to account for their deeds, and thus, sold the life of this world in return for the hereafter, will receive their Books from the right. Those who with a clear conscience engaged in deeds to earn Allah's consent will be able to happily say "Here is my Book." In return for their devotion, they will attain eternal joy.
The one who receives his book from the left, however, will feel an unrelenting regret and grief because of having been unconcerned of the Day of Reckoning, and will say, "If only I had not been given my Book and had not known about my Reckoning." (Surat al-Haqqa: 25-26) As is stated in these verses, his life will be dark and straightened, his face will be downcast and dust-covered, covered in gloom. Allah will gather these people on the Day of Resurrection, flat on their faces, blind, dumb and deaf. (Surat al-Isra': 97)
The words of those who will be raised blind because they did not keep themselves occupied with the remembrance of Allah are conveyed as follows:
He will say, "My Lord, why have you gathered me blind when before I was able to see?" He will say, "Just as Our Signs came to you and you forgot them, in the same way you too are forgotten today." (Surah Ta Ha: 125-126)
In order to avoid finding yourself in such a situation on the Day of Reckoning, never forget that you should seek Allah's consent throughout your life.
It is a day when everyone, except those favoured by Allah, will be terrified. The wrongdoers will blame one another and feel unbearable grief. On that Day, only those who have sincerely complied with the commands of Allah will feel no fear. The more unconcerned and unprepared a person is in this world, the more terrified he will be on the Day of Resurrection. Allah reminds us of the terror of that day as follows:
Mankind, have fear of your Lord! The quaking of the Hour is a terrible thing. On the day they see it, every nursing woman will be oblivious of the baby at her breast, and every pregnant woman will abort the contents of her womb, and you will think people drunk when they are not drunk; it is just that the punishment of Allah is so severe. (Surat al-Hajj: 1-2)
Never forget that no one will worry for his friend that day. None will be around to help. On the Day of Resurrection, everyone will try to sell even his closest relations as ransom for his own salvation. Yet, nothing will be accepted from him:
Even though they can see each other. An evildoer will wish he could ransom himself from the punishment of that Day, by means of his sons, or his wife or his brother or his family who sheltered him or everyone else on earth, if that only meant that he could save himself. But no! It is a Raging Blaze. (Surat al-Ma'arij: 11-15)
In brief, there is no recourse or no place to escape. That will be the day a person will remember the warnings given to him in this world. Though, it will not help him at all:
He used to be joyful in his family. He thought that he was never going to return. But in fact his Lord was always watching him! (Surat al-Inshiqaq: 13-15)
On the Day of Resurrection, the scales of justice will be weighed and no soul will be wronged in the least. Even if it were no more than the weight of a grain of mustard-seed, it will be brought to account. (Surat al-Anbiya': 47) Those whose scale of good is heavy will attain a pleasant life. But as for those whose scale is light, their abode will be Hell. (Surat al-Qari'a: 6-11) Allah draws attention to this fact as follows:
That Day people will emerge segregated to see the results of their actions. Whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it. Whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it. (Surat az-Zilzal: 6-8)
Remember that that will be a day when nor status, titles, goods or sons one had possessed in this world will be of any significance.On that day, the only criteria employed to distinguish between people will be their deeds. Each person will be asked whether he worshipped his Creator or not. On that day when all hidden things will surface, man will not be in a position to make up for his wrongdoings:
On the Day when the secrets are sought out and man will have no strength or helper. (Surat at-Tariq: 9-10)
Evil deeds, wrongdoings and the thoughts of deniers, will be brought before them one by one for all to see. In a despised and humiliated state, those who committed the most serious offences by denying Allah, Who created and gave them life, will wait for their judgment:
On that Day, woe to the deniers! This is the Day they will not say a single word, nor will they be allowed to offer any excuses. On that Day, woe to the deniers! This is the Day of Decision. We have gathered you and the earlier peoples. So if you have a ploy, use it against Me now! On that Day, woe to the deniers! (Surat al-Mursalat: 34-40)
Believers, however, will have an easy reckoning. They will be safe from the terror of that day. Being removed far from the punishment of the Fire, they will gain the blessings of Paradise.
Even a disbelieving person must recognize it to be certain that he will meet that Day. It is meaningless to say, "I won't meet that day because I don't believe it is possible." Even if he were not to believe it at all, he must at least give it the possibility of a fifty-fifty chance. Once the terrors of the Day of Resurrection and the torment in Hell are considered, one must fear and strive to escape it, even if the probability of its existence were only one percent.
Moreover, every hour that passes bring us closer to death, the end of the world, and the day we will be questioned. This is the inevitable end for all. Never forget the day when the deniers will regretfully "wish that they had been Muslims." (Surat al-Hijr: 2) Of such people, Allah says:
So taste it. Because you forgot the meeting of this Day, We have forgotten you. Taste the punishment of eternal timelessness for what you did. (Surat as-Sajda: 14)
