One of the things that is supposed to make us walk the right path is the fear of Akhirah, the Day of Judgment; when Almighty Allah will judge our actions and decide where we are to spend the rest of eternity. Either enjoying the breathtaking gardens and rivers of Jannah, or roasting for our sins in the burning dungeons of Jahannam.

Where we will end up is our decision, and we all know it! However when we reflect on ourselves, to examine what we have done to ensure that we receive our book of deeds in our right hand, the list will not be very long. On the other hand the list that will put our book of deeds in our left hand is longer than we care to read!

We plan and enroll our children in schools before they are born, we pre-order the latest gadgets even though we already own the one released just a year ago, and many of us are willing to work for that promotion day and night, even if it means neglecting our families!

We however, have no intentions to teach our children the Qur’an and help them understand it, we don’t plan on performing Hajj even though we are millionaires and it is fard on us, and we don’t think for a second before neglecting our prayers, just because the family wants to go out!

The alarm clock for ‘office time’ has us throwing away the blanket even if we slept at 3 a.m., but most of us don’t even bother to set the alarm for fajr prayers! We lie to please our bosses, we lie to fool others and we lie to get ahead in life in the name of ‘doing it for our families’, but we don’t have the slightest intention of asking for forgiveness from Allah for those lies.

We don’t think twice about spending thousands on expensive clothes and exotic cuisines, but never think to give a few hundred for charity so some poor person can feed and clothe their family. We can’t stop glorifying and imitating the non-Muslims, while the believers amongst us, because of whose d’uaa we are still protected from Allah’s wrath, are treated like…you know the word.

Hindu’s have a god for money and they worship the god thinking it will give them money. We Muslims have gone a step further and taken out the middle man. Money has become our god.

We complain about what the mullas are doing all over the world and ask ‘is this is the Islam you want us to follow?’ Are the mullas the only Muslims in the world? Aren’t we muslims? Why not forget the mullahs for a second and become the Muslims that Allah wants us to be and show the world what Islam is! But we’ll never do that, because we no longer care about pleasing Allah… we no longer care about our Akhira.

We don’t fear the depths of Hell, where the lightest punishment is that a man will be made to put on burning hot shoes which will make his brains boil. But hey, we are willing to risk that for a good time here in the world; the 60-90 years compared to an eternity where we could be in Jannah, a place where Allah has prepared for the pious joys that no man has ever seen, ever heard or even ever thought of!

Brothers and sisters, today we have forgotten about Islam and taken all our duties towards our religion lightly. This is why we are in this state.

My fellow Muslims, let’s do something now! Let’s make a change… Let’s improve ourselves and do our part to improve those around us… not just physically, but morally!

Let’s not be in a state of regret on the Day of Judgment!