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He remembered his grandmother's warning about praying on time: "My son,
you shouldn't leave prayer to this late time". His grandmother's age was
70 but whenever she heard the Azan, she got up like an arrow and
performed Salah.
He, however could never win over his ego to get up and pray. Whatever he
did, his Salah was always the last to be offered and he prayed it
quickly to get it in on time.
Thinking of this, he got up and realized that there were only 15 minutes
left before Salat-ul Isha. He quickly made Wudhu and performed Salat-ul
Maghrib. While making Tasbih, he again remembered his grandmother and
was embarrassed by how he had prayed.
His grandmother prayed with such tranquility and peace.
He began making Dua and went down to make Sajdah and stayed like that
for a while. He had been at school all day and was tired, so tired.
He awoke abruptly to the sound of noise and shouting. He was sweating
profusely. He looked around. It was very crowded. Every direction he
looked in was filled with people. Some stood frozen looking around, some
were running left and right and some were on their knees with their
heads in their hands just waiting.
Pure fear and apprehension filled him as he realized where he was. His
heart was about to burst. It was the Day of Judgement. When he was
alive, he had heard many things about the questioning on the Day of
Judgement, but that seemed so long ago. Could this be something his mind
made up? No, the wait and the fear were so great that he could not have
imagined this.
The interrogation was still going on. He began moving frantically from
people to people to ask if his name had been called. No one could answer
him. All of a sudden his name was called and the crowd split into two
and made a passageway for him.
Two angels grabbed his arms and led him forward. He walked with
unknowing eyes through the crowd. The angels brought him to the center
and left him there. His head was bent down and his whole life was
passing in front of his eyes like a movie. He opened his eyes but saw
only another world.
The people were all helping others. He saw his father running from one
lecture to the other, spending his wealth in the way of Islam. His
mother invited guests to their house and one table was being set while
the other was being cleared. He pleaded his case, "I too was always on
this path. I helped others. I spread the word of Allah. I performed my
Salah. I fasted in the month of Ramadan. Whatever Allah ordered us to
do, I did. Whatever he ordered us not to do, I did not." He began to cry
and think about how much he loved Allah.
He knew that whatever he had done in life would be less than what Allah deserved
and his only protector was Allah.
He was sweating like never before and
was shaking all over. His eyes were fixed on the scale, waiting for the
final decision. At last, the decision was made. The two angels with
sheets of paper in their hands, turned to the crowd. His legs felt like
they were going to collapse. He closed his eyes as they began to read
the names of those people who were to enter Jahannam.
His name was read first.
He fell on his knees and yelled that this couldn't be, "How could I go
to Jahannam? I served others all my life, I spread the word of Allah to
others". His eyes had become blurry and he was shaking with sweat. The
two angels took him by the arms. As his feet dragged, they went through
the crowd and advanced toward the blazing flames of Jahannam.
He was yelling and wondered if there was any person who was going to
help him. He was yelling of all the good deeds he had done, how he had
helped his father, his fasts, prayers, the Qur'an that he read, he was
asking if none of them would help him. The Jahannam angels continued to
drag him.
They had gotten closer to the Hellfire. He looked back and these were
his last pleas. Had not Rasulullah [saw] said, "How clean would a person
be who bathes in a river five times a day, so too does the Salah
performed five times cleanse someone of their sins"?
He began yelling, "My prayers? my prayers? my prayers." The two angels
did not stop, and they came to the edge of the abyss of Jahannam. The
flames of the fire were burning his face. He looked back one last time,
but his eyes were dry of hope and he had nothing left in him.
One of the angels pushed him in. He found himself in the air and falling
towards the flames. He had just fallen five or six feet when a hand
grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back.
He lifted his head and saw an old man with a long white beard. He wiped
some dust off himself and asked him, "Who are you?" The old man replied,
"I am your prayers". "Why are you so late! I was almost in the Fire! You
rescued me at the last minute before I fell in".
The old man smiled and shook his head, "You always performed me at the last minute, did you forget?"
At that instant, he blinked and lifted his head from Sajdah. He was in a
sweat. He listened to the voices coming from outside. He heard the adhan
for Salat-ul Isha. He got up quickly and went to perform Wudhu.
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