‘Sudden’ demise: A lesson for all

Life without death has not been granted by God to any man or woman.  No one on earth is therefore immortal.  If any being were to live forever, Prophet Mohammed (SAW) who is considered in Islam to be the greatest of mankind would have been chosen for that favour. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 21:34 that: “We granted not any man before thee permanent life (Here); then if thou should die, would they live permanently?”
Many Nigerians last Sunday received with shock the news, which initially sounded more like a rumour, of the death of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, in the inconclusive gubernatorial election in Kogi State. According to Audu’s brother, Alhaji Tijani Audu, the APC candidate died after the Returning Officer of the election, Professor Emmanuel Kucha, declared the election inconclusive. The younger Audu told newsmen on Monday in Ogbonicha, the country home of the Audus; that the late politician had listened to and watched the collation of the results on television before he died.
Comments and insinuations, some of them far-fetched, have continued to trail the demise of Prince Audu. While some describe him as a crowd-puller in Kogi politics, others say late Audu’s death is a big blow to APC. The most outrageous of all extremist remarks over Prince Audu’s death is that which suggests the APC governorship candidate ‘must have been killed by those who were envious of his victory.’ This is the worst speech that should be heard from any believing man or woman. No one, apart from the creator of the heavens and earth, has the prerogative to give or take the life of any individual.
Believing that Audu, like every other human being, was not without open and covert enemies; he could have died long before Sunday November 22, 2015 if any creature had possessed the powers to take human life. If politics as believed by many is actually a dirty game that is full of dirty players, Audu would not have survived his political opponents in previous elections that ushered him in to the Government House in Lokoja. Muslims are required to see the death of every mortal as natural. Any view to the contrary seeks to contaminate the purity of a believer’s faith in the God’s attributes. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 10:56 that: “It is He who gives life and takes it; and to Him shall ye all be brought back.”
It is reported on the authority of Ibn Umar (RA) who said the Prophet (SAW) took him by the shoulder and said, “Be in this world as though you were a stranger or traveller.” Now Ibn Umar (RA) used to say, “When evening comes on you, do not expect morning; and when morning comes, do not expect morning. Take for your health (a precaution) for your sickness; and for your life (a precaution) for your death.” Unfortunately, most people today live as if death was for people on another planet; endlessly planning for years that they may not live to see. Those who have become captives in the kingdom of the devil would surely see death as sudden or untimely when it finally comes their way. This perception of death is held by those who choose to appoint Satan as their special adviser.
The devil, Satan, leads his admirers into destructive illusions about life and death; luring them into believing though erroneously, that living on earth means a life without death. By Allah’s design, death is never sudden. At conception, the time and place of every soul is appointed except that such knowledge remains the exclusive preserve of the creator of all creations, the Omniscient. Death is sudden only to those described in Qur’an 7:179 as jinn and men who “have hearts wherewith they understand not; eyes wherewith they see not; and ears wherewith they hear not. They are like cattle; nay more misguided for they are heedless (of warning).”
Illness is not a requisite condition for death. Neither is a clean bill of health a barrier to it. If this is the nature of death, it would be wise for every living person to look forward to meeting it at any time, place and under any circumstances. About 15 years ago, a brother to one of my neighbours where I reside was flagged down at a police checkpoint along Kaduna-Abuja highway and he slowed down to a halt. After looking into the car, the policeman at the checkpoint asked him to; in their own slang, ‘carry-go.’ But that was the end of the road for the man he flagged down. He was dead; with the car engine running.
Death, in the same manner, peacefully took away the late Etsu Nupe Alhaji (Dr.) Umaru Sanda Ndayako, who after observing his early morning (subhi) prayer at his Wadata palace in Bida on September 1, 2003, had prepared to travel to Abuja to attend to the national assignment he was then handling as chairman of the Presidential Technical Committee on the Review of Local Government Structure. Death terminated the journey. In the same way, late Alhaji Adamu Dankabo had prepared to leave his house for the airport when death struck to abort his planned trip; substituting it with the journey to eternity.
One significant lesson to be learnt, perhaps, from Prince Audu’s death is that Allah’s will comes to pass without regard to the wishes, interest, status, circumstances, or readiness of an individual. Audu’s death is not only a confirmation of Allah’s attribute described in Qur’an 85:16 as “Doer (without let) of all that He intends” but also a lesson for all hearts that are ready to heed divine warnings against the vanity of this life. Let us therefore live as people with hearts that heed; eyes that see; and ears that listen. May Allah (SWT) make ours a good end, amin.