The final state of a person at the time of death is what matters in the Hereafter. In this article, we discuss some of the causes for both good and evil sealing states, and how a person’s inner traits will dominate at the time of death.
In a hadith transmitted by Ibn Abi ’al-Dunya in his Commanding the Good and Forbidding Evil from Abu Umama (RadiyAllahu Anhu) the Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said to his Companions (Allah be pleased with them):
“How will your situation be when your women become tyrannical, your youth become transgressors and you abandon striving and jihad in the path of Allah?”
They asked: ‘Will that really occur?’
The Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said:
“Yes, by the One in whose hand my soul is, something even worse than that will occur.”
They said: ‘What could be worse than that, O Messenger of Allah?’
The Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said:
“How will your state be when you stop commanding the good and you stop preventing the evil?”
They said: ‘Is that something that will occur?’
The Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said:
“How will it be when you will begin to consider the good as evil, and when you will begin to consider the evil as good?”
[They were shocked] and said: ‘Is that truly to occur, O Messenger of Allah?’
The Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said:
“Yes, of course. Allah says that I swear by Myself that I will spread such a trial in the land that even the wise ones among you could become lost.”
This hadith tells us of a gradual change in perspectives among people as their righteous behaviour diminishes and they eventually confuse what is good for what is evil, leading to a state where even those known for their wisdom have become lost. At present, we are living through, and witnessing, many of the things which the hadith describes. The point to ponder is that, if Allah has not saved us from these evils, then we may already be guilty of considering what is good according to the Shari‘a to be evil, and what is evil according to the Shari‘a to be good.
There is another hadith in which the Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said:
“A servant does work like that of the people of Paradise until there is a short distance left between him and Paradise, when the destiny written about him by Allah (May He be glorified and exalted) [through his eternal knowledge] overcomes him, and he perpetrates an act of the people of Hellfire, and thus enters the Hellfire. Then, there are certain servants who do the actions of the people of Hellfire all their life, until there is a very short distance remaining between them and the Hellfire, until the destiny written about them by Allah (May He be glorified and exalted) overcomes them and they do an act of the people of Paradise and thus they enter into Paradise.”
An explanation of this hadith is that some people’s actions are considered evil based on how they are perceived by other people and other people’s actions are considered good based on how he or she is viewed by others. However, there is something hidden inside the individual that eventually overcomes him or her, which is why the Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said that what is really taken into consideration is the final sealing state of an individual at the time of their death (innama ’l-a’mal bi ’l-khawatim).
The above hadith indicates that what really matters is husn al-khatima or su’ al-khatima.
Husn al-khatima means a good sealing state, and su’ al-khatima means a bad sealing state.
These terms do not refer to what a person has been doing all life long, or how they appeared to be in the sight of others, but rather to the state that they are in at the time they leave this world, their sealing state. This is why the scholars mention that the evil sealing state is such that, even though a person’s actions may appear to be very virtuous, this evil sealing state occurs due to an inner trait which was concurrent with the good that a person did in front of others. Whilst it was perceived that these actions were good, there remained something inside the individual which concurrently occurred or was a regular habit but which was not expressed in front of others. This inner trait was evil and eventually took over, leading one to commit an act of the people of the Hellfire. Likewise, many people who seem to be disobeying the Shari‘a for long periods in their lives have within their hearts much goodness which has not yet dominated and is just waiting to surface and appear in their external actions. Due to the existence of these good qualities, which are pleasing to Allah (May He be glorified and exalted), a person’s goodness can become dominant before he or she passes away.