Another celebrity death: another suicide.

 

 

It was narrated by Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “remember often the destroyer of pleasures,” by which he meant death.

 

In a world where we put entertainment first, death serves as a reminder of our ultimate fate. It also serves as a motivator, as it did with Steve Jobs, to do the best we can with the limited time that we have in this life. Most of us, though, do our level best to hide this fact in the deepest part of our brains.  

 

We face death every day whether we acknowledge it or not. As I scrolled through my Facebook newsfeed the other day, I noticed what seems to now be the customary way of bidding farewell to famous people — a picture and/or a favorite quote by the person that passed on. This time it was Robin Williams; the world famous comedian who made us all chuckle had committed suicide.

 

It is a little bit difficult to grasp, isn’t it? A man who made people laugh for a living and got paid very well to do so was so depressed he took his own life. Robin williams was suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

 

How many of us long for the lifestyle that he had? By our standards, he had everything! Yet, “everything” couldn’t help him. We may choose to ignore death, but this one is right in our face and if all we are going to do is write an #RIP message, then there is a lot that we are missing.

 

Islam is a way of life in which lie the solutions to our problems. We come across situations and news everyday that we should ponder. What are we living for? Why do I do what I do? What is important to me? These are the questions we should ask ourselves on a regular basis.

Life is precious, and our time is far more valuable when spent doing the right things. The choice of what we do with our time is in our hands. With every ticking second that goes by, we will never get it back. As the demise of Mr. Williams showed us, money and laughter is not all we need.

"And whoever turns away from my remembrance, indeed, he will have a depressed life, and we will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind" [English Translation of the Qur’an,  Surat Taha 20.124]

 

photo credit: Charles Haynes via photopin cc

---